I'm about to make a move on the Powertrix group buy. however I need to know for sure that they will fit my car being a R3. Has anybody bought coilovers for their R3 and had to specify it was an R3?

I'm wondering about mounting location and hole size I guess. Things like control arm diameter may or may not come into play. I'm not sure.

Thanks

 

The R3 is no different really from the other S II's other than the fact that it had Bilstein shocks and some other minor suspension differences such as sway bars and foam filled cross members.

 

+1, no body difference between R3 and non-r3

 

To put it a little more precisely..

R3 Coils are different front and rear, and as mentioned Bilstein Shocks.

Front Sway Bars are the same.
The R3 has a solid Rear Sway Bar...Same diameter as non R3 hollow Rear Sway Bar.
Wheels are 19'' compared to 18''.

As 9K said foam filled main front Cross Member.

Apart from that Suspension parts and Engine are identical to all Series 2's.

 

I knew about those things. So there's no reason that coilovers wont fit. Thanks for the input!

 

Oh okay, I thought the front bar was different too. IIRC, they are orange dot sways right?

 

NUP...

Series 2 front use F189-34-151 With a Yellow mark, Mazda changed the Part Number to a A ......F189-34-151A from August 28th, 2008...which has an Orange paint mark.

The Front Bars are Identical as interchangeability parts code is AN which is both ways.. or as Mazda puts it.."A NEW PART AND FORMER PART ARE FULLY INTERCHANGEABLE".

F189 is Series 2 Specific P/N.



Having just installed one F189-34-151A (orange) on my MX-5 yesterday, I compared my yellow F189-34-151 on my S2 8 made before above production date, and apart from the paint mark they are identical and they both use the same Bushes F189-34-156.

The Rear Bar is different (R3 uses Solid F197-28-151 Orange mark to FE87-28-151A Yellow.

Also upgrade the 5's Rear Bar with my S2 one, and installed a new R3 rear on the 8.

Bar change on the 5 makes a HUGE difference...this is how is should have come out of the factory, way too much low speed body roll standard...now it is like my 8.

 

Not only will the coilovers fit, but coilovers from a SI RX-8 fit just fine as well. That's what I did back in 09 when everyone kept wondering about it. I just decided to say f*ck it and actually try it. Haven't looked back/regretted it since!