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hhmm maybe it was, i remeber seeing a longer stud and a thicker poly urethane bushing on the part that bolts the the steering knuckle............

oh well, if anything they make better quality longer lasting ball joints that are made to take more abuse for the rx7 the mx3 only has oem

You know though, one could lower the car by making an inch spacer between the mounting point

Not completely sure how I would feel about that, but I think one inch could be acceptable. I dont know why I did not think about that before. Aren't they aluminum? You could make an aluminum spacer and weld them together!

There was a GB on CP while back for tubular front control arms. I wanted in on it bad, but bought JDM sideskirts instead. I guess the OE arms are stamped steel they could be modified pretty easily. I might play around with that later on this winter.

Josh wrote:You know though, one could lower the car by making an inch spacer between the mounting point

Not completely sure how I would feel about that, but I think one inch could be acceptable. I dont know why I did not think about that before. Aren't they aluminum? You could make an aluminum spacer and weld them together!

There was a GB on CP while back for tubular front control arms. I wanted in on it bad, but bought JDM sideskirts instead. I guess the OE arms are stamped steel they could be modified pretty easily. I might play around with that later on this winter.

Ride height wont be affected by anything you do with lower ball joint and how its mounted to the spindle or the control arms... It will affect control arm angle...

crazycanadian wrote: Ride height wont be affected by anything you do with lower ball joint and how its mounted to the spindle or the control arms... It will affect control arm angle...

Yep!
I'd be concerned about the safety of putting any spacers between the ball joint and the control arm. Maybe welding would be better, but still seems unsafe. You'd then have to use rx7 ball joints, or modify the mx3 ball joints, since all oem I've seen have that stud in the ball joint mounting bit. The rx7 uses 2 bolts.

yeah I dont know why I was thinking that. If you modified the mounting point of the joint you could lower the chassis, but the more that I think about it it seems kind of dumb, as it would change a bunch of things with the front end. the only thing I found was aftermarket A arms.

Doing it would allow for maintaining the factory control arm angle with respect to chassis on a lowered car. How beneficial would that be?
-lot of lowered mx3's out there, zooming along just fine with their control arms at a slightly different angle...

Changing control arm angle couldn't be that bad, if you were careful you may even see benefits from the extra load on the swaybar. It'd help in cornering, no?

Josh wrote:yeah I dont know why I was thinking that. If you modified the mounting point of the joint you could lower the chassis, but the more that I think about it it seems kind of dumb, as it would change a bunch of things with the front end. the only thing I found was aftermarket A arms.

The only thing you will change is control arm angle.. Chassis height is set by your spring/strut set up and spindle...

stepchyld wrote:Doing it would allow for maintaining the factory control arm angle with respect to chassis on a lowered car. How beneficial would that be?
-lot of lowered mx3's out there, zooming along just fine with their control arms at a slightly different angle...

The level of performance/handling I need out of my car this kind of thing becomes very important.. All though on a street car you wont notice it to much...

MrMazda92 wrote:Changing control arm angle couldn't be that bad, if you were careful you may even see benefits from the extra load on the swaybar. It'd help in cornering, no?

Sway bars are not loaded untill twisted... It doesn't matter where your control arms are at.. The only way to change the load on the sway bar is to change the mounting point on either the bar its self, or the control arm...

I may be confused, but isn't the swaybar under tension whenever the control arms are pushed upwards by the car's weight? This would explain why you have to fight the swaybar when you unbolt a strut assembly, with only one side of the car off the ground, right?

I'm still new to all of this, but that's my understanding of it.

MrMazda92 wrote:I may be confused, but isn't the swaybar under tension whenever the control arms are pushed upwards by the car's weight? This would explain why you have to fight the swaybar when you unbolt a strut assembly, with only one side of the car off the ground, right?

I'm still new to all of this, but that's my understanding of it.

Jack both sides up and then try it...

When you have 1 side on the ground and 1 side in the air you are trying to twist the sway bar... When the car is sitting on the ground level the sway bar is just sitting there doing nothing... If you hit a bump with both tires at the same time the sway bar goes along for the ride... The sway bar only comes into play when there is a difference in movement between left and right control arms..

That's my point about jacking both sides!

So as long as the control arms are even, the swaybar is unaffected? I see my mistake now.. I thought that if both were "raised" by using a spacer between the lower ball joint and the control arm, it'd add a little pressure to both sides.

in regards to ball joint stud size and spindle fitment, if i do have the early spindle with the smaller stud could i not just drill or dremel it out the couple mm to make them fit? its such a small amount of metal that needs to be removed......

mx3matt wrote:in regards to ball joint stud size and spindle fitment, if i do have the early spindle with the smaller stud could i not just drill or dremel it out the couple mm to make them fit? its such a small amount of metal that needs to be removed......

You could... I would try and drill it out rather then dremel it...

I thought that there was a FAQ on this from back in the day. I think they used to just drill them out. That's what I am going to do, If I need to, mins a 94'. I wanted to change the front ball joints anyways. and it will put the wheels out just that extra bit i was looking for. I have 10mm spacers on now and its just a smidge in from where I want it. I have camber plates so I can adjust the hell out of it.


Yeah I started thinking about the other suspension components and don't really know what I was thinking complete brain fart.

Josh wrote:I thought that there was a FAQ on this from back in the day. I think they used to just drill them out. That's what I am going to do, If I need to, mins a 94'. I wanted to change the front ball joints anyways. and it will put the wheels out just that extra bit i was looking for. I have 10mm spacers on now and its just a smidge in from where I want it. I have camber plates so I can adjust the hell out of it.


Yeah I started thinking about the other suspension components and don't really know what I was thinking complete brain fart.

Yours being a 94 might have the larger ball joints all ready Josh... The spindles I am using came off my girl friends old 94 GS...