easily widen your front end stance by 1" !

[therieldeal]

so someone on FEOA made a pretty sweet find.... should work for 92.5-94 protege spindles (or 3rd gen escort spindles) with the larger diameter ball joints:

I discovered something while researching for another project at the junkyard today. A 2nd Gen RX7 lower ball joint will bolt up to a BG lower control arm. The ball joint only fits the 3rd gen escort spindle unfortunatly, sorry 2nd gens. The ball joint end is 17.9mm for a 2nd gen RX7, 2nd gen Probe/MX6, and a 3rd gen escort. The 2nd gen escort is 15.9mm. The advantage to all this is the RX7 ball joint is longer by a 1/2" or 12.7mm (approx) there by increasing front track and negative camber, plus as an added bonus it is aluminum and lighter weight.

http://www.feoa.net/modules.php?name...414&highlight=

[almighty4wd]

I read that earlier. except it was on Imazda. guess he was posting a few diff forums. Now, since the later year 1st gens used a larger spindle, does that mean me 4wd is sht outa luck?

[therieldeal]

no idea. cross ref part numbers?

[almighty4wd]

I will. If I'd read this while at home instead of work I would have started looking into using the newer spindles, since the rally car doesn't need sway bars. 99 zx2 at the jy would work you say? I'll look into it. Still curious how this will affect suspension geometry, and tire wear. especially for those who want it on the mx3 lcas. that'd be nuts.

[therieldeal]

fwd spindle != awd spindle... if the awd's even had the same ball joint change, you'll need to source spindles from someone with a later year GTX front clip or something.

it will affect things the same way as if you added LCA's that were .5" longer.

ps: i might want those zx2 spindles though

[jrally]

I believe the 4wd spindles are rather different, larger ball joint than the standard Proteges and the steering arm is located in a different place to accomodate for the higher steering rack position. I read about someone using the MX6 ball joints on thier 4wd Protege as a replacement.

-Jon

[inferno94]

Does anyone know the dia on the larger (or smaller) balljoint? I got my mx3 front knuckles soo long ago I can't remember what size balljoint I bought for them. All I know is they asked me which one at the parts desk and I guessed right the 1st time!

[therieldeal]

umm... the diameters are listed in my first post.

[MD323]

looks like i need those bigger brakes now anyway..

junkyard here i come!

[inferno94]

umm... the diameters are listed in my first post.

Oops! sorry I'm retarted today.

[SgtRauksauff]

dammit, screwed again by Ford...

ah well, no big deal, easy enough to get spindles. same hub, same strut mounting, the only difference is the balljoint pinch. Since I'll be changing wheelbearings eventually anyway, that would be a good time. Bad thing is, this is gonna start stretching teh axles... 15mm wider per side for the mx3 LCA's, 12.7mm wider for the balljoints, that's 27.7mm wider, per side. add to that the 15mm spacers that I sometimes use, that's 42.7mm wider per side, so a total width change of 85.4mm for the track. That's 3.36 frickin' inches!! I'm going to have to do some fender flares for sure, but that'll probably fit the 225/45-15 Hoosiers!! Frickin' go-cart at autocrosses and track days!

--sarge

[MainstreaM]

FWIW

The 86-87 RX7 ball joint is just like ours. Held in by two bolts. The 88-91 RX7 ball joint is pressed into the control arm and the whole arm must be replaced.

Kane

[Mazda_Powered]

so does anyone have any installed pics of this? what degree of camber do you gain after swapping out to these balljoints? the snow is almost gone and my hatch needs new ones! might as well upgrade em too

JACK.

[ryan1]

dammit, screwed again by Ford...

ah well, no big deal, easy enough to get spindles. same hub, same strut mounting, the only difference is the balljoint pinch. Since I'll be changing wheelbearings eventually anyway, that would be a good time. Bad thing is, this is gonna start stretching teh axles... 15mm wider per side for the mx3 LCA's, 12.7mm wider for the balljoints, that's 27.7mm wider, per side. add to that the 15mm spacers that I sometimes use, that's 42.7mm wider per side, so a total width change of 85.4mm for the track. That's 3.36 frickin' inches!! I'm going to have to do some fender flares for sure, but that'll probably fit the 225/45-15 Hoosiers!! Frickin' go-cart at autocrosses and track days!

--sarge

post some pics when done please.Also do you still have your website up, if so post a link. im going to be doing some autoxin this year so i might see you around, are a member on cwscc.com?

[FE3-323]

why the hell have i not seen this thread until now..... you all know how crazy i am about wider track's..... unless its women..... wider is better