disregard

I'm going to go with mazda competition parts with j auto pillowball bushings

That sounds like a great plan. I have read good info in the past about the Mazda competition bushings. I may have gone that route myself if I had a mazdacomp account to order them.
Also yes the ball joints are not replaceable without custom work. But, the oem ball joints appear to be a robust design that many people never have any issues with. Just take the opportunity to replace the boots and grease and should be good to go.

Okay so it's finalized.
Speaking with James from Mazda competition has been extremely pleasant. He helped me out multiple times and we together made sure what I needed.

J-auto helped me out for 40 mins on the phone for everything else Mazda competition didn't have. We went over my order from Mazda and created an order over the phone on his Web site to make sure the entire job was complete front to back.
I purchased Mazda competition bushings. They are stiffer rubber oem bushings that are not available in the factory.

I went with j-auto pillow balls with j auto toe links, inner/auto tie rods/ boot covers, ball joint boots, and super pro trailing arm bushing.

After the help here online and to James and j-auto, I feel like I am making the right decision.

Congratulations! I'm glad to see you've gone with a setup that saved you some cash too. Looking forward to updates.

So I got a used exhaust from Pettit racing because there is a giant hole that's unrepairable on top of the oem muffler. It's a 3 inch fart can. Well see how long this will last. I have my eyes on a full titanium cat back.

This sounded cool with the back fire but the rattle noise sucked.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8722/...5ab9b20a_b.jpg20150331_142726 by rocketeerbandit, on Flickr


https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7600/...8fdacd1e_b.jpg20150331_142729 by rocketeerbandit, on Flickr

First item to arrive for operation "Suspension Revival"

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8692/...a2b145dc_b.jpg2015-04-02_05-40-31 by rocketeerbandit, on Flickr

Order came in today and I'm super excited. The bushings may be as important if not more important then coil overs.

Mazda competition bushings front and back. J-Auto pillow balls with oem seals, inner and outer tie rods, tie rod boots, oem ball joint boots, super pro trailing arm bushings,
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8753/...50ea2e01_b.jpg2015-04-03_06-25-39 by rocketeerbandit, on Flickr

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8746/...be373344_b.jpg2015-04-03_06-25-13 by rocketeerbandit, on Flickr

Can't make the 4/11 meet due to work unfortunately. Like the progress so far. Replacing all of the bushings and associated linkage is big on my must do list.

That sucks. Might bring a buddy of mine locally with me to the meet. Are you going the the Rotary Rally ?

Picture of the new exhaust. Gonna try to take a video clip with my sony A7

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8806/...9022fe95_b.jpg2015-04-05_06-50-08 by rocketeerbandit, on Flickr

I got the car back from the shop. Took some time but everything got done that I asked for. I also had to pick up 2x new differential axle shaft seals because of a small leak on one side.

So, I had drained and replaced the differential fluid again in my ownership and freshen the car up with an oil change before I we head up to Deals Gap Rotary Rally on Wednesday.

The mazda competition differential bushings got installed as well in addition.

Drove the car home for 15 minutes and right away the tailing arm clunking is gone, the car feels stiffer, and I am experiencing a little bit more vibrations.

Prepping the car with blue dodo juice wax kit for Deals Gap Rotary Rally
No filter

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8808/...0a32d252_b.jpg20150414_121503 by rocketeerbandit, on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7659/...1e028fd8_b.jpg20150414_121456 by rocketeerbandit, on Flickr

So the car did 332.5 miles on a single tank of non-ethanol 93 premium gas. That is all I try to put in the tank whenever I can locate a station. So it equals about 20.33 miles a gallon driving 83 mph with slight variations in speed.

I got the numbers after filling her up 16.35 gallons.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7612/...dec5fa40_b.jpg2015-04-15_06-44-49 by rocketeerbandit, on Flickr

that paint looks awesome. how's the rain?

The rain is miserable. Just have to be even more conservative. Foggy, cold, cars in front of you throwing up water, wet roads, raining you know how it goes.
I won't push it even if conditions are favorable. The fiancé is in the car.

nice meeting ya budday

@Ruler Mark,

You too. Ill see you at one of the meets in Palm Bay and visit ya either at the shop or another event.

Are you still hosting the meet at your place? If so I'm there.

i plan to just having a hard time picking a date

So I plan on purchasing ohlin's. So far I've owned tein basic's on a 02 Mazda protege, tein flex on my sold turbo 99 miata, and bc's on my 10ae miata. These will be the best set I've come to own. I can not wait to try them out autocrossing.

You will not be disappionted.

If I could ask for your help, I am replacing the fuel pump because it's 24 years old. Is there anything else I should replace along with the fuel pump?

The injectors were tested and flowed by the original owner in 2006.



I'm also tackling the vacuum hoses and replacing them with new oem lines. I was going to replace it with the solenoids. What should I consider replacing while things are apart? I do have Dale Clarks check valves so we can skip those.

Ohlins have been shipped from sweeden.

Mazda ordered 8 turbo solenoids and all the vacuum hoses for the next job. The solenoids are 70 each and with the peace of mind that they are new comforts me a bit from reading nightmares that people were buying used ones online to fix turbo issues they had and they were malfunctioning. Better to buy new oem from the dealer.*

I also picked up an entire fuel pump assembly kit that Mazda puts together for you with new seals, hardware, and pump.

Last but not least I ordered the PRE/WG duty solenoid at 180.*

Now, I could simplify things with the rats nest but I'd like to keep some things original. I'm not looking for serious hp or even going single turbo. If I upgrade the turbos, I might consider the 99 turbos. I'm still happy with the cars power for now.

don't go oe replacement with the fuel pump get one that is ethanol compatible.

Does 10% ethanol really affect the pump that much? I'll check into that because this is the first I've heard this.