Full suspension refurb
 

Cliffs notes: Suspension refurbs are a PITA, especially when you do it in stages and get shipped improper parts (I'm looking at you Energy Suspension).



Dear Jebus in heaven, this has been a royal pain in the ass.

Over the past week, I've been working here and there on replacing some suspension components on my NA. I'm pulling the Tokico's and installing Tein Flex coilovers (9k/6k), Hyperflex bushings, and replacing the boots on my upper and lower balljoints and tierods on both sides.

Well, I did the front suspension on Tuesday (had off for Mardi Gras holiday). Got the Tiens on, and all the hyperflex bushings on the front. The Teins were easy, but jeez those bushings were a JOB. The grease that ships with the bushings is something that I can only describe as ...... well, gorilla spunk. Nasty white sticky goo. lol. And it gets on EVERYTHING. So I got all that done on Tuesday. While I was there, I noticed my boots on the balljoints and tierods were shot. There's no play in the front end at all, so I'm just going to relube and replace the boots. No biggie, I'll get to that next weekend. (I've made Rosenthal Miata a small fortune at this point)

The worst part about all of this was the bushings in the rear. I got my control arms taken apart, get the old bushings pressed out (harbor freight special tool, FTW) and go to put the new bushings in, and I discover the crush tubes that Energy Suspension sent with the rear set of bushings are WRONG. *sigh*

So that will entail a phone call Monday and more delay.

Nothing like having your car sitting on jackstands for three weeks, is there? I just want to get it all put back together and aligned. :( As it is, all these delays caused me to miss a huge autox event here with an annual "Miata's only" class.

There is no point to this thread I guess. Just blowing off steam.

I feel for you. I just got through doing almost the very same thing on my front and rear suspension. Fortunately, I used the suspension from my donor car, and both sets of suspension are hanging in the garage, waiting for me to swap them out. So hopefully, the down time won't be very long when I do get to it.

Good luck on your project!

KMag