Ahh, whaddya gonna do?

 

Not sure about Ray, but the guy who owned Ray's nuts was sure keen to sell them...

 

I love to have some close up of the parts please. Label on the shock and the look of the spring.

If you kindy do.....

 

I'm happy to do that if someone can tell me how to get photos from my mobile onto my computer.

Still waiting on the springs and the other two shocks...

 

Wow, what a party that'll be.

Received a notice today that Customs have my remaining stuff. Have to prove I'm under the limit before they'll get 'em to me.

Costs so far have worked out as follows:

Parts - $US636 = roughly $AUD850, depending on the exchange rate when you order them.

Shipping - $US200 for priority shipping. You'll pay a lot less for the slow boat but you'll also wait 4 weeks or so. I'm too impatient for that.

This all worked out to a snick over $AUD1,150 on the credit card. I don't expect to pay any duty as I'm under the $AUD1,000 limit. GST may be payable though - I'll find out soon enough.

BTW, Jason at OnlineMazdaParts.com told me shipping actually came to $252 and change, but he honoured his quoted shipping price of $200. That kinda service is why so many people prefer him to other online parts places.

I'll report on installation costs later.

 

Any idea of the spring rates on the new ones?Preferably in pounds as it makes more sense to us old people.....
Cheers
Len

 

Sorry Len. I did know but I've misplaced the piece of paper with that info on it.

Apart from the spring rate, you get a 20mm drop on stock ride height.

If I find the spring rate again, I'll PM you.

 

I have been observing for years (2003 Titanium) this is my first post.
Great group.

I am interested in how this goes. I am considering following the leader. With your new Rims have you already or are you expecting to have to roll/trim the internal guard edges?

Also, a before and after would be great - side on.

 

WElcome boofhead.

Since you have been observing so much, you'll know that who is full of $hit here.

 

Thanks Taka. I will try and keep to the same level as you all have been able to achieve. O look its off topic again - I am fitting right in. :-)

 

Dave, in your first post you mention camber/castor/toe settings.

With stock suspension, you can SQUEEZE -1.5 camber from the front and -2.5 from the rear with OEM castor settings. However i found that its totaly unbalanced and will understeer badly at the those settings. I go with -1.5 front/back now for track. For Sandown this week I am going to sacrifice some straight line stability and play with more +ve castor (Stock is roughly +6.5) to try and gain some more -ve camber in the front. If I can gain some I will match the rear to that gain.

Cheers

Andrew

I also believe some toe in will negate some of this loss.

 

Thanks Kall.

 

Hi boofhead.

Yes, there's a definite possibility that I'll have to roll the internal guard edges. They're fine at the moment but I think I'll be rubbing on harder bumps once the car is lowered a little.

I'll try to remember to get some before and after shots. If I forget, I'll get some taken of my car and a stock car at the Nats for comparison purposes.

 

Is that directed at me Taka?

 

Thanks for that advice Andrew.

I'm going to plump for a pretty conservative street set up at this stage since my track days are so few and far between. My installer has mucho experience so I'm happy to take his advice and see what he recommends.

 

I'm hoping you're right Kall but my offset is at the limit, as this pic hopefully indicates. EDIT - actually, it doesn't show it that well because the top of the tyre is shadowed.

I'm confident the fronts will be okay (given the stock clearance) but I'm still not sure about the rears.

I'll soon find out (if Customs ever clear the remaining parts ).

 

Woohoo! Remaining parts cleared Customs with no duty paid.

Hopefully receive them today or tomorrow.

 

I know a lot of people say that you shouldnt run with a lot of -ve camber on the rear when on the street as it will scrub tyres. but I ran around for almost 12 months with -1.5 all around on the street and noticed no real unbalanced wear. But even if you did, you could rotate tyres across every 5000k's. Its definately a nice drive with all that camber.

 

All the guys who responded to a similar query in the suspension forum reckon that I should keep the settings stock for the MS suspension.

I'm leaning that way too, subject to any further advice I get from my installer. Can always play with it later once I've got a feel for the car with the new bits installed.

 

My thoughts are this. Camber, Castor and Toe settings for street use do not need to be changed for any shock/spring setting. In essence the shocker and spring being changed wont affect the things these setting have.

A side note here to explain that during travel of the wheel the camber and castor are different than when they are in their normal position, ie when they are on the alignment machine. Reason I mention this is that there is the potential for some side effects with stiffer setup. With stiffer setup, the wheel doesnt travel as far and so doesnt go to through as big a change. But thats one of the reasons you go with stiffer setup.

Anyway, back to my point. Yes there is no need to change from the OEM settings and you are right that its probably a good place to start from, however I think you will be doing yourself and injustice to not play around and see the effects of making the changes.

Cheers

Andrew