Wow, dude great answers!!! I wish I could come up there and drive all those nicely setup cars! Thanks very much for the feedback!

As for the shocks, yea I kinda figured out that I needed to call Mazda a lil too late (doh)
But of course without the mazda part#'s, they prob wont be able to help me much either...

Also, I didnt realize there was modifying required to get the NB hats to work...My friend just threw them on his Illuminas w/ no problem...
Also saw some pics of them, but I dont see where/what the issue is...Wouldnt worse case be having to enlarge the hole to get the rod end through? Please add a lil to this if possible...

I'll def call Shaik beforehand and ask him when I'm ready to order the springs....

 

Lots of info on m.net about this. Basically, the threaded section of the shock rod isn't long enough to squeeze all of the NB tophat pieces and bushings under a nut. FCM uses a custom extended shank nut and trimmed bushings to make it work. The diy-koni crowd use a modified lug nut (can't on a Bilstein, as the thread/pitch is diff.) and some swaybar bushings.

 

Ahh, ok...will have to look into this. However, at THIS point, my plan is to try out the sleeves + 7"springs, and bumpstops....

Seems as there should be enough adjustment w/ where the GC's sit on the Bilstein shocks to allow to compensate for the 1" taller F spring...
Otherwise I'll have to decide whether to go w/ the NB hats for the difference, or just return/sell the QA1's, and get 2 6" ERS up front and leave the QA1's in the rear...(most likely the latter at that point)

 

FWIW: I'm running 8" 300# F/9" 220# R with ride heights of 12.25"f, 12.5-.75"r on FCM sleeves, and with room to adjust lower if I wanted.

You seriously need to just do something already.

 

Yea but I'm pretty sure FCM sleeves adjust a lil lower than GC's...but appreciate the feedback

I will be doing something soon, just trying to get finances in order, not to mention finish the loose ends and 1/2 completed projects I'm working on now...

 

FYI... you can identify R package vs HD by over all shock length.

http://fatcatmotorsports.com/igaller...ck_lengths.JPG

http://fatcatmotorsports.com/igaller...ck_lengths.JPG

 

FYI... you can identify R package vs HD by over all shock length.

http://fatcatmotorsports.com/igaller...ck_lengths.JPG

http://fatcatmotorsports.com/igaller...ck_lengths.JPG

 

damn, double post FTW...i thought that posting the same thing within 5 minutes or so was blocked on this site..how the hell did you manage that one?

 

Nice, I'll measure these tonight and report back.....I guess we should start a pool?

In other news, Got a lead on some used ERS springs...hopefully it works out...

 

Sweet, get the GC's yet?

 

No not yet, still trying to get everything together and prob buy everything in one spending spree...

 

werd up! lol
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well 1/2 my set of springs are at your house biznitch

 

So, I put ~100 miles this weekend on the setup.

Grip is awesome, suspension is the furthest thing from harsh. The only time it has struggled was over depaved road construction, I couldn't maintain more then 6mph.

It is stiff, but not like a racecar at all. Don't get me wrong, this suspension will NOT absorb speedbumps, or potholes, but it is awesome.

 

Any suggestions on how to DIY these? Shaikh won't sell me just the shank nut for the top... so I need another source. Apparently because its so precisely engineered... it has to be sold as his tophat package....