Pillowball kit?
 

I've replaced my stock bushings with Delrin bushings but now I'm wondering if there is some pillowball kits around?

There are two options. The first is OEM pillow balls through Ray at Malloy.

The second is AtomicRex bushings but you wont be able to get them through him. Contact a member named Juan, he may have some of these in stock and they should be cheaper than OEM.

Mazda OEM is pretty much the only way to go here.

AtomicRex replied to an e-mail I sent last night saying he has some in stock. I noticed his username is banned, care to share the story?

I'm also interested in a set.

AtomicRex bushings still available? I thought that with exchange rate and shipping factored in that these were barely cheaper.

Yup he quoted me £238.19 which is floating right around $370 shipped to my door in the USA.

I haven't called Ray yet to ask for a quote on the OEM stuff.

Includes dust shields?

If you read his group buy thread you will see why it is not a great idea to buy direct from him. It took 2-3 months for them to finally arrive, didnt bother me though because it was during the winter. In the end they were very nice bushings but it seems some people have never recieved thier order after paying him.

I was unaware that the price went up, sorry. I was lucky enough to get mine before that happened, I think I got them for just under $300 shipped.

Either way, contact Juan aswell, he has great customer service and he may have them in stock.

Unfortunately, I dont carry AtomicRex stuff any more and only carry OEM pillow balls since they're readily available. These can be purchased from my website www.j-auto.net. If there's other suspension components you're looking for, shoot me an e-mail or PM me and I'll be glad to help. I carry more than just bushings. :nod:

Thanks for the kind words. Every order I receive helps support this great forum through my vendor membership :icon_tup:

I recently purchased replacement pillowballs through a work contact over here who sourced them for me. The kit looks identical to the pictures of what Atomic were previously selling so may well be the same original supplier.

Price may be a challenge with the exchange rate but contact Terry below if you require further information and tell him Richard from CBI gave you his details.

Evoke Supplies
Terry Dukes
+44 1923 261 777

Richard

Hot damn: that it either $4k for a complete FD suspension set - or $10k if those prices are per item rather than per set.

However, it looks like at least some of the pillowballs on these have no dust covers so are probably race-only and require frequent pillowball replacements.

Back on topic: are there any longevity reports on these AtomicRex bushings? Since they pretty much cost as much as the stock pillowballs, they don't really make any economic sense if they don't last significantly longer. Yes, the OEM pillowballs seem to last only 50k miles or so - but at least we know that number. Do we know anything about the AtomicRex bushings?

A few of my customers are running these pillow balls but it's too early to tell as I sold most of the kits I had within the past year. Most people don't have enough mileage on them to really tell how long they last but so far everyone has been happy with them. One thing to keep in mind about the Atomic Rex pillow balls is that it's recommended to cut a small notch on the control arm. This notch makes it very easy to remove the included shims in the event that you want to go back to stock pillow balls. It's not 100% necessary but it makes removal very easy without potentially damaging the control arms. Some people were ok with this while others decided to go with OEM pillow balls. Those who went with OEM also went this route because they're readily available.

These Nagisa Auto pillow balls are cool but they're replacements for the stock rear upper control arm rubber bushings and not the OEM pillow balls. You'd have to purchase their rear lower control arm to replace 4 OEM pillow balls with spherical bearings. Even then, you're still stuck with 2 OEM pillow balls at the rear upper control arm where it meets the upright. If I understand the pricing for the rear bushings and rear lower control arms, this setup will cost almost $2k without the 2 OEM pillow balls.

For less than the price of Nagisa's rear setup above, you can get our rear lower control arms & trailing arms kit (click here for details), toe links, 2 OEM pillow balls w/dust seals, and polyurethane bushings (either SuperPro or Powerflex) for the rest of the car. All of these parts are readily available and in Powerflex' case, their bushings come with a lifetime warranty. Everything available at www.j-auto.net. Sorry for the shameless plug but I gotta get some use out of my vendor membership (it's not cheap) :biggrin:

Anyone tried eBay "Megan" pillowballs?

MEGAN 4pc Pillow Ball Rear Toe + Trailing Control Arm RX7 RX-7 93-95 FD3S | eBay

I've installed all Delrin bushings and I still hear a strong rear clunk...

Those are toe links and trailing arms, not to be confused with the OEM pillow balls that go in the rear lower control arm (2 each) and the rear upper control arm (1 each) if memory serves. Replace those with OEM components.

Also, I'd recommend Rotary Extreme over those. By the time you pay for install and for an alignment, you're in pretty deep if the 'megan' ones end up failing.

As Rich pointed out you are confused. Did you actually replace the 6 pillow balls?

No, I didn't replace those 6 pillow balls. 103$ each at the local dealership. I hate paying that much for OEM parts!

J-AUTO - Bushings, Suspension, Performance Upgrades for Mazda RX-7s

410$ + shipping for 6 pillowballs, that sounds better!

Thanks Juan!

I happened to find a member selling 6 new OEM pillowballs at a deal. but if i wouldnt have found those i was going to purchase from Juan, althoughi DO have to say I did order a powerflex bushing set from him and dont remember getting free shipping...as advertised :scratch::scratch:

although shipment came quick. I advise dont waste your time just get from Juan and be done with it.

Juan is a little cheaper than Malloy on this so if he has them stocked this is a great option. I just replaced mine last night and purchased them from Ray at Malloy last week. Could have saved a few dollars had I seen Juan's site.

I've read that if I buy lower control arms and trailing arms I won't need 4 of the 6 rear pillowballs. I'm a bit confused.

Whatever you do don't buy the Megan ones.

I just put bushings in a friends S2000 and he has had Megan toe links for less than a year and they are worn out sloppy sloppy.

One end is in the wheel and the other tucked into the subframe- not really high out in the weather even.

Buy quality!

Yes but Juan sells lower control arms and trailing arms (they are not "Megan").

Our rear lower control arm kit eliminates 4 of the 6 pillow balls since the stock rear arm uses 2 on each one and our arms dont. Our arms have high quality bearings & rod ends on each end and the trailing arm attaches to the arm by a clevis. All materials used on our arms are American made and are true motor sports grade for long life, maintenance free performance.

If you were to get our rear lower arm kit, you'll be left with the factory rear upper control arms which have one pillow ball on each end.

My FD with the prototype set:
http://www.j-auto.net/temp/FDarms3.jpg

Final and much stronger design:
http://www.j-auto.net/temp/FDarms.jpg

http://www.j-auto.net/temp/FDarms2.jpg

These are available on my website www.j-auto.net.

Does anyone make pillow ball for the front ball joints?! Can they be replace without having to replace the whole arm?