JDM MazdaSpeed B-Spec. Suspension

[TheMAN]

REPOSTED FROM CLUBPROTEGE. ORIGINALLY POSTED ON 3/24/2005.

ANY negative comments regarding price will NOT be tollerated as it is OBVIOUS that this s*** is expensive!


after over 2 and a half years of putting this s*** off, I finally said **** it and ordered this s***.... the struts are only one of several sets still readily available in the US... the springs are only 1 of 3 known sets in north america.... there was tremendous difficulty in getting this s*** because mazda motorsports can no longer get them from Japan.... had I not put this off for so long, it would've been easy to get this s*** over a year ago.... all in all the springs and struts was around $1100, and that's below cost!

the suspension was originally meant for the ZL engined S-Wagons... because the S-Wagons weigh a bit more than the sedan and the non-US models have less bumper reinforcements, the US spec sedan has comparable weights with the BJ5W... in otherwords, the s*** should work fine

 

[TheMAN]

custom made eibach linear rate springs
these are the stiffest commerically available springs for the BJ.... the next step up is the SCCA showroom stock trunk kit's springs which is not too significantly stiffer or any of the *real* coil over kits out there

the springs are NOT powdercoated black... they are powdercoated in a metallic gunmetal gray.... definately looks awesome!

for a properly matched setup, the A-Spec. adjustable struts will be used

 

[TheMAN]

front strut (made by KYB)
4 way adjustable at the top of the piston shaft

 

[TheMAN]

rear strut
5 way adjustable at the side of the strut body which faces the back of the car once installed

 

[TheMAN]

lots of instructions, warranty card, and a nice set of stickers that are too nice to put on a car

 

[TheMAN]

strut instructions

 

[TheMAN]

finally to complement the suspension as a whole, MazdaSpeed front upper strut mounts, rear trailing links, and bump stops will be used

all other hardware (such as dust boots) related to putting together a strut/spring assembly will be new parts.... this will be done so that everything will be perfect as well as allowing me to keep my stock s*** as readily installable backups (which is the main reason)

everything will be installed once the Racing Beat/MSP sway bars are here (ordered today)

 

[TheMAN]

unfortunately the short front sway bar end links (from a 99) will have to be used.... luckily the MSP sway bar kit only come with new rear end links so no parts wasted!

 

[TheMAN]

all assembled these past 2 days and ready to install
the installation will be done once the sway bars are here

 

[TheMAN]

front strut adjustment

 

[TheMAN]

due to shipping logistic difficulties, it took some time to get the MSP Racing Beat sway bars... I finally got off my lazy ass to take the pics.... they arrived on wednesday

I managed to have the latest front and rear sway bar bushings sent to me also

everything will be installed next thursday

 

[TheMAN]

finally got the s*** installed.... it took 8 hours to do EVERYTHING... I had 2 buddies help me install the s***... let me remind everyone again... the front sway bar is a royal PITA... we had to unbolt the steering rack (and hang it), loosen the subframe bolts just under where the sway bar is, and then pry the s*** out of the whole thing just to barely brute force this s*** out... OTOH, we didn't have to take off the exhaust midpipe or shifter linkage.... so I got spare new exhaust gaskets now

with the dampers set on 2/2 right now, everything is well damped and the ride is not harsh at all... can't say how it handles yet because everything is ****** up right now... getting the alignment done tomorrow

oh yeah, despite greasing the s*** out of those bushings with energy suspension bushing grease, I join the clunk club now :mad:

didn't have time to take pics and the camera's batteries were practically dead.... but here's the only one I took....

 

[03.5MSP]

Damn, this will give you one nice setup, I think with this setup the msp or any 3rd gen protege would be an auto cross monster.

 

[TheMAN]

figured out where the clunk was coming from.... it's the rear upper strut mounts... at first I thought I didn't tighten the strut piston nut tight enough, so I tried to blast it tighter with an impact wrench at max setting some more... it didn't budge... so obviously, it was tightened all the way... it sounded like blown struts at first and I thought that the struts are not dampening enough.... so I maxed the s*** out (and surprisingly, the ride was just stiff but not bone jarring... just very well damped) and it didn't do it as much....

I had my friend ride in the back while the clunks were happening and he saw the whole strut float off the upper mounts! basically, there's a big lemon shaped washer that goes on top of the upper strut mount and of course a nut on top of it... whenever a ****** up bump happens, the whole thing just flies up for a few millimeters.... apparently, the rear sway bar is brute forcing the whole strut upwards when it's not supposed to and causing the strut to brute force the weak sauce upper mount's rubber

I don't know about you MP3/MSP guys, but I think getting more brute force upper strut mounts will fix this clunk problem

anyhow... I have the s*** set to 3/3 right now and it rides only slightly stiffer than an MSP... basically the ride is not bad at all.... the car handles very neutral of course but even under throttle! and it's very easy to create oversteer too

 

[TheMAN]

some more pics....
front:

rear:

 

[TheMAN]

front wheel gap

 

[TheMAN]

rear wheel gap

 

[TheMAN]

as my friend suspected, the tightly coiled parts of the springs do nothing but act as "helpers" (like helper springs in a coil over setup) which keep the springs seated on the perches during suspension unloading (going over holes/bumps and lifting the car off the ground).... in fact on the rear springs, when the car is on the ground, those coils are stuck together

the springs DO act linear but despite the stiff spring rate, the struts dampen them very well (that's because they're matched for the springs) thus a harsh ride does not occur

there is almost no squat and dive on the car now and there is NO body roll during cornering.... the car is just flat and glued to the road!

 

[TheMAN]

as I thought, I could only barely fit 1 washer on that s***..... luckily I bought a set of OEM nuts, the tokico ones that came with the struts were much taller (at the shank and at the top where it had the nylon lock).... the OEM nuts were a bit shorter partly because it didn't have the nylon lock, but it did have some locktite type s*** on the threads already... by using the OEM nuts I was able to use 2 M12 washers

the clunk is still there, but it made a major difference... now it just "tinks" a bit sometimes on some ****** up bumps.... I can live with this s*** for now.... the clunk before was just completely unnerving.... like I said, it's the weak sauce rubber in the upper mount that's causing this s*** to happen.... the suspension is too brute force for that piece of s***!

I didn't bother taking off the whole strut.... **** that... it was much easier ripping apart the interior to get a big wrench to hold the lemon shaped washer and use an impact to blast the nut off

all it needed was some stage 1 weight reduction to make s*** accessible

 

[TheMAN]

after about a month of the ghetto washer "fix", the clunk was back to where it was again... insanely annoying

so I said **** it and gambled on the P5 rear strut mounts.... I got that s*** installed today and now the clunk is 99% gone.... the whole car feels a lot more solid now... road vibrations are now more pronounced (but not annoying).... going over bumps feels solid now from the rear... if it clunks it's barely audible and only "tinks" 1 time instead of the s*** rattling like crazy before... clunk is basically now non-existant during stopping and it only barely clunks on some VERY ****** up bumps.... this is DEFINATELY better than even the first day I had the suspension installed

all of this is very livable
the downside is, they bring the rear end up about 1cm... oh well... having the front lower than the back is better for FWD handling anyway

as for the lemon shaped washers, the keyway stub that's in the hole got completely pwned... it got mashed up by either the ****** up clunking or from me using an impact wrench to blast the nut onto the strut..... either way, I don't recommend this installation method and DEFINATELY use a torque wrench to tighten it!.... I installed the s*** again using an impact because I didn't have a choice... I was reusing the OEM nuts and didn't have any locktite on hand... nor could I get the new lemon shaped washers... so since they were already pwned, I did my best to position them where they were supposed to be and blasted the s*** out of the nut... well it's on and it's quite installed... still using the ghetto washer trick of course, just in case

the sedan strut mounts that I just took off are quite ****** up... the bottom side of the rubber bushing got spun a bit and a piece of it got ripped off... and since some paint overspray was on the rubber bushing at the top side, you could see major bushing deformation took place just by looking at the paint cracks that are on the rubber

well I learned my lesson and luckily it wasn't expensive.... if you're using springs meant for the wagon, USE the wagon/P5 rear strut mounts! if you have brute force springs or shocks, USE the wagon/P5 rear strut mounts! the wagon/P5 rear strut mounts have a significantly stiffer bushing but to what percentage of stiffness versus the sedan s***, I have no idea
they can be identified by 2 longer mounting studs out of the total 3 compared to the sedan s*** which are all the same short (1 1/4" or so length)

but for people who have problems with the front end too high and the rear end too low with their lowering springs (other than what I have), then definately give the P5 rear strut mounts a try also

as far as handling difference so far, I haven't had a real chance of taking corners hard yet... but I'm sure the handling has improved or became more responsive... it'll be a few days before I'm sure

glad the gamble paid off, yet again!