Lucky's Series 3

[ian65]

liking the braided hoses Nik..... got a good supplier for them? I think that braided hoses and silicon hoses in engine bays make the whole thing look more purposeful.

Great news on the magazine spread.... I'll have to invest in a copy and scan it into the 1st gen e-book.

[Lucky]

TBH, Ian, and in a rare and surprising moment, Demon Tweeks are about as cheap as anywhere for braided hose and finishers, but I did buy some off eBay recently. I've got a load left from when I did the FD, but had to get some 6mm ID stuff for the smaller fuel line. These guys seem pretty good; http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Torques-U-K?_t ... 4340.l2563 though their finishers aren't fabulous quality. These ones http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270858973164? ... 1497.l2649 are a bit more better, got a couple to plumb in the new oil bypass doobrie

Here's some pics I took of the mag spreads. Sorry, I'm not sure that I can really take good enough pics for the words to come out, and me no got no scanner. So you'll have to make do with picktchers and fork out £4.40 of your own if you wanna read the article. Or just stand and read it in Smiths and get in the damn way like irritating types always seem to





Exile and FDUK stickers centre stage


This classic piece of automotive sculpture is for sale on eBay as we speak. Yours for only 2.5k

[ian65]

that looks a good article.... mags featuring fbs are few and far between these days.
It's interesting to compare the review of your car with the reviews and road tests in the 1st gen e-book done back in the day..... back in the 80's, no one bemoaned the lack of power steering cause no one had it but these days, we're all used to it and the reviewer of your car mentions it twice.
When does the mag come out?

[Lucky]

Yeah, he seems enraged by the way RX handbrakes stick up, too Mentions it all the time. I guess jumping from one car to another like, minutes apart will always exagerate shortcomings like the FB steering. Drive it in isolation and it's nowhere near as obvious.

I guess the mag must be out in the next few days

[KiwiDave]

I have just returned from shopping, decanted the last items into the cupboard having foregone the purchase of my favorite tassimo discs for a copy of Car Magazine (...it's research dear, it has pictures of rx7's like the ones from Brooklands at the weekend, you should see this one of..... oh, ok then, see you later on after your walk in the pouring rain...).
Safka looks on fine form too. Did you offer to take any photos in suitable sepia type moody hues??

Nice article although quite ironic that Mazda UK has benched the rotary in it's struggle to meet emissions targets when, back in the 70's. the rotary was years ahead in terms of smog busting thermal reactors and monolithic devices, being only too willing to boast that they were already set to exceed the targets set for three years into the future.

Am all set to read it again now, after I figure out how this 'instant' coffee works

[Lucky]

Well, what an utter ******* of a day The only thing I can say about it is that it could have been worse...

I finally got the shocks ordered in to go with the RB springs, so booked the car in at a mate's garage to get it all swapped over. I know that's wimping out, but I thought like this; a) I really don't fancy lying on my drive in the torrential rain the drought's been treating us to trying to drop the rear axle while the car's on stands. b) I've got a really bad back at the moment. c) I didn't want to get to the point where one nut won't undo/I break something/a stud's welded itself to a bush insert with rust and then I can neither finish getting it apart nor put it back together and I'm trapped with the thing blocking my drive/garage. d) did I mention my bad back? e) haven't got any spring compressors for the front. f) my back, you see...

Thank God I took it to the garage. Just through Sod's law, every nut, bolt and stud came apart easily The rear went together nice and sweet;



It was only when the guys got to the front it went Pete Tong. First thing they found was this;



Errrr, farrrrrrrrrrrrrk! Where the smegging hell has the other half of my brake pad gone? Jeez, no wonder the brakes were inconsistent! Things got worse from there on in, though for comparison the springs at least look like they'll bang on do the job they're supposed to;



I reckon with the slightly smaller tyress up front the car's going to be scuffing its gusset over the speed humps on the way into the work car park 8) . This was where it went really weird. The stock strut that came off the front appparently has never been changed. It has a KYB part number on it, and so does the shock insert within the strut assembly. The OE KYB shock was oil only, which helpfully pissed itself when it was taken off



The ones I bought were cheapy ones, still KYB but now oil/gas, so essentially the same but slightly better. From here in fact: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1x-KYB-G-Shoc ... 3844017095 So far, so ordinary. Except the top of the shock is completely different. The "instructions" appear to show a special spacer that sits between the shock body and the large bottom nut, but this spacer wasn't in the kit I was sent



First diagram there. Without the spacer, the shock sits about 5mm too low in the strut, and rattles around, even when the spring and top mount are added. So, the garage rang KYB Europe to ask about htis. They were basically told that a) KYB don't approve of third parties selling their product, especially not on eBay and b) if there was a problem, it was down to me as customer to chase up the eBay firm I bought from, who should then contact KYB who would dispatch the missing parts to them, so they could send them to me. Even after I offered to buy the spacers direct from KYB just to get the car together and off the ramp, they refused point-blank.

So, I contacted the eBay firm, who fortunately actually have a phone number. They were good as gold, got hold of KYB and got straight back to me... with a completely different version. Apparently, the shocks were correct and didn't need a spacer. Once they were done up tight with spring and top mount they'd be fine and no movement would be possible. Ooooooo-kay. Back to the garage.

No, That's bollocks. Still rattle about.

By now I was incandescent with rage, but the shop manager calmed me down and said he'd try ringing around and see if he could make sense of it all. Mazda Rivervale (remember them from my gasket buying tragedy?) were no use, they say that they treat all RX-7s as imports, even ones that were UKDM originally, and therefore don't have detailed part catalogues for them. Eventually we found a rather more tame (and useful) Mazda dealer up north and their parts guy did grudgingly say after much hassle that he could sell complete strut assemblies...£220 plus VAT per side, five days from Belgium

When quoted the original parts numbers from the strut and the OE shock...



...which quite clearly state that they're KYB manufacture, he was unable to match it. KYB claimed there was no such part number, and it must be a mistake. They list one similar but essentially two digits different, and were not willing to supply one for comparison. Basically, their entire attitude is that "you must have made a mistake, it can't possibly be our fault and we ain't helping". Meanwhile, every single motor factor we could ring came up with the same part number as the eBay version that I had, spacer not included.

So, after much timewasting talking to surly, miserable, rude, obnoxious people over the phone, Dave the mechanic came up with this;



Yep, a humble O-ring around the threaded bottom nut is enough to seat the shock perfectly in the strut and stop it rattling. How long it lasts is moot, but at least the car'll be driveable and we can see. It might be fine.

However, if I had an Uzi you'd be reading about a next spree killing mass murder at a certain huge suspension manufacturer. I can't remember being so angry nor having such shocking "service" in a very long time. To summarise, KYB's stance is;
1. we never manufactured an item of the part number on your car, even though it's clearly OE
2. we refuse to offer any product support if you buy through a third party, even though you can't buy direct from them
3. our kits for this car are wrong, or at best are missing an important spacer and we refuse to even acknowledge there's an issue at all.
4. we will be as obstructive and unhelpful as possible in any dealing with us, even to the lengths of telling two parties completely conflicting information on the same issue.

I'd be interested in hearing whether anyone else has used these shocks before, and whether they've had similar (or any) problems? Yep, I think it's fair to say that KYB will not be getting my custom again. For what it's worth, they will be getting a very strongly worded email on the subject though...


...anyway, hopefully it's sorted now, no thanks to them. Now all I need is some brake pads. No doubt they'll be wrong when they arrive too

[MelloYello]

Hmmm i bought the same shocks for mine, albeit a different vendor. But did not have any issues?

[DB RX63]

I sympathise. I have a garage full of bits for a 1982 FB, which are supposed to be for an S2, but are in fact S3 parts..............seems it is difficult for the parts factors to tell the difference, even when they have a VIN number..........

I was thinking of KYB units for my car, i'll think again now....

[Lucky]

Interesting, James. AFAIK the struts should be the same between S2 and S3 shouldn't they? Only the brakes changed? I accept that a random parts supplier can't be expected to know the minute differences between series like we enthusiasts come to, but in fact all the aftermarket people involved have been more than helpful... Despite KYBs utter lack of help, every place I could find that stock 1st gen KYB suspension have the same part number for them, so I think these are the correct shocks, and for some reason the y just don't locate properly inside my struts. I can almost see what they mean, it looks like they're desinged not to need the spacer but they're just slightly too small a diameter and need something to stop the shock moving inside the spur. Dunno. Probably never will, lol.

I don't so much mind getting stuff that doesn't fit/is plain wrong, but I certainly resent the living **** out of the attitude KYB adopted throughout. Completely despicable Mazda Portslade haven't exactly covered themselves in glory... treat all UK models as imports yeah, right, why not just say you can't be bothered to look the part number up? ****ers

[Steve-A]

Nice work Nik. No finished pictures of it back on its wheels with new springs though? that's not fair!

Your experience with KYB sounds appalling, if that was me I'd never wanna buy any of their kit again. As for the s2 vs s3 IIRC the s3 has bigger wheels bearings and so the stub axel is a different shape. But otherwise I was lead to believe they are the same.