I now have a 1.8 (not 56k)

[93lxe]

its my car's twin!

triplett

[escortkid]

save the cash and get some good sparco's new seats instead of some used seats.

[SgtRauksauff]

Lookin great, man!

Get seats that fit your purpose. Those mugen ones look to be decent for autocross, because they have the holes for the harness that he'll be using attached to his 4-point, and they have a HELL of a lot better shoulder bolsters than the MX3's do.

The MX3 is a great seat compared to the stock LX seat, but there's a LOT to be desired if you're anywhere near being above average height. If I were to autocross in non-MX3 seats, my head would be sideways from hitting the ceiling with the helmet. The MX3 seats move me down far enough so that doesn't happen. Plus, it lowers the CG a bit....

--sarge

[atomicEGT]

those look like shady ebay knockoff seats...

[Grav1ty]

Not bad!, let us know how it does on the track. Also how "cheap" can those seats be had for? I'm kindof in the market for some lower/more comfortable seats.

They were $300 for the pair at the local tuner shop. They fit me real good. Need to find a couple of ford emblem patches to cover the mugen logo.





Got a bunch of parts in...Still waiting for the rear calipers (got wrong color shiped), the rear disks (wrong style), and the header wont be here till end of next week.

Some parts


Before


After


Want to say thank you to Paul for help with the motor.


To have the Koni's I had to modify my struts. It took quite a while to do the first one. It is the only one done so far.


Removed everything not needed and ground the case


Cut thru the top and removed the insides, ready to install the new Koni adj shock incert


Paint (note the exhust pipe welded mid strut that is the new spring pearch)


Finished struts (Koni adj shock incert with Ground Control coil kit and Eibech springs)


Before


After


Stock ride height (driver side)


Full droped (passenger side - only strut done so far)

[SgtRauksauff]

kick ass!! See, I just haven't been able to take the time to actually paint things. But it sure does look awesome when you do!!!

and, I didn't realize that you could get colored calipers from AZ. Any special procedure you've got to go through?


--sarge

[Grav1ty]

kick ass!! See, I just haven't been able to take the time to actually paint things. But it sure does look awesome when you do!!!

and, I didn't realize that you could get colored calipers from AZ. Any special procedure you've got to go through?


--sarge

Not a prob to get them.... They were in their list under color coated. They have yellow or red. $70 each end for semi loaded calipers + core, which for $35 each and powercoated well worth it. I found them online first and went in to order them.

http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker/?UseCase=C001&UserAction=answerRequiredQuestion&Parameters=%7C%7EWITH+4+WHEEL+DISC+BRAKES&PageSync=1

[BuGS]

Sow hat offset where those 15X8" rims you got??

[Grav1ty]

Sow hat offset where those 15X8" rims you got??

Not sure. I got them off a friend's 90 Miata. Will have to see if they have that stamped in the rim. Rims are at work waiting for paint.

[Grav1ty]

Not sure. I got them off a friend's 90 Miata. Will have to see if they have that stamped in the rim. Rims are at work waiting for paint.

Looked in the rims... No usable info inside.







She rides a little stiffer now...

I need to play with the settings in the struts and get an autocross alignment. It is to low to drive around where I live so I will raise it back up one inch.

[Jho]

Nice work on the struts.

Do the Koni inserts have to go in the factory strut bodies, or can you put them in aftermarket strut bodies too, such as KYB, Tokico, or what about putting them into the ZX2's strut body?

To get the old strut insert out of the strut body, you just cut the top off?

And how is the Koni insert held into the strut body?

[Grav1ty]

Nice work on the struts.

Do the Koni inserts have to go in the factory strut bodies, or can you put them in aftermarket strut bodies too, such as KYB, Tokico, or what about putting them into the ZX2's strut body?

As far as I know they will go into any strut body. I put mine in the Monroe Sensatrac's that came on the car. The Monroes are universial stuts and have both left and right brake line mounts, so I removed the unused mount.

The Koni's are adjustible, but the only way to adjust them is to remove the strut from the spring and compress the shaft till it bottoms out, turning it 2 full turns. Clockwise = firmer. I am at 1 trun now, but will change that to 1.5 turns this weekend.

There are 2 levels of strut incerts. The $160 each that have only rebound control and have to be compressed to adj (which I have from Corksport). Then there is the "racing" incerts that are $360 each and have both rebound and compression adjustments, As far as I know adjustment is controled from a knob on top.

You could use these incerts with stock/ lowering springs and that would be ok, but would be harder to adjust because of needing a spring compresser.

Using the Ground control coil kit will allow me to jack up the car and remove just the center retaining nut, compress the shaft, remove the spring assy, adjust the strut ON the car and then reinstall the spring and shaft nut.


To use the coils I removed the stock spring mounts as I did not like the way it would susport the new parts. I cut down an exhaust connector that had a 2.25 OD on one side (other side does not matter). I cut it in half and drilled 3 holes in it to plug weld on the housing, and then welded some around the bottom side.

To get the old strut insert out of the strut body, you just cut the top off?

And how is the Koni insert held into the strut body?

I started by drilling an 1/8 inch hole dead center in the bottom to remove the pressure and oil. With the oil gone I enlarged the 1/8 inch hole to 14mm, that is the mount hole for the bolt. After that I torched off everything I did not want and ground all the rust off. Then saw-z-alled the top off.


You can see the new spring pearch on the housings. I painted it all with Ford blue high temp engine paint which I used on the motor eailer in the day.

[Jho]

Wow, that's a lot of work. Way to answer all of my questions and the question I was going to ask next.

Nice job man.

[Grav1ty]

Wow, that's a lot of work. Way to answer all of my questions and the question I was going to ask next.

Nice job man.

I might have to turn that info into a how to later.


Anyway driveway pics

[1967cutlass]

That last picture is so amazingly beastly that you've inspired me to do the suspension on my escort as soon as I can afford it.