I really dig that.
I really dig that.
Mm mm, 5 love.
Sick. Absolutely sick.
I've never seen those Enkeis before.
Last week I wanted to do "something" with the van without spending any money. So lets take apart the intake and see what we dont need! Sure enough there was a massive resonation chamber downstream of the airbox to keep things nice and quiet. The mazda is fairly well covered up underneath with splash sheilds all over the place, so I have no concerns just having an open hole on the bottom of the airbox to suck in air.
The chamber itself actually didnt seem to choke down airflow very much like some that I have seen, so no surprise the butt dyno didnt register any actual performance improvement. But it does sound better. I'll probably cut open the bottom of the airbox some more and add a k&n drop in soon and it will be very nice like. I'd hope its something like 90% of the gain of a short ram intake at a fraction of the cost.
One for the road.
~120k miles
Just installed koni yellows and new bump stops on the rear of my 5 over the weekend. Noice.
I am on megan lowering springs, I decided to cut one inch off the bumpstops before they went in but I think maybe Im still sitting on them. The bump stops are super tall to begin with. Have to stick a jack under the control arm, pull a wheel and boot and look.
I set the shocks 1 full turn from full stiff, ride is much more firm than blown shocks of course but they doing their job. they compress and rebound and thats it, no continuing oscillation. I cant wait to order the fronts and get them installed. I am getting more noise from the front suspension lately, I know the sway bar bushings are bad (PITA to get to), I am hoping the rest of the noise is originating from the struts or mounts.
Ford focus polyurethane trailing arm bushing upgrade is absolutely in my future. Looks like kind of a pain in the ass job but doable. One of mine is showing evidence of failing soon but its still holding on for dear life.
SWMBO complains this car is somewhat of a money pit. 120k miles and an under engineered suspension setup that I threw lowering springs at can do that I guess but I also seem to be looking at every repair as an excuse to upgrade a little bit.
Trans fluid change needed ASAP.
The fsb service is a nightmare. Been there done that.
Ive seen some claim they swapped the bushings without dropping the subframe. I didnt even bother trying yet.
I replaced the rears a year ago and they already look like E36 M3 but are not making noise.
Rear sway bar is starting to rust and paint flake off. Might use it as an excuse to upgrade at some point. MS3 takeoff for cheap preferred but I have found a steeda focus rear bar for $140 that I am still trying to figure out if it fits. It looks identical on the website. What I NEED to do is take measurements on my wife's '12 Focus.
http://www.steedafocus.com/steeda-focus-rear-sway-bar-12-15-all-555-1075/
December/January timeframe I am expecting to need new tires. Going to stick something on the OEM wheels. debating OEM size or going 225/45R17. UHP All seasons anticipated. Nice and girthy, but worry about excessive tire squirm on a 6.5 rim.
I did the FSB bushings on mine without dropping the subframe. It's a pain on the driver's side if I remember correctly. It's near impossible to get a box wrench or a universal joint and extension on the nuts. If I remember correctly I did them mostly from the top with a really long extension and u-joint.
I also did the rear poly trailing arm bushings. Not a fun job but it took out the toe designed in to the rear when it's squatting. On mine at stock height it really made a big difference in tire wear. I never went to camber arms on it. At your ride height those trailing arm bushings are under some twist load because they're designed for stock height. The job isn't too bad, just time consuming to do everything. I made a post about it on mazdas247.com.
When we had our third child we moved up in size to a Sienna after eight months. I miss the 5 as a driver since the Sienna is like driving my couch around. The size of the Sienna however works better for us now, the 5 was great for two kids.
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