Well the haynes manual says that the lil notch on the strut mount has to face the inside of the engine bay. The Tociko strut mounts i have didnt have a left or right side per say just Front or rear.

Based on this info in the haynes book i guess i have mounted the wrong strut mount on the right shock. Since the lil notch once i align it, is facing the tire and not the engine bay.

Just wanted to make sure that i have to put the other one on there to be coherent with the haynes stuff

Jason NYC

 

Im sure im on the right track just need someone who has done suspension to confirm with me

Thanks

Jason

 

Checking with the FSM's http://www.teamfc3s.org/main/factory...SUSPENSION.pdf Page 7. I cant get the **** to align like this. So on the outside of the strut mounts they have a small notch. I talked to my boy and said to have those notches pointing outward. See picture





dRIVER SIDE (as if your looking towards the hood)



Passenger side




Look on the left hand side of the Driver unit (theres a lil notch facing outward), passenger side the notch is also facing out, but only the right hand side looks similar to the FSM, wahts up with the left?

Jason NYC

 

yo everyone else got suspension posts and no 1 posts on mines. Does anyone have this info im like 99% done, just need to confirm/make sure this is right =/

I thought i had to align the strut in a ceertain way. I guess its just the strut mount, that notch ha to face the outside of the car, while that lil peice of rubber portruding from the center of the strut mount has to be facing the front and inside of the car. I think i have it the right way. Just look at my pictures on the top, left is DRIVER, right is Passenger. If i rotate the strut mounts between them and follow the procedure in FSM then im wrong, so the current way i have them is correct based on my interpretations of the FSM and haynes.

I just want to know that im okay and not totally misinterpreting this.

Jason NYC

 

yo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no 1 has a reply, very disappointed!

 

chill... jesus! You act like people owe you a response...

The haynes manual is talking about a white mark, which doesn't appear to be on your strut mounts. You can put them in any way you want, as rotating the mount changes VERY little. By very little I mean in each of the 4 possible positions there is a small change in camber and caster.

More than likely your camber is already so out of spec because the body of the car is so old that you would never notice the fraction of a degree that rotating the upper mount sets it off. You probably wouldn't notice if the car was brand new.

 

Thanks for the response. yo i see ppl post dumb **** on this section and get responses i asked a valid question which is important since i want my car up and running by this week and just wanted to make sure i get my **** done right the first time.

Thanks

Jason NYC

 

I am not sure about the notch you are referring to. IF you look on the mount where the rubber is on the inside, there's a square adjacent to one of the 4 studs. Before doing suspension work, I always note where the square is on the stock suspension, and reinstall them the same way later. They do not face the same direction from what I have seen but I do believe they face the inside.

You will have a left and right strut for the front, because if you look at the tabs for the brake caliper hose, those should be facing the rear where the caliper is, so that identifies left and right struts.

I can look on my car and tell you where the squares are oriented if you want...to my knowledge the car was 100% stock when I got it, and I put the squares on my new suspension back where the old ones were.

 

tHANKS FOR the advice. I know that these are the stock mazda shocks that came with the car. And the right hand side matches perfectly with what was there before, but i just wanted to make sure i put them on correctly.

The notch im referring too is on the outside edges of the strut mount. If you see there are 3 sides that have flowing curves and one side has a shorter for abrupt curve (notch). In the FSM it has that pointing to the fenders while the black rubber stick points towards the inside of the engine bay as can be seen in my last pic. I havent removed the DRiver side shock but will do so today when i get home and compare, thanks once again.

(if its not to much trouble i wouild like to know how yours are oriented, thanks)

Jason NYC

 

installed them

NEW HOTNESS





OLDIES



DId it in the dark with a lil mag light in my mouth.



Jason NYC

 

finished the rears

Finished my install

Replacing the old with the new



Everythings is new, even the bushings and all the lil things



Ready to install



Installed






Jason NYC

 

late answer to your question on how to position the shock mount. See attached pic. Rotating the position of the mark to locations other than facing forward and toward the engine will change your wheel caster and camber specs by about one half degree.

 

^^ thanks for the reply. So the way i have them is correct =). As you can see the right hand side has a lil notch on the outside of the strut mount, therefore this picture shows you exactly how i have installed my strut mount on my right (passenger) side.

I did the Driver (left) side the same way, the NOTCH on the outside and that lil rubber thingy portruding from the center of the strut mount facing FOWARD and INSIDE. Just wanted to make sure they were correct cuz when i took the old ones off the **** was all wrong.

THe rear was MUCH easier

Thanks

Jason NYC

 

Back from the dead (me and thread lol).

I knew this could be a problem, so on my old strut mounts I used 'liquid paper / whiteout' to mark Left (left picture) and Right (right picture), and put dots on the side that faced the front. If you look closely, on one of them you still see the white mark on the square rubber mark that sticks out. So yes, the factory marks face forward and inside on the engine bay.

I think the orientation of the little sharper curve on the metal is less important.

Having said all of this, it seems those who say this doesn't matter may be right. Rotated the mounts resting on their bearings on a coffee table and couldn't tell a difference. And if it is 1/2 to 1 degree, I guess I wouldn't be able to tell anyway. FWIW.