The suspension clunk is still present, which basically killed any chances of me racing this year. I’ve decided then to start setting up the RX-7 for the new STR class debuting next year. Planned upgrades include Ground Control springs, Rtek ECU upgrade, removing the A/C, a K&N intake, rear-steer eliminator bushings, and Energy Suspension bushings.
With at least two people theorizing the clunk is from a bad strut mount, I decided to get some Koni struts to replace the old, busted, automatically adjusting suspension (AAS) my RX-7 came with. I found a used set with 20K miles on them with stock TII springs and new strut mounts for $500. Wow, what a difference they make! Even on full-soft settings, the car corners much more flatly and sharply than on the AAS suspension. The Konis also soak up bumps without me feeling like I’m driving on marshmallows or rattling my fillings like the old AAS suspension did. The FC is so much more taut than before. The front Konis are inserts and the donor struts are rusty, so I may need to gut my AAS struts and swap the inserts into those, but otherwise I’m very happy with the Konis. Only problem: The car is STILL clunking!
Stay tuned for part two, where our hero installs his new Racing Beat cat-back exhaust to replace the stock exhaust that is slowly rusting out from under him! Can he get the old exhaust off without breaking anything- including himself? Will new ball joints solve the mystery of the Phantom Suspension Clunk? Find out! Same Rex time, same Rex channel!
