I just received my set of Penske shocks for my FD3S today. They didn't come with a upper mount plate so that means I have to use the OEM ones off the stock shock. I'd rather use a aftermarket top plate that uses a spherical bushing. Does anyone know who makes and sells them? Thanks

 

You can't just use any aftermarket mount. You'll need the diameter of the bearing/lock nut/threaded rod on the coilover to match to make sure there's no play.

 

You probably can. The Japanese spherical top mount I looked at is 16mm ID, one of the local suspension people uses 3/4" NMB...so it's likely to be either a spacer or tube nut or remake a top hat to fit a 10mm(?) shaft.

You could also draw it up for a machinist. MCA suspension over here make them too if you were desperate, but I'd expect they'd charge a premium without selling the shocks as well.

 

Isn't there some sort of advantage regarding NVH with the stock style mount?

 

tein and I think cusco makes them... if they're made to fit stock dampers, they should work with the penskes fine considering penskes are made to fit stock top mounts.

 

Cusco makes them, they worked with my JRZs.

 

Be aware that the pin on OEM and most replacement dampers is 10mm while most "racing" dampers like the Penske's will be 12mm. Tri-Point used to be the source for a domestic monoball top hat, but were unresponsive to my last inquiry via email. I have experience with the monoball top hat that HKS furnishes with its MAX IV SP coilovers. It is a well designed piece, fitting the FD's chassis's coilover pocket well and taking up a minimum of vertical space.

Cheers, Philip

 

Thanks to everyone who replied. I ended up using the Tri-point pillowball mounts. I'm going to write a tread on what I had to do to get these installed because the way the shocks came didn't actually work for an FD application. The previous shock engineer at Penske who made the RX7 shocks left so they no longer have all the RX7 shock specs.

 

So what's going on with this thread friend?

I contacted tri-point and they no longer have the mounts for FDs.

 

 

I'd also recommend looking at DIFTech tops. They can provide you with whatever bearing sleeves you need depending on the shaft diameter you have (10mm/12mm/14mm/custom) and appropriately size upper spring mounts if desired. You can realistically use whatever FD top mount you find so long as you have the correct bearing sleeves to match your setup. I looked into Cusco, but who knows what sizes they even come with, they look heavy, and I'd expect zero product support of any kind. You'd probably be looking at having a local machinist make whatever sleeves you need.

DIFTech contact:
Mark DeShon
Production Manager
DiFtech
Phone: 1-714-515-4001 ext 143

 

I know I'm bumping an old thread, but I don't see an edit button for my post before. I wanted to clarify that it wasn't the smaller studs on the top hat causing the clunk for me, but rather my sway bar's lock collars had a gap and it was able to occasionally shift.
I had multiple clunks that I was trying to work through. Adjustable end links and new lock collars seemed to fix them all...then my rear differential bushing started leaking. go figure.