Pillowballs all installed :) My impressions (looooong)
 

I have a 93 Touring that has 99,759 miles on it. It had been clunking in the rear really badly, so I was due for the pillowball replacement. I shopped around looking for upgrades to the rest of the stock bushings, as with the mileage and frankly, the wear and lack of care this car got before me, I figured they were due. I am also planning to race this vehicle, and saw a perfect opportunity to make the base suspension perfect again, ready for anything.

After looking around and finding Jimlabs bushings, stock bushings, and mazdaspeed as the only " easily available" alternative, I turned to my trusty Hyper Rev #4, and lo and behold, there is an 18pc pillowball bushing replacement kit by Original Box (FEED also rebadges this same pillowball set). Checking my price and availability on this, and reading up on what replacing everything with metal-on-metal suspension points would do - I promptly ordered them.. Flash forward to me buying a few other bits, and I am ready for the install last week by Blast Racing.

I had installed
18 PC Pillowball kit ( Only used 14 pieces) Replacing,4 front upper control arm,4 front lower control arm,4 rear upper control arm, 2 rear damper mount,6 Original Mazda Pillowballs for the rear suspension (26-220),Rotary Extreme Trailing Links,Rotary Extreme Toe Control Rods(Thanks Chuck!),Mazdaspeed PPF (I had this for awhile, just figured I'd install it - my old one shows no damage),Mazdatrix front Sway bar mounts and Endlinks, KG/MM DR21 Springs Dual Rate (front 5.6/7.4 Rear 4.4/5.8 -25mm drop) to replace the RB springs on my exisiting Bilstein Shocks - no leaks

Whew! Now IIRC, the only rubber mounts on my suspension are the shock tower mounts (will be replaced when/if I get coilovers), and the inside-most bushing on the rear lower lateral arm (this is only available with the whole arm, and I just couldn't afford them right now)

Pt 2
 

The whole install took ~ 4-5 days at Blast Racing in Gardena (Thanks Naoto!) After contacting Original Box for torque specs (just a little less than stock ~3-5 ft lbs I believe) he got everything installed, reinforced the front suspension mounting points and rewelded the seams, and I was ready to get an alignment. FYI, after 99K Miles, out of the 14 rubber bushings I replaced with PB's, only 4-5 of them were "bad", truly needing replacement. (2 on the front driver side with the damaged sway bar mount) However 5 of the 6 factory pillowballs were shot (all 3 on the driver side - perhaps due to the front not being correct?)
First impressions ( Drive to alignment shop - slow steady)

Not as much bounce as I thought there would be. Actually very smooth. I can feel every little indentation on the road through the steering wheel, but not in a bad way. A bit nervous, if you will, requiring adjustment constantly. And the clunks in the rear are gone! The front left doesn't scrape on a tight left turn at slow speeds (springs? and fixed sway), and even without an alignment the car tracks fairly straight. Changing lanes I am a bit shocked as the lane divider dots were very prominently felt in the gluteus damper system - anyone wanna buy a cd player? ;)


I took the car over to West End Alignment (Thanks Darrin!) and after a few minutes of discussing my driving style, suspension mods, and what I expected out of the car performance versus tire wear, we (he) settled on these specs. ( I just agreed - I honestly don't know the effect of each different item, and I may have even transposed it wrong.) I said aggressive for street, drifting, burning up onramps with little regard for tire wear - More autocross type lower speeds and tight turns/sliding - not high speed track cornering- Sacrifice Mileage for performance 30/70 if such a ratio exists. He also set the front sway bar with weight in the car, to unload(?) it.

Front L R
Camber -1.7 -1.7
Caster 6.3 6.3
Toe 3/32 3/32

Rear L R
Camber -1.4 -1.4
Toe 3/32 3/32

Anyways as I said I don't really know what the alignment settings do, but he has set up many miatas, porsches and other club/race cars, so I figured as long as I was honest with what I do and expect, he would do his best.

THE FUN PART
Now please remember I have only been to 2 open track days - no driving schools and I am about as grassroots as you can get.

Upon pulling out of the alignment shop, a grin filled my face ear to ear. The nervousness was gone, and the car felt so stable. It went exactly where I pointed it. When the pavement was made of concrete, and the lines are drawn in it, you can hardly tell the difference from stock - other than the response. it was smooth and quiet, and really compliant. When it is black asphalt, you can feel the texture through the wheel is the only way I can describe it. The feedback from the road is amazing. Since there was traffic on the freeway I mainly was checking drivability, and I was surprised to see/feel the section of freeway where I used to "buck" at a slow speed was damn near smooth. The lane divider dots are still crisp, but feel a buit more cushioned (either the tire pressure adjusted or I'm getting used to it) The car feels as one piece now, as before it almost felt like sections of the car would "follow" other sections through input - kind of "undulating" the car into the turn instead of doing it "right now"

I took a friend out that night, and he remarked as to how compliant and "not harsh" the ride was. I am not saying its cushy, but I was expecting the worst - a washboard ride. CD player skips a little more than it used to now - time for a new one ;)

SIDEWAYS - Almost

OK so I get home that night, still sober and decide to go run through the 2 turns in my area that I frequent. its a left/right through an industrial section of tustin, totally dead at night, 2 big FAT lanes wide (the apex of the turns is more like 3-1/2 lanes with about ~150 yards between them), and even has mirrors mounted into the landscape on the sides of the road to see oncoming!

First try through - set up for the turn as I always do - cruising in in third at 4k rpm, feint and downshift to second to load up the front, and start the turn - er SPIN. before I knew it, I had swapped ends and found myself screeching to a stop. WTF? I've done this a million times (ok a couple hundred) Set up identically again and - SPIN. I figure out the input I am giving the wheel ( used to the old sloppy suspension loading the way it did - in "sequence" if you will) were too much, and by the time I think its time to countersteer, its way too late. I go in a bit slower this time, think it through, and am able to pull off the best left/right drift I have ever done. It almost felt as if the car wasnt sliding or something, just rolling along that path. The car exhibits very little body roll, and feels tighter everywhere - from tipping the throttle through the turn, to fully loading up the front before or rear after the turn. Got a little cocky and go back to the normal entry speed, and pull off the first left, but in countersteering to the right at the higher speed it just swapped ends again, this time with me coming very close to a curb at the end... Ok enough of that.

The next day I went to Ortega HWY and grip drove its length, and have never had more fun. The way the car transfers weight now is incredible - the turns aren't sharp enough. Gradually decreasing radius downhill turns the car feels like its on rails - my tires are obviously the weak point here as I squeal unexpectedly through some of the corners, but the car never loses balance. A couple of bikes (sport cruisers, nothing special) let me pass and then some elevation changes - no bouncing at all or feeling like I'm "coming off" the tops of the steeper rises, - it sucks down at the base, and settles immediately after these woop-de-dos. Uphill turns I am having fun with the rear tires, power oversteering out of a few of them. High speed turns are a bit nervous - it feels as if it would be very easy to bring the back end around, whereas the nose stays planted nicely. (Anything in my alignment settings point to this? The rear end slides so much smoother now, and without the clunks, its a lot more confidence inspiring. Through some switchbacks, I imagine the car 30ish mph faster, and can only assume if the tires were up to par, it would perform just the same. I cant wait to get some rubber and my next Open Track day...

Launching is better now too. The rear spring rate seems to like it, and no more wheel hop as the rear stays planted. I have a grudge match against one of my co workers All-Trac this week - Ill update. he smoked me last time, but I think I got him now that I am not worried about breaking the rear end

The only downsides I have found are cost, one of the left rear is squeaking, and cost. Did I mention cost?

Anyone local to Socal (and responsible) that would like to check it out ( Max?) let me know, I'd be happy to meet up.

cost?

18 PC Pillowball Kit $1300
Mazda Pillowballs and seals ~$300
Rotary Extreme Arms/links $490
KG/mm Springs $399
Mazdaspeed PPF $450
Mazdatrix Links and Mounts $260

Labor - Bushing, Springs, Front Sway R & I, seam welding, reinforcing - $1200
Alignment - $90


Now these are all list prices of course - I have been in the industry for ~10 years and got some good deals and favors/sponsors on this one, but as you can see, its not for the meek..

Next on the list are diff bushings/brace and motor mounts, but my wallet must heal first..

Hook up the RX7 community with sourcing & better prices.

We know who paid for that stuff, don't we Rich? ;)

Well, you helped a little!

Also - on the cons side - the interior plastic squeaks and rattles constantly - the roof/a pillar, stereo panels, center tray, rear bins.. I can almost identify all the sqeaks/rattles.. it doesnt sound like its going to fall apart, rather it sounds like they are rubbing- I am hoping this has something to do with the age of the car, but I think its gonna happen regardless. Now to get a syringe filled with silicone and goto town

If there is some serious interest, I will definitely see what I can do - although from the lackluster results of most of the GB's put on here, I don't see the majority ( or any major minority) participating

any pictures or links to these bushings?

http://home.comcast.net/~fd3stuner/bush3.jpg

Please chop the width of pics that big in the future. We don't need the sides with no bushing on it, and it really blows reading your posts and having to scroll back and forth since the pic forces the window so wide.

Doh fixed it - sorry mang.. I get used to 1600x1200 and forget thats not really std desktops yet

Thanks, I am running 1024x1280, so its not like I have a small screen either...

BicuspiD, can you post the contact info for blast racing? Got any pictures of the reinforced front suspension mounting points and rewelded the seams?

Thanks

yeah i think i might want to pick a set of those up...they look really nice
i bet the ride even nicer since my old ass suspension is crap

KG/MM springs
 

Any track data yet on the KG/MM dual rate springs?

The rear rate bias is a bit higher than stock, which could explain new oversteer.

Some things to watch on dual rate springs:

1) dual rate springs allow the car cg to jack up on a corner. This can upset the second of a quick l-r or r-l turn combo, esp with high compression damping at shocks.

2) dual rates ride normally on soft rate, and starting a corner, at some roll point will abruptly switch to the high rate. This could be at 150% of load for kg/mm, as implied by the web site http://www.kgm.co.jp
If the rear hits the hard rate 1st, it would tend to spin you.

Alpine,

I have the number at work - I can post it Monday

The car is going to Signal auto monday also to get a new engine/99 spec turbos, so when its all apart I'll get some good pictures of the front reinforcements

damm! u must have some good sponsors. first whole new bushings and now engine

so.....are you ever going to post where we can get this awesome pillow ball bushing set?

we are not sponsoring the board, I didnt want this to be an advertisement.

I am working on getting a price together for several sets, and likely will run a purchase through Jason @ Rx7 store once I get permission and the details.

You did see the pricing in one of my first posts though, right?

I think you mentioned you thought you cannot get the lower rear I arm inner pillow bushing? This is not true... FDO1-28-460 for stock (comes with opposite side rubber spacer) and F128-28-460 C for the Mazdaspeed upgraded unit. I just replaced mine, along with pillow ball joints and differential bushings and toe link bushings. Non sloppy rear end is sooo much more confidence inspiring :)

Bicuspid,

Have you changed your alignment settings since you started this thread? For street driving, or road racing, it looks like you have too much negative camber. That may have contributed to your oversteer "events".

Thanks for the write-up. It would be great if we could have an "Unobtanium" bushinged FD comparison. . .

:-) neil