Thanks TailHappy. Sound like I may have both problems. Can you post instructions for pulling the PPF? Any pictures of the cracks? Could you see any of the cracks with the PPF still on? I don't see any cracks on mine just looking from underneath. Seems like the bolt holes holding it on are rounded out, though.

 

Yup, the PPF is easy to replace, in theory....

Take off the belly pans and the cross member going through it at the rear of the car. Take off the cat, if necessary. Unscrew the five nuts in the rear and the four in the front. They're big mamajambas and will be tight, so power tools are a definite plus! Note that the transmission and differential are now going to rotate down, so watch yourself! Swap and reverse the process!

Unfortunately someone had taken mine off before, apparently ruined the bolts and rigged up some type of shoddy weld job that broke loose preventing me from getting one of the nuts off. Fortunately I had a buddy that was able to cut the nut off, or I'd have been screwed! How a 2 hour job ends up taking all day....

I don't have any pics but I kept the old piece and if I ever come across a dig cam I'll try to post some. The one crack that I could see very obviously was protruding from the cutout area right in front of the bolts at the rear of the car. You could see the silver of the virgin metal where it had flexed once it cracked through. Just jack up the drivers side and slide under the car right in front of the rear wheel and you'll be right there at it.

Hope this helps!

 

^

 

Thanks. Has anyone looked into the RE Amemiya PPF? This PPF is 20% stronger then the stock RX7 PPF. JT Imports http://www.jt-imports.com/U.S.Atop.htm has it listed for $375.95.

 

If I get on the gas in a sharp turn eith 1st or 2nd. I get a jackhammering noise from teh rearend some place. Did you have this symptome? I don't notice the drive line slop you speek of though I assumed it was bushings on the diff. Maybe I should guess again.

has anyone had this problem? what caused it?

 

Yup, same symptoms I had. If you get on the gas while turning I got something that seemed very similar to wheelhop, even though I was at only about 80% of the traction limit. And the good old jackhammer popping sound was part of that.

I would about guarantee that yours is cracked, too. Easiest thing is to just jack up the car and take a look. You should be able to see it pretty easily where it attaches to the diff without having to take anything off. If it is cracked, you won't believe how tight everything feels once you get a new one!!!

 

well Ill be looking tonight.
just lined up my welder for some work this weekend.
The car made this noise ever since I bought it I just figured off the bat (like you and others) diff bushings.
BTW good thread! For a change there is follow up information.

Ill follow up with my findings too.

 

ya, at same site he wants 450 for the mazdaspeed one which until i saw the RE was the only aftermarket one i knew of. how much stiffer is the mazdaspeed one than stock??

 

Good luck forcefed. I've read that people haven't had much luck with welding it back together, but I'd take everything you read on here with a grain of salt anyway. Glad the thread was useful....I'm happy that I can finally contribute a little something after all I've taken from this forum!

suganuma, I talked with Mazda Comp since I had my mind made up I wanted the stronger Mazdaspeed PPF, and now that Mazda Comp is supposedly Mazdaspeed, I thought I might get lucky and get a cheap one through them. Turns out Mazdaspeed isn't importing anything at the moment until they work out some legalities, and their PPFs are commanding upwards of $450 since virtually nobody in the country has them left. Mazda Comp said they're only 10% stronger, so I figured that's not worth the extra money. I'll see how long this one lasts me.

 

WELL I took the afternoon off and took teh PPF out. I found no cracks. Just looking at it I couldn't see anything while in the car. Since you said they were worst up top and I had teh tools to quickly remove it, I just took the whole thing out.
AOK in there I suppose my problem is something else. maybe bushings. As I said I don't have all the symptoms you had just maybe one of them. It was worth a look though.

 

i have the bolts out from the mounts but mine doesnt seem to be dropping all the way. thinking maybe my exhaust is holding it up or something, the hanger on the diff possibly. but doesnt seem like anyone else had an issue with it other than making more room.