Good news and bad news (AGX install)

[altiain]

Well, the bumpstops I'd ordered from Mazdaspeed showed up this afternoon, so I took the evening to put the KYB AGXs I bought on the car.

First the good news. The install was a snap - the KYB spring perches are basically identical to the ones on the Sport Package Bilsteins (same distance from the perch to the lower eyelet, designed for same OD springs, same shaft diameter as the Bilsteins), and everything bolted to gether just fine, In fact, the KYBs were an easier install than the used Koni yellows I owned a couple of years ago, as the Konis required the OEM upper mounts to be drilled out for the larger shaft diameter.

Took the car for a spin when I was done, and the Bilsteins were definitely well past their best. The KYBs set on 2 (and a new set of bumpstops all around) soaked up small pavement imperfections much better than my tired old Bilsteins, and the damping on larger inputs was much better. It certainly rides a lot better (although it's still a sports car, not a Cadillac), but no idea yet if it will handle better.

Unfortunately, the bad news is that I couldn't really push the car hard on my test drive. While I was working on the car tonight, I discovered that both of my front swaybar mounts are toast - the right one is cracked completely through, and the left one has visible hairline cracks in it. The collars I put on my FM bar were still in place, the bar was still centered, and it still moved easily. Based on what I can see, I'm beginning to think that maybe the swaybar mount failures really are fatigue failures. After 94,000 miles and three seasons of autocrossing, I guess my car really did need a little freshening!

Anyway, I guess I'm going to have to order the Mazdaspeed mounts... but Mazdacomp is closed until after the 1st.

One other interesting thing - I replaced the upper right front control arm while I was doing the shocks (the bushings were starting to tear on the original one), and I noticed that the replacement arm I ordered from Mazdacomp has some additional gusseting that isn't on the original arm. It seems to be the proper part number. I'll post some pics tomorrow.

[Ataim]

I thought that you were gonna be done at 10pm. Your post is at almost 3am

Good that it got done and everything rides better. Sorry about mounts, I think I'l take a closer look at mine later.

Paul

[altiain]

I thought that you were gonna be done at 10pm. Your post is at almost 3am

Good that it got done and everything rides better. Sorry about mounts, I think I'l take a closer look at mine later.

Paul

Nah, I finished up around 10:15. Then I came inside, made dinner, and sat down and watched a movie with the wife. My neighbors would have lynched me if I was still working on the car at 3am.

[sammm]

So now we know for sure! The AGX's can be used with the Sport springs. One would think that the Bilstein's can be mounted on stock springs then, right?

[altiain]

Sounds reasonable to me. You're welcome to borrow my old Bilsteins to check the fit if you want.

[fwMiata]

i would recommend using the racing beat swaybar endlinks, if you are going to go with some other upgrade over stock, as the spherical bearing ones are very rough on the street.

[altiain]

I would recommend using the racing beat swaybar endlinks, if you are going to go with some other upgrade over stock, as the spherical bearing ones are very rough on the street.

Thanks, but I had a set of the RB endlinks and went back to stock. I'm not a big fan of the RB endlinks - their design doesn't really allow for the necessary freedom of movement at each of the endlink joints, imho.

[fwMiata]

true, i was suggesting them instead of the spherical bearings, but looks like you already know what you want.

[general default]

..., as the spherical bearing ones are very rough on the street.

Can you be more descriptive of what you mean above. Are you saying that the spherical bearings transmits more vibration to the bar and thus help fatigue the sway bar mounts?

Anyone have a good source of suitable spherical bearings locally?
I guess suitable and cheap don't belong in the same sentence.

The only draw back to the stock M2 links are they break, their expense, and are not adjustable. Other than that I like them. Now they may break because the bar mount has already broken. Not sure what order LugnutJon's equipment failed.

altiain's UPS driver has a MazdaSpeed sticker on his brown truck he has delivered so many parts this month. :P

[altiain]

The only draw back to the stock M2 links are they break, their expense, and are not adjustable. Other than that I like them. Now they may break because the bar mount has already broken. Not sure what order LugnutJon's equipment failed.

Lugnutjon's endlink failed because the car owner applied too much torque to said link while trying to remove it. It had nothing to do with the mount failure.

altiain's UPS driver has a MazdaSpeed sticker on his brown truck he has delivered so many parts this month. :P

Y'know, I've got some left over from the Houston Tour last year. I ought to offer him one the next time he comes by.

[altiain]

Anyone have a good source of suitable spherical bearings locally?
I guess suitable and cheap don't belong in the same sentence.

I give you the second best catalog on the planet, next to Victoria's Secret: McMaster-Carr.

Search for "ball joint rod ends". They've even got MILSPEC pieces, if you really want to impress people at parties.

[general default]

Thanks! for the catalog tips. McMaster-Carr catalog with over 410,000 parts... I guess they will be busy the next few days counting them all.

Still a bummer to hear about your front bar brackets.