J-Protege's Suspension Build Thread
#62
Yay my thread is back! Haha, here's an update to those who are interested (so... Josh mainly )
Ordering Tokico strut+spring setup as the price is right, and a great review from Nik!
Once they get here, just need the bumpstops and endlinks, and brackets/bushings, then lots of work to do!
Those 2 sway bars are just begging me to install them!
I went and tossed the car around on the twisties tonite at 4am, no one on the road. I can't imagine how it will handle after all this fun stuff.
And on a sad note, my P5 strut brace I bought seems to be officially lost in the mail. Starting up the 'lost package' insurance process.
Ordering Tokico strut+spring setup as the price is right, and a great review from Nik!
Once they get here, just need the bumpstops and endlinks, and brackets/bushings, then lots of work to do!
Those 2 sway bars are just begging me to install them!
I went and tossed the car around on the twisties tonite at 4am, no one on the road. I can't imagine how it will handle after all this fun stuff.
And on a sad note, my P5 strut brace I bought seems to be officially lost in the mail. Starting up the 'lost package' insurance process.
#67
Jealous. I want MSP sways sooooooo badly. But that front install just puts me right off. =( It would cost more than 1K for parts and labor. But I'm eagerly waiting for your review--vicarious living ftw!
I think you can get a new upper strut tie bar at onlinemazdaparts.com for like $135. Or keep an eye on the for sale subforums. There are always jokers who start thinking their oem bar is somehow not good enough, replace it with some crappy hinged aftermarket unit, and put the oem bar up for sale.
I think you can get a new upper strut tie bar at onlinemazdaparts.com for like $135. Or keep an eye on the for sale subforums. There are always jokers who start thinking their oem bar is somehow not good enough, replace it with some crappy hinged aftermarket unit, and put the oem bar up for sale.
#68
or like me you get some omg wow this is shitty aftermarket bar, put your stocker back on, and sell the hinged one (gtspec piece of garbage) on the forums :P
but that wouldn't help you much because then you'd have a crap hinged one
but that wouldn't help you much because then you'd have a crap hinged one
#71
Well I guess it's about time I contributed to this thread as well. Lots of good info in here, so might as well do my best to add to it. Here's a list of a lot of different springs offered for the 3rd gen Protege platform with the corresponding spring rates, etc.
Might come in handy when deciding on which springs to get, so hope it helps someone..
Might come in handy when deciding on which springs to get, so hope it helps someone..
#72
There's some inaccurate data in there but I don't remember exactly what and don't have time to research it right now. Just as a word of caution, use that as a rough guide and then research the stuff with the company before buying the springs.
#73
Yea it is pretty old now and some new stuff has been found out (MSP vs. RB springs and such) but should be pretty good for the most part. But anyway, thanks for stealing my fire Kansei .. you're awesome
#74
Jealous. I want MSP sways sooooooo badly. But that front install just puts me right off. =( It would cost more than 1K for parts and labor. But I'm eagerly waiting for your review--vicarious living ftw!
I think you can get a new upper strut tie bar at onlinemazdaparts.com for like $135. Or keep an eye on the for sale subforums. There are always jokers who start thinking their oem bar is somehow not good enough, replace it with some crappy hinged aftermarket unit, and put the oem bar up for sale.
I think you can get a new upper strut tie bar at onlinemazdaparts.com for like $135. Or keep an eye on the for sale subforums. There are always jokers who start thinking their oem bar is somehow not good enough, replace it with some crappy hinged aftermarket unit, and put the oem bar up for sale.
Since they didn't want to keep the car for overnight, they quoted me a full day, which is 9.5 hours. That may be my best bet, as the swap install would run close to that alone. It's almost like free shock/spring install, haha.
Also, thanks Fox for the spring guide. Good refference, even if some of it is dated. Curious that the Tokico Springs aren't on it. I guess it's because no one really knows their exact rates.
#75
And Tokico won't give it up.
I think it's most important to know where you're starting from. From what I could gather in my research:
DX: 121/97.5
LX/ES/P5: 134/106
MP3: 147/117
MSP: 158/117
Good to have baseline data.
I think it's most important to know where you're starting from. From what I could gather in my research:
DX: 121/97.5
LX/ES/P5: 134/106
MP3: 147/117
MSP: 158/117
Good to have baseline data.