MX-3 vs. 323 front & rear lower control arms

[Rayman]

does anyone know if the MX-3 front and rear LCAs are interchangeable with the ones from a 90-94 323/protege?

i ask b/c i have a 323 that has the subframe swapped from a MX-3. well i didn't know that when i ordered the rear sway bar, and now the new endlinks won't/can't bolt to the MX-3 LCA, b/c the opening for the endlinks to slide through is much bigger. I cross referenced a picture of the 323 rear LCA and the same hole is just a smaller circle. so w/o having to spend another 140 bucks on the MX-3 sway bar, i wanted to see if i can just change over the LCAs which looks similar enough in photos to make me investigate.


same issue for the front, i have not yet bought a front sway bar, but i have bought the bushing kit for a 90-94 323/protege/escort/neon. same issue, the end flanges of the bar is vertical where the new upgrade endlinks require it to be horizontal, and in addition, there is no mounting point on the current MX-3 front LCAs. not to mention i haven't been able to find a MX-3 front sway bar upgrade, but there is a 323/protege one, so i'm wondering if the front LCAs can be swapped back over to the 323.

can anyone shed any light on this?


ps. i will post pics soon to show what i'm talking about if it seems confusing, but if u know the solution, im sure u know what im talking about.

[wytbishop]

Yes the 332/Protege/Escort GT rear lateral links will bolt up. You will find however that they are slightly shorter. It's not a huge difference but it will be noticeable on the car.

As for the front, I can't say for sure. I think the bolt pattern on the rear bushing (the shelled one) will be different. I would try putting the MX-3 rear bushing onto a 323 LCA and see if it fits. I think it will. You could just make a hole in the MX-3 LCA and use the Protege/323/Escort end link bolts. I've seen other guys put holes in the LCA's for other reasons. Actually there's a thread on here not long ago where someone found out that stock end links for another vehicle were really cheap but the configuration was different so he put a hole in his LCA's to bolt these other links the way the Protege/323/Escort ones do.

As a general note, almost all of the bushings on those cars are a smaller diameter. So even though the suspension parts will probably bolt up they won't perform as well as MX-3 pieces. At least not with stock rubber bushings.