MrMazda92's '92 GS - New daily

[MrMazda92]

Remember that stubborn axle nut I couldn't break loose?

5' of cheater bar + a hell of a lot of torque applied by my own legs... Hah, bastard broke loose FINALLY.
The other side naturally popped off with barely any effort -.-

At last I can take the MX-3 spindles off and verify 100% that the suspension geometry will be identical with the new setup, as well as taking exact measurements to cut down the Probe spindle where it mounts to the strut.

Remaining for the fronts:
- Pick a set of rotors
- Have the new bearings pressed in
- Grind the spindle>strut mounting surface down
- Bolt it all up

The seller who has the FD wheels I'm after is hard to pin down for a time and date... With my own schedule being hectic as living hell, it could take a while.

I seriously miss driving this car... but it WILL be worth it when I have her back on the road!!

The Mazda3 shift knob fit perfectly, as expected, but it does sit about 15mm higher than my drilled stock knob did. ;( I also need to get one of the MazdaSpeed shift boot mounts, so the boot will actually attach to the knob. The angle of the grip on the knob isn't as comfortable in my hand, but the added weight does slightly reduce the force required to shift(coupled with the additional leverage of a taller knob).

[MrMazda92]

I just dropped the spindles off at a local machine shop for slight modification, the nub that the strut mounts to will be thinned out a little, to fit our stock struts.

I could have cut it down with a saw and used a combination of grinding/filing to finish the piece, but I honestly felt more comfortable with a guarantee that the cut will be straight and true.

That being said, this type of thing DOES raise the costs of the upgrade...

So far, the tally sits at:
$140 Brand new(under 3,000 mile) MS6 brake calipers
$50 Used 1st gen Probe spindles
$30 for machining
~$45 LBJs

I still need pads and rotors, I'm leaning towards the Hawk HPS and stock rotors for now. I wanted to find a lightweight 2 piece rotor to keep the weight closer to stock MX-3, but that isn't in my budget at this time.

The RX7 wheels are still on the top of my wishlist, but the seller I've been planning to meet keeps dropping the ball. I'm getting a little impatient with him, to the point that I'm considering a different set of wheels.

[Sleeper6]

I have to say I'm very curious how you plan on dealing with the differet toe geometry on the 1st gen spindles, youve been very attentive to details prior and I didnt see anything noted on the different tie rod mounting angles, something secret planned?

[MrMazda92]

I wanted to let you all know that I chose the 1st gen spindles over the 2nd gen for one reason... They're lighter.

Mechanically speaking, either set will work for this upgrade... The 1st gen simply have a little bit less material in a few places on the casting.

[WhiteFinish]

Cool stuff.

But

[MrMazda92]

Oh nooooo!!! I thought those days were behind me!!

I'm picking the spindles up from the machine shop later today, I'll clean them up and bolt the MS6 calipers to them... I had wanted to wait for rotors, but they're slow in coming.

[MrMazda92]

As it turns out, the machinist made a mistake on my spindles... I may need to buy a new set at this point.

I'd be better off picking up a Probe or MX6 with body damage/trans failure at this point, and just ripping parts off of it to make this worthwhile.

[MrMazda92]

So... On topic of the rear spindle:

If I cut these stubs(bushing extensions?) off, will I be able to replace them with the Energy poly bushings? Looking at the stock setup vs. the Energy products, I don't see how they directly replace these.

Forgive the picture being a different model, I'm unable to send pictures from my phone currently...

[MrMazda92]

I just ordered the Energy suspension bushings for the rear left corner(TTLs) as a "trial" for the product.

If the install is fairly straight forward, and I am satisfied with fitment, I'll do the rear passenger side next.
At this point, I still need to pick up replacement sleeves for the stock bushings, and the thru-bolt for the spindle...

[wytbishop]

A few posts before this post you'll see a pic of the test fit I did with my prototype busing set.

The bushing you're referring to is unlike the others. If the ES bushing doesn't look like this (I'm not sure what part number you bought) it won't work the same way. That bushing is essential to the passive 4 wheel steering of the MX-3.

[MrMazda92]

I'm still bummed that I didn't get to jump on the wytbushings bulkbuy.

This is the guide I referred to for part #s: http://www.mx-3.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.ph ... suspension

Without the original photos it's hard to tell, but it looks as if lakersfan1 doubled up the bushings on the rear facing side of the spindle, to "fill the gap" so to speak between the lateral links and the spindle. Have you seen that particular setup photographed before? I still need to find a junkyard spindle to rob the bushing sleeves from...

As a side note, how long did you spend cleaning up and painting that spindle? Work like that humbles my best efforts to date!

I've been thinking about doing something similar before I put the car back on the road... I'm at that crossroad of "How much money do I really want to spend on this car?" finally... To the point that I am thinking really hard about trimming down to 1 MX-3 and dedicating it to summer/track use.

[wytbishop]

Don't beat yourself up. Those spindles were new and the last new pair in existance as far as my parts guy could tell. he found them in Ontario.

It was never clear to me exactly how he handled the longer bushing on the back of the spindle. Based on his description it seems like he left the exposed part of the stock rubber bushing on the sleeve and butted the new ES bushing up against it. If he says it worked well I won't argue the point but from a physics perspective it would really change the way that bushing would behave. I would not do it that way.

having said that, it may be your only option. When you do it, make sure that the new bushing is very tight against the old bushing material.

[MrMazda92]

Well damn, I wish I could see a brand new MX-3 undercarriage right off the showroom floor...

I'll figure something out, I may end up grabbing the entire left half of the TTLs so I can nab the intact bushings and make this as close to factory fit as possible. I'm running out of time to get this car running, since I now have to move again...

Thank you for the suggestions Charlie!

[MrMazda92]

Woooh!

I picked up the rear Probe items I needed for the rest of the 5 lug conversion! Now I just need to pick up a set of 5x114 wheels...

[MrMazda92]

Blah.

I dropped the rear subframe FINALLY, the weather was phenomenal and we got a lot done on my '92 today. Spent some time on the '93 as well. The subframe is bent to the point that repair isn't in the cards.

My exhaust is rusted through in 10+ places, so that's getting completely canned. Handbrake cables have been replaced with the Probe ones for added length, and the spindles will go on when I find a new subframe to replace the bent one... The entire setup will come together with polyeurethane bushings and brand new pads/resurfaced rotors all around.

I still need to pick up one of the 2 sets of FD wheels available in western Oregon currently... That should come together sometime next month, hopefully... I'm getting awfully tired of walking past this car every single day without being able to drive it.

The final work I did was removing the valvecovers, cleaning the heads/covers and replacing the gaskets with new OEM style + Hondabond gasket maker, the ONLY Honda brand item I'll ever use on my car. That takes care of the 1 qt/100 miles leak problem I had... I'm doing some interesting stuff to the K8 currently, considering some pretty unusual changes that I have bounced around in my head over the past year.

On a side note, I bought a Springfield XD45 last night, can't wait until I can make it out to the range and put a few boxes through it. That'll be a nice way to take my mind off of the car being inoperable still...