Slow NA Pro5 build

Progress coming in soon, bunch of parts in the mail. Can you guess what they are? Hint my suspension is toasted

Weeeeeellll didn't have work today so I started on the rear end. I got the trailing arms swapped out with some moog OEM style replacements, parking brake cable replaced, and "new" shocks n springs in the back. Shocks n springs were cake,took a grinder to the endlinks, soaked every bolt n pb blaster, broke em free with an extra wrench or the 4pd sledge (my favorite tool at work and at home). I put the two 17mm bolts at the base of the shock tower in backwards so I dont have to pivot my brake calipers next time, saves a ton of time and hassle. The parking brake cable was a hassle to get in and feels like its binding up, I had to reuse the bracket on the trailing arm because the new one had a tab facing downward and the moog trailing arms dont have any holes cut out for it. I tried my parking brake a couple times after trying to set it using the reverse at 10mph and rip it method. I have tension now but nothing engages........and my adjuster bolts seemed to do nothing, could I have gotten screwed on my cheapo reman calipers? The real problems didn't show till I tried to put on my new endlinks, i went with moog because i liked the fact that I could grease fittings and how much beefier they were and they are dirt cheap on rock auto. But I got sent the 7.5in rears with no grease zerk, I need the 6.5in links and the only ones in stock nearby were 40$ a piece! Screw that I pulled my rear sway bar out and put everything else back together. I think I might keep it this way a little longer, the rear clunk is gone, ride quality is much smoother, bumps no longer unsettle the rear end. This is all from the newish shocks and springs, what I noticed from the lack of sway bar wasn't much. The car feels more settled on turns, the rear isn't jostled as much and kinda feels glued to the road. I can feel kind of a lag in response specifically on a real bumpy patch of road where the car is moving side to side at a fast speed, after about 5 seconds at 40mph it'll hop a little bit and cycle that. So all in all, rear end feels better for the most part, progress on the front tomorrow and hopefully I can do some driving to settle it in. In other news, can someone dumb down how to put on pictures for me? I'm terrible with computers and the like

STudMUffin1177 said:

... I tried my parking brake a couple times after trying to set it using the reverse at 10mph and rip it method. I have tension now but nothing engages........and my adjuster bolts seemed to do nothing, could I have gotten screwed on my cheapo reman calipers? ..

Click to expand...

You can run into the same problem with any rear calipers, they are all remanufactured.
You have to buy OEM calipers to get them new.

There's a good chance that your calipers are still working properly except the adjusting screw is broken or missing altogether.

Try sitting in your car, push hard on the brake pedal and hold it.
Then, grab the P-brake handle, push and hold the button in and operate the lever a whole whack of times.

If the self-adjusting mechanisms are working, you'll feel the brake handle tightening up.

If the self-adjusters aren't working and don't snug up then your brake pedal will get slack in it.
The rear brakes set the pedal height.

STudMUffin1177 said:

... In other news, can someone dumb down how to put on pictures for me? I'm terrible with computers and the like

Click to expand...

I use postimage. I don't like computers much either and I find it easy to use.

Install the app on your smartphone or computer and upload a picture.
Then click "share" to get the list of how to share the picture.



Then click "hotlink for forums". Then paste the link to your post.

I leave a space before and after the link in the post.

Thanks man, I'll have to give postimage a try. I'll update later with progress, and honestly if I cant get the rears to work I might just say screw it and start saving up for a "big" brake upgrade. I gotta see if anyone used stock wheels with the 626 brakes, otherwise I gotta find some wheels. I would love to downsize to some 15"wheels but I feel like those wouldn't clear the 626 calipers.

The last remember about the 626 brakes is that your parking brake cable won't mount to it and our stock cables are too short.

Is that still an issue?

Well my adjusters dont work, bunch of slack in the pedal after trying what you said above. I believe someone got theirs to work, you just have to reroute the whole cable to get the right tension on it. I think someone did a temporary set up with zipties, but I'm thinking by using the brackets and relocating them it might work.

I believe it's this part that's missing from the 626 calipers.



That mounting bracket needs to be properly oriented and have the proper distance to the attachment point.

There is quite a bit of pressure on the bracket and I wouldn't trust a bunch of zip ties to hold my car.

IIRC, the 626 calipers don't clear a 15" rim.

That's why I stopped pursuing it.

My snow tires are on 15" rims.

Long day lol, Ima type this out in the morning. Thanks for the help with postimage pcb, took a couple tries but I figured it out without wanting to chuck my phone

It looks like you clicked "thumbnail" for forums.

"Hotlink" for forums shows a full-size picture.

Alrighty then, well long story short because I'm still working on the passenger side. The control arms are a major PITA to take off and put in, that bracket with the 4 bolts is the hardest part of install and the easiest part of disassembly. The arm needs to be jacked up at the hub to twist the bushing straight to slide the bolt in and needs to be hammered into place after you jack it up just right. My tie rod was siezed in place and I had to cut the whole end off, shocks n springs are cake now. I did a bit of cleaning and found these spring are Tein lowering springs so that's a nice silver lining, i love the new ride height. Unfortunately i knocked loose my brakeline on the caliper connection and sprayed brake fluid everywhere on the drive home so im gonna bleed both fronts and hope that bolt holds now that its tightened. I had to cut all 4 endlinks off (go figure) and saw my front sway bar....... and promptly smacked myself in the face. I'm about 90% certain I already have an msp front sway bar installed, plus the old worn out suspension in the front is all moog parts except for the tie rod. So at least I know I will like the suspension because it felt great when I first bought it lol. A sweet yellow mp3 popped up with low miles and a buddy is checking it out (super jealous, a yellow mp3 is my dream daily) but I figure I can pawn off my spare sway bar onto him. Well it's back to it hopefully it'll all be back together and not leaking by the end of the day

You fixed your pictures!!

STudMUffin1177 said:

... The control arms are a major PITA to take off and put in, that bracket with the 4 bolts is the hardest part of install and the easiest part of disassembly. The arm needs to be jacked up at the hub to twist the bushing straight to slide the bolt in and needs to be hammered into place after you jack it up just right.

Click to expand...

I remember that.
I spent about an hour fussing with each side.
It's a PITA to try to torque the bushing while trying to install the bolt.
I didn't want to hammer on the long bolt for fear of damaging the threads.

I remember loosening the bracket bolts a bit to help make some slack the tightened them up after the long bolt started to thread in.

Here's a thread about my control arms.
It was 6 years ago.

https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123831089-LCA-recommendations&highlight=

I actually went through your thread and a couple others to figure it out, I leave the bracket bolts loose like you said then jack up the whole spindle with a rag n jack, then I smack the side of the arm to line it up. Takes a minute but like you said, gotta save those threads haha. Just tore everything out of the passenger side now I'm on install

Just ran across a box of those Tein S Sport Green coils looking for house painting supplies yesterday, lol...........Espelirs will be next up on my car tho.....

STudMUffin1177 said:

.. then jack up the whole spindle with a rag n jack..

Click to expand...

I had the whole side lift off the t-stand before the bolt would line up.

I was REALLY uncomfortable, crawling under my car with one side barely touching the t-stand.

Ok guys suspension is in (yay) but now my front drivers side caliper is pushing out fluid from the 14mm bolt (general area, cant really tell I just know that firing is where it's coming from) I did my fronts maybe a year ago and have had no problems till now.i swapped the copper gaskets and bled the brakes twice. 3 test trips later and it's still leaking, I'm getting a really loud constant screeching sound from but only going forward, no sound in reverse....... I'm stumped and about ready to take it to a shop I'm so irritated right now, any ideas??

Sorry bout the crappy pic but I've had the car on Jack's too many times today, effort levels are dangerously low

It seems like it only starts after I press the brakes for the first time, like the piston wont retract or something? I bleed them and the work fine till I use them idk man