It's been a long time since I've posted an update, so here's what I've been up to lately!
After my initial suspension swap, everything felt way too stiff and I hated it, so I went back to stock until I could find some softer springs. A friend at work suggested Autolign in Petone (http://www.autolign.co.nz/) so I had them make some softer springs for the front. They use a company on the south island called Cobra. They also come in red.
Here's a shot of the Silk Road shocks under the rubber boot:
^ This is why they're so expensive. LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT PISTON!! O_O
The originals were 4k front and 5k rear, so I figured I could just put 3k springs in the front, and move the original 4k fronts to the rear. The only problem was the difference in size. Cobra couldn't make shorter springs, so I wasn't able to adjust the front low enough, or the rear high enough. That and the new springs felt almost as stiff as the originals.
In the end, I put the suspension back together with all Silk Road components the day before Hardpark 2016. This was an amazing car meet.. possibly the biggest I've ever been to.
There were crowds around the AZ-1 all day long :) Now that I'd settled on the suspension, it was time to finally put those Yokohama Advan Neovas on!
Plenty of room in there.
Snug. I dropped the car and tires off at Bridgestone on Adelaide Road. Even before mentioning that I had fully adjustable suspension, the guy asked if I wanted it set up to any specs.
A few hours later, the tires were fitted:
Beafy!! That looks right. I went as big as possible. In fact, the fronts rub on full lock, and the rears were rubbing on every little bump. They even rubbed when I accelerated too hard.
The Bridgestone guys aligned it as best they could, but the curb I smashed in my last autocross event bent the right-side steering arm. I'm going to take it into Mazda this week to see if they can order a new one, and possibly some tie rods. I'm going to end up replacing everything with new parts eventually.
Japanese auctions are a problem. I came across someone selling Mazdaspeed strut bars and had to bid. I was up until 1:30am battling someone for the front bars. They're really rare, so it was worth it to me.
I love checking out the Japanese newspaper they use to pack everything with.
More bars because race car! :D
In the rear, it got interesting. I had to raise the springs so the tires wouldn't rub, so while it was all apart, I installed the rear strut bar. Getting the mounts to fit was a huge pain (you have to remove the intake pipe to tighten the nut down). I really hope I don't have to adjust my camber again.
Rigidity! Now it's sitting right and handles like a dream.
A little bonus.... something else came in the mail that I'm pretty excited about. Stay tuned!
So, do you speak Japanese, or are you just really lucky with figuring out what everything means on the auctions? I couldn't have imagined anyone really made parts for autozams anymore.
ReplyDeleteHaha, nope. I've just gotten really creative with Google Translate. Actually the auctions (www.jauce.com) have auto-translate options, so it's pretty easy. Emailing around about suspension and turbos was tricky, but everyone in Japan has been super helpful. Some companies don't sell AZ1 parts anymore, but they were happy to pass me along to other places, like News (for the turbo/ecu/etc). Silk Road got me in touch with an Australian living over there, so dealing with him was super easy. I'm as surprised as you that there is still aftermarket support for a car they only ever made around 4000 of!
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