[antiSUV]

 

[anarchyx34]

Interesting.... Are you suggesting that brace would be a nice chassis stiffener for us 2ws dudes? Sounds like a good idea. Where in the hell would you find one of these though

 

[Manifest]

It is kinda strange that the drawing doesn't include the front jack mount cross piece that is there on my car.

 

[antiSUV]

The jack mount piece is not considered part of the suspension. This is a diagram of the front suspension of a 4WS MTX car.
The piece is available from Mazda for around $115. Yes, I'm suggesting it would be a nice chassis stiffener

 

[mx6-uk]

Wonder if the holes for the clamps are already in the car?

Does look very interesting. Worth asking mazda anyway.

 

[antiSUV]

What clamps are you talking about?
I think the holes are already in the subframe to mount this piece. It wouldn't make sense for them to make 2 different sets of subframe pieces, when the only difference would be some holes. I looked under my car and I thought I saw the holes where it mounts. Hopefully if you ordred the piece it would come with the hardware.

 

[Manifest]

Unlikely that it would come with hardware; I am having it checked into as we speek.

 

[antiSUV]

Well strangely enough, my rear strut tower bar came with the hardware taped to it in a little baggie.
But tell us if it's still available. I was told it was, but that was a few weeks ago.

 

[Manifest]

Mazda gave me a price of 174.00 for it. Seems hight compared to your number. It seems to be available.

 

[Manifest]

Ok; here are pics of the location where the bar goes and the holes that are there. I see no way of getting a bolt down through those holes though. It is hollow in there with the top of the brace going over it. These holes are on both sides of the car.

http://manifest.nopoc.com/Pictures/00 MX6 Project/frontbrace1.jpg
http://manifest.nopoc.com/Pictures/00 MX6 Project/frontbrace2.jpg
http://manifest.nopoc.com/Pictures/00 MX6 Project/frontbrace3.jpg
http://manifest.nopoc.com/Pictures/00 MX6 Project/frontbrace4.jpg

 

[antiSUV]

Theory 1.
On the top side of the subframe pieces, I think there might be holes that you can lower the bolts through or stick a socket into. You can't see them from the bottom because they are covered by rubber grommet things. This is just a theory. When I took my 626 apart I saw round rubber grommets filling some holes on the top sides of the subframe pieces, maybe that's what they were for.

Theory 2.
It seems suspicious that there are large holes right next to the little ones the bolts would go through. Those large holes must have something to do with installing the brace.
I wonder if you could find some sort of bent wrench to stick into the large hole. This hypothetical bent wrench would hold a nut still while you tightened the bolt that was inserted from below. You would have to tape or glue the nut to the wrench so it could be inserted in there properly, and not come loose to rattle around in your subframe member forever and ever (or until it fell back out).

Theory 3.
Maybe on the 4WS they welded a nut above the little hole before the top and bottom halves of the subframe piece were welded together? This sucks I really wanted this to work.

Keep thinking about it.



[Edited by antiSUV on 04-05-2001 at 08:41 PM]

 

[Manifest]

I felt up above; didn't feel any holes or grommets. They may still be there but it didn't seam so. So far #3 seems right to me. Need more input on this.

 

[Manifest]

Mazda part number for this is GP34-34-850, can you verify that the one from your dealer is new and the same part number?