New to Racing need help with suspension Ideas.

C

cherbi7

New member
I am new to road racing and am lost on what to do with the suspension. I am on a strict budget and cannot spend a lot of money. I have been looking at this stuff and was wondering am I on the right track or not?
0000-04-7201-AC C KIT, STRUT TUBE 1 RX-7 1986-91 $333.00

0000-04-7250 C CONTROL ARM BRG KIT(RR) 1 ALL FC RX-7 1986-92 $211.15


0000-04-7211-KN C FRONT SHOCK (REQ'S NUT) 1 ALL RX-7 1986-91 $183.25

0000-04-7404-KT C BUSH KIT,TOE-STEER ELIM 1 ALL RX-7 1986-91 $67.05

FRONT = KONI 8610-1149
REAR = KONI 8241-1050 sport

0000-04-7211-KN C FRONT SHOCK (REQ'S NUT) 1 ALL RX-7 1986-91 $183.25

0000-04-7215-KN C FRT KONI 1 ALL RX-7 1986-91 $188.50


0000-04-7216-KN C RR KONI 1 ALL RX-7 1986-91 $125.20

0000-04-7214-KN C SHOCK, RR 1 ALL COIL-OVER STRUT KIT 1986-91 $190.10

I have seen many posts on suspension ideas but they are four or five years old and I was wondering I there are better things out there for similar prices. I live in the St. Louis area so midwest region If anyone can help me I would greatly appreciate it.
 
1986 Rx-7

I have a 1986 Rx-7 just put the cage in was was going to move onto suspension. All of the numbers are mazdaspeed. Any information is greatly appreciated!
 
you can typically get suspension stuff cheaper elsewhere than from mazda.

there are a few rx7 guys in your area, i suspect scott rhea will chime in eventually. he's also in stl.

welcome to the division.
 
you could start with any brand shocks , i would start with 400/425 frt springs and 250/275 rears. get a 1 1/4" speedway type frt swaybar. thats a good start.check with/or on the used parts sections. lets go racing !! ralph
 
I can't say much as our IT car isn't running yet. But from what I've seen on this forum as well as some others:

AWR rear steer eliminators

Ditch the rear sway bar

The speedway front sway bar

Rear Camber adjuster (single rod type)

We went with some cheap Megan coilovers, we race on a very bumpy surface on an old runway and repairing/rebuilding a set of coilovers every couple of years can get spendy up here. Plus, we couldn't see spending more on coilovers than the car is worth LOL.

We also replaced all the bushings with some polyurethane replacements.

I don't know if that stuff will work, but its a good start for a place that doesn't have LOTS of well prepared race cars.
 
You don't NEED the bearing kit for the control arms.

I would probably get this suspension stuff in this order:

Rear steer eliminator bushings

Threaded body coil-over shocks. (Probably with race Konis or Bilsteins for simplicity and springs about 400 front and 275 rear like was mentioned) That means that you'll want new front strut housings that are threaded, too. (Mine are Ground Control and they are very nice.)

front camber plates and rear camber adjuster rod (although I think the individual ones for each side probably work better. I can't get the camber even on both sides with the rod.)

Front speedway style sway bar (and remove the rear bar)

full set of Delrin bushings for all legal places (no motor mounts, etc)

front upper-strut bar

That's a good suspension setup. You can add other stuff like bearings for the control arms later, but if you get all that stuff you'll be in business.
 
more help

Are there any books or anything to go by too? I do not know much about the theory behind it and hopefully I can get everything set at a good starting point.
thanks again,
charlie

P.S. the car is second gen and I will be racing ITS.
 
Thanks for the nod Travis, but I know very little about Gen 2 7's. I told Charlie about as much as I could when we put the cage in. Basically it was that he wouldn't go wrong with Koni's if a set came along ;)

He's going to have to go through every square inch of the suspension/brakes/bearings though. The car has sat out in the elements since around 01.
 
i was thinking it was a first gen.....

but yeah, "can't go wrong with koni" is pretty much right. they're on my car. :shrug:
 
Take a look at www.awrracing.com, they offer the best of everything, but prefer Bilsteins over Koni. Consider double adjustable Koni's, check with Flatout.

Alot of the Mazdaspeed parts are sold by other companies such as AWR, and on the flip side alot of parts Mazdaspeed sells are made by other companies such as AWR.

You obviously need to take a look at what you want to do with bushings on the car (bearing, Delrin, poly), some way to adjust camber, coil overs, etc.

Here's a thought... the single adjustable rod for camber in the rear between the subframe and chassis as well as the individual camber adjusters between the control arm and subframe are not legal :o but *most* run them... have not seen a legal way to adjust rear camber.
 
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