I'm pretty sure the bushings and shocks/struts on this 87 are 26 years old or so. Anyone out there tried the Prothane bushings set?
Prothane 18-2008 kit
Worth it? Noticeable difference?
Also I was thinking new shocks/struts, and if I'm doing the bushings I might as well do them at the same time. Any special recommendations? This is for rallycross and regular street driving so not really interested in exotic coil-overs or anything.
I had them on my car, very noticeable difference from stock, nice upgrade. Definitely recommend it.
A few months later I added Konis and ST springs and sways. If I did it again I would trade the ST springs for something with a higher spring rate, not much suspension travel left even with cut bump stops.
good stuff... I wish the new management hadn't screwed Sarge like they did (guy who paid for them to tool up to make them)... but if I had another mr2 they would be on my list of upgrades.
I do know that some people had some issues with the fit of the steering rack bushings... but that was 10+ years ago so I don't know if that was fixed or not...
Ah yes the steering rack bushing, almost forgot about that.. Not a big deal though and certainly not a deal breaker.
Another excellent upgrade is the Quaife 2.7 lock to lock steering rack made for the ae86. It's an amazing upgrade from stock, probably my favorite mod.
Also take a look at the weld-on ground control kit. You can shorten the front struts to get a bit more travel as well as more clearance for larger tires.
The last set I bought was about 5 years ago and the rack bushing fit good.
Thanks. I've never had to buy shocks/struts for a 26 year old car either, should I find them myself? My local SCCA-guy garage will be installing, but not sure he knows where to find (possibly) obscure parts?
Koni.
I dd'ed my aw11 for a few years with the prothane set. I'd recommend them as well. Great upgrade from 20+yr old rubber.
Also - Koni.
No, really just buy the Konis. There really isn't anything else that is as-good OTS. Most of the "full" coilovers made for the chassis are Taiwanese crap imho.
Sounds like these then:
Yep. My only other suggestion would be to consider buying from David Hawkins at twosrus.com - mostly because he is one of the few keeping the aw11 aftermarket alive. He might even price match the few dollars difference.
twosrus.com is great, David Hawkins is a very active member at mr2oc.com
You really should bring your questions over there. There's even a dedicated rally-x sub-forum!
http://mr2oc.com/forumdisplay.php?f=46
mr2peak wrote: Ah yes the steering rack bushing, almost forgot about that.. Not a big deal though and certainly not a deal breaker. Another excellent upgrade is the Quaife 2.7 lock to lock steering rack made for the ae86. It's an amazing upgrade from stock, probably my favorite mod. Also take a look at the weld-on ground control kit. You can shorten the front struts to get a bit more travel as well as more clearance for larger tires.
ah yes as I recall... you can use a '84-86 rear strut cartrages in the front, they are a little shorter so you can cut the housing down a bit... the rear struts are a bit stiffer...
I tried MR2OC when I first got the car, but it seemed 1) kinda elitist and 2) kinda dead. Perhaps I should revisit tonight after work!
Also forgot about twosrus, need to check them out again too. Thanks for the reminder.
I've used these on a couple of cars, including my ITA car I used to own. No issues at all. And +11 Gazzilion on the Konis. They are the only shock short of something custom made I would use on the MR2. Most off the shelf shocks run too much compression and make the car nervous at speed, the Konis on the other hand are a joy. Everything a shock should be!
Also second the Ground Control option. Never had an issue with these as well. They're pretty good about recommending spring rates, but you can order what you would like if you already know.
It is elitist. But that is because they know their E36 M3! It is highly moderated, so you really only see on-topic posts, and this decreases the traffic to a large extent.
99% of any question you have can be found with the search function. No lie. It's all there, and 80% of that information is in the form on stickies at the top of the sub-forums.
Read these threads, very helpful stuff.
http://mr2oc.com/showthread.php?t=298272 http://mr2oc.com/showthread.php?t=313691
Keep in mind that there are 2 different shocks for the rear, depending on the build date. I'm pretty sure all of 87 is in the later set, but do look that up before buying 1K worth of suspension stuff.
These people: http://www.alamomotorsports.com/koni/koni_shocks.htm aka cyberauto.com , will drop ship you some Koni's at a really good price. I don't see much listed for part numbers on there right now, so you'll have to call them. Tell them I sent you.
Dr. Hess wrote: These people: http://www.alamomotorsports.com/koni/koni_shocks.htm aka cyberauto.com , will drop ship you some Koni's at a really good price. I don't see much listed for part numbers on there right now, so you'll have to call them. Tell them I sent you.
Hmm kinda looks like Eclipse/Talon and Supra only?
Matt B wrote: Yep. My only other suggestion would be to consider buying from David Hawkins at twosrus.com - mostly because he is one of the few keeping the aw11 aftermarket alive. He might even price match the few dollars difference. Konis at twosrus.com
Almost got confused, till I noticed Tirerack had them priced individually, twosrus has them priced as a pair. (2's had GR-2 struts cheaper and thought that's what you were comparing to.)
And Amazon wants more than twosrus or Tirerack! Looks like twosrus gets the biz soon.
Like I said, you have to call them.
Keep the updates coming.. I "might" be doing the same as my MK1 is on stands while I do the distributor rebuild.
I second twosrus and the mr2oc. I've been getting on those sites every day for the last 45 days since I've had my aw11.
Good to see a thread here.
I would also recommend a set of front swaybar endlinks from twosrus. Theirs are made by High N Tight and are much stronger than the stock pieces. I had a front end clunk on my '89 that drove me nuts isolating, because the stock endlinks appeared to have no play, but when I replaced them with the twosrus parts, the noise disappeared. Highly recommended.
Twosrus is a good business and I continue to support them. Moderation at MR2OC is overzealous, elitist and pretty dead if you drive a Mk1. Sounds like all of your perceptors work.
I'll offer a counterpoint on poly bushings: They're better than dead OEM bushings and worse than good OEM bushings. Suspension loaded up, they're fine, but they're sloppier on-center than OEM rubber bushings.
Most MR2 people have never experienced what they're supposed to feel like with good bushings and perceive poly as an upgrade. They're certainly cost effective.
I used to really like the old TRD bushings, but I think they are NLA.
Second twosrus. Good guys and they support the MR2 community when others do not.,
Tyler H wrote: I'll offer a counterpoint on poly bushings: They're better than dead OEM bushings and worse than good OEM bushings. Suspension loaded up, they're fine, but they're sloppier on-center than OEM rubber bushings. Most MR2 people have never experienced what they're supposed to feel like with good bushings and perceive poly as an upgrade. They're certainly cost effective.
Agreed on both counts. Last time I tried to buy OEM bushings they could only sell them with the control arms ($$$). Poly is really are only affordable option.
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