There is no such thing as an easy job on an RX-7. Last Saturday I decided to change the oil and filter. An easy job- right? Well, not this time. After draining the oil, as I was still under the car on the creeper, I started to inspect the common things that need to be checked periodically. It was then that I spotted the sway bar link on the right side broken and hanging limply like a dead snake. It had been one of the MazdaTrix Heim joint type links that has a solid, no-rubber connection with threaded rod adjustment. The outer ring which housed the inner ball joint had split and peeled open, leaving the linkage inoperable and not repairable. Seems that the upgraded sway bar and coilovers and some hard cornering was just too much for it. Fortunately, I still had the old factory links, which are not adjustable, but are stronger. I put these back on and finished my oil change about 45 minutes later than expected. Not all after-market parts perfom better than factory parts.

 

Agreed. Many perform worse than factory parts.

 

As evidenced by the large number of failed MMR camber links seen in the 2nd gen forum recently. :-/

Too bad the factory didn't provide any camber adjustment.

 

I with the OP. My car has the Tri-point front swaybar. Over-kill for my use of the car these days and the heim-jointed endlinks are worn out. They bind and make snapping noises everytime I turn a corner. I've got to get them ordered, it's embarassing.

 

Well there is always going to be a trade off since Mazda designed our vehicles to be very light in weight. The factory sway bar mounts are a perfect example and are the primary cause of the factory end link failures.

What happens is that when the factory mount starts to bend. This pulls the end links out of alignment. The end links are only going to be at their strongest when they push up on the lower control arm 100% vertical and not at angle. Think about what happens when you take a flimsy toilet paper roll tube and put weight on it. It will hold weight as long as it's vertical. You put enough angle on it, it will collapse.

The sway bars mounts I fabbed are as strong as a tank! Before I did the upgrade, I had to bend back the factory sway bar end links. I knew why they bent before and saw no reason to change them. After the mount upgrades, my end links have been perfectly fine.