RX7FAN

I was just reading the thread about Koni's on FD's and I remember reading last summer about how FD's are known to sit low on the driver's front side.

When I installed the Koni sport shocks and Eibach springs (from Pettit)
I did notice that when sitting level the gap between the fender and the top of the tire was greater on the passenger side then the drivers side. It was a clear difference! I even called Koni but they said that my install was correct.

I have since put on 17" and moved all the lower perch mounting locations to the middle position and had an alignment. I still notice a difference but not as much.

Can anyone confirm if this height difference is a fact of the car's geometry or special cases of suspension wear.

Just wondering...

Johnny

There are height differences in a stock car...you could have some mounts or something too...let's see the battery is on that side..you sit on that side...could be alot of things...

Get some height adjustable coilovers..collar type..= problem solved

SleepR1

with stock shocks. As Johnny says, only threaded body coilover-shocks will solve the uneven ride height

RX7FAN

Come on.

A battery is maybe 35 pounds on it's heaviest day. This ride height is on new springs and shocks. No driver on the inside. Was this a design problem?, What other car sit's this way on purpose? Just wanted to know if there was a real reason for this other than "thats just the way it is"

But thanks for the replies, More than I get on the 3RD gen Section.

SleepR1

The home market for the FD Rx7 car is Japan. They have Right-Hand-Drive in Japan. The steering column is on the right-hand side, so the Japanese engineers may have compensated for that somehow in the FD's chassis design by having suspension mounting points that are slightly higher on the left-front, thus lowering that corner to make it even with the right-front with right-hand-drive steering column in place??

The Rest Of World FD Rx7s came with Left-Hand drive. The steering column's on the left-hand side. If Mazda didn't want to spend extra money preparing 2 different chassis, then perhaps they left the design compensation in the ROW cars, thus creating this uneven ride height in the driver's front corner in our cars??

I have absolutely no data to confirm this, but it's certainly a plausible explanation, no????

swoop

sometimes manufacturers set left and right geometry differnt to compensate for the crown of the road. maybe that might have something to do with it.

SleepR1

...corner-weigh the car, and forget about uneven front-end ride heights!

RX7FAN

I can get by with the looks of a car that from the front seems crooked, Looks are not everything since I used to own a subaru gl station wagon. But when I make a left hand turn and hit a slight bump, or dip ( found on most street to parking lot interfaces) I get a little rub on that side. Front coil-overs will probably allow me to raise that side up but for now I'll just set the koni's up so that the lower spring perch is higher on the left hand side. I beleive I have 10mm to work with in 5mm steps.

corner weighing would be great if someone I knew had the scales, I saw a set in a longacre catalog but a little bit pricy.

Node

iTrader: (1)

That's too bad about the rubbing.
But when're you gonna take me for a ride sometime ;-)
Hopefully I'll see ya again at one of the WestPenn gatherings because I was leaving when we finally met up and realized who each other was at SevenSpeed.
Good luck with your suspension woes,
Ben Martin

hurleyboi514

my FC has the same problem, but im blaming in on saggins springs, and broken shox. could one of your shox have been damaged? just an idea...