Whisper

The right bushing, that's above the exhaust, is completely cracked. Where can I find replacement crossmember or bushing? Mazda doesn't sell them anymore and I'm not seeing them anywhere else. Black Dragon has 80-83 parts listed, but mine is an 85 GSL-SE - not seeing anything for that.

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

Just place a WTB thread in the classifieds. I'm sure that a lot of members have one lying around.

kickinwing

I am pretty sure the same thing happened to me tonight. I haven't crawled under the car to look yet though.

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

The rubber insulator numbers are as follows-

Upper- F001-39-375
Lower-8599-39-384A

Both are still available through Mazda.

Here is the link to a discount Mazda dealer. :-)

http://www.mazda-parts.com/
Uppers are $5.86 each
Lowers are $9.20 each

If it is within your budget then I would recommend replacing all 4. 2 uppers and 2 lowers.

Also check your transmission mount as they are prone to separating from the steel.

In my signature is the link for the Factory service manuals and parts manuals. I recommend that everyone download a copy of their year for reference. The parts manuals come in so handy when trying to reference if you are missing a part of even on how certain things are assembled. :-)

Whisper

Are you sure those are correct year parts?

I don't have separate insulators. I have what looks like bushings that are pressed into the crossmember from the bottom. I think rubber insulators are for 80-83 models. When I looked over the parts catalog for my model I only saw crossmember sold as a single assembly, no insulators or any of that. There are some available for A/T, but mine is manual.

Will auto crossmember work? Will earlier year work?

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

I stand corrected, those are for the A/T version. Guess I should not look up parts at 1am in the morning!

Back to plan B- Place the WTB thread in the classifieds.

PS: Anyone seeing this and has one please don't respond in the thread but send a pm to the thread starter.

Whisper

I called up local Mazda recycler and they say they have one, so I'm gonna go look at it. If that doesn't work out I'll place a WTB.

Thnx.

Kentetsu

Whisper, I just did a review and writeup on some high performance tranny mount bushings. Unfortunately, it was on another forum and I'll probably get in trouble if I post the link here.

I'll shoot you a PM with the info. They work great, don't cost a whole lot, and I highly recommend them.









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Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

Kent,

Just copy and paste the information here. :-)

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

Kent you paste if you want. :-)

Jeff20B

iTrader: (13)

Whisper, I'll look in the pile. If I can find an '83 or older unit, I can bring it to the next Taco7. Gonna look right now.

Can anyone confirm an early one will fit a later car?

Edit: nevermind. I don't have any spares anymore.

Whisper

Well, thanks for checking anyway, Jeff.

The one recycler has is still on the car, so I have to wait until tomorrow, but I think that might be what I'll end up getting.

Kentetsu

High Performance Tranny Mount Bushings

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I replaced my tranny mount with another stock unit a couple of years ago, but I was still not happy with the results. The amount of movement in the shifter between gas on/gas off was considerable, even though my motor mounts were also new.

In addition to this, while performing very fast shifts from 1st to 2nd gear in autocrosses, the movement would sometimes throw me off a bit. I've put up with it for a couple of years now, but finally got fed up enough to do something about it.

Enter Ryan from Shook Motorsports ( http://shookmotorsports.com ) They are now offering performance bushings for the FB tranny crossmembers, so I thought I'd give them a shot. I'm very glad that I did!

The bushings appear to be of high quality, and the price is right since they are cheaper than the cost of a new tranny mount and perform better than stock.

Installation: There are two types of FB tranny mounts, and while either version is a simple install, the older type is easier than the newer. With the old type, the bushings are not actually inserted into the mount, so removal and installation are very straight forward. With the newer style, the old bushings will have to be pressed out, and the new ones pressed in (easy).

Although I installed the new bushings using the old type of mount, I'll also walk through the procedure of removing the stock bushings from the newer mount as well.

First off, here's a shot of the bushings and hardware I received from Shook Motorsports:


.

Kentetsu

...and now, on to the installation.

Once the car is up in the air, support the tranny with a jack and a block of wood (the camera was tilted, not the jack :

Kentetsu

Now, to get at one of the bolts that hold the tranny mount onto the chassis, you may have to remove a section of the exhaust shielding. I used an angle grinder and cutoff wheel to cut a notch out of that area years ago, and it has been a huge timesaver ever since. I highly recommend this minor mod.

You can just make out the notch, right above the presilencer in this photo:

Kentetsu

Pressing out the bushing on newer type of mount:

I used a vice and a combination of one large, and one small socket to press the stock bushing out.

Once that was done, I was left with some rubber residue in the mount, so out comes the torch and a drill mounted wire brush to clean things up:

Kentetsu

Here's a few shots showing the difference between the two types of mount. Make sure you know which version you have when you place your order

Kentetsu

And here are a couple of shots showing the placement of the new bushings, using an old style mount:

Kentetsu

And finally, the finished product reinstalled on the car:

Kentetsu

The results:

Since the installation I've participated in three autocross events. Shifter movement is noticeably reduced, and (this is a seat of the pants gut feeling) it seems that the shifts are slightly quicker and more accurate.

In daily driving I have not noticed any increase in vibration. And the shifter movement from gas on/gas off has been greatly reduced. Everything just feels a bit tighter all around.

Overall I'm very happy with this (albeit minor) upgrade and the improvements that have come from it. So if you are are looking to tighten things up in this manner, I have no problem recommending these bushings to you.

And I'd like to thank Ryan for putting up with all of my stupid questions along the way. Despite all of my attempts to make this more difficult than it turned out to be, he was very patient with me and was of great assistance.






.

Kentetsu

Thanks Doc. Maybe you could break this out into its own thread for me later on?

Whisper

That looks pretty cool. Got a call from the junker and they said the bushing is bad in their crossmember as well, so all the more reason to try the Shook one.

Are these made per order or are they batch made and stocked?

Edit: Just read up on those, and it seems they're made per order - so group buy deal.

Kentetsu

Send him a PM and see what he's got ready to go (his username over there is Moremazda). I didn't have to wait for mine, they arrived promptly. I think you'll really like these...

Whisper

I sent him an e-mail. Hopefully he does have something ready to go, that'd be awesome.

mazdaverx713b

iTrader: (91)

there is a difference between the SA and FB trans crossmember.