- Joined
- Dec 11, 2020
- Messages
- 16
Hello fellow FD owners.
As some of you might be aware I recently made a FD Lock Washer GB on the rx7club.com mostly for the US and Canadian markets. You can find the original GB thread under: Lock Washer GB (if I'm not allowed to share links from other forums please let me know and I will remove it). I will also be contacting the admins here on FD:OC in case I need to become an official FD:OC trader for this GB, if I do not have to become an official forum trader I'm more than happy to make a donation for every unit sold to the FD:OC forum!
Since I live between the US and EU (and just returning back to the EU) I was able to find a local supplier who is making the lock washers here. I should have 20 sets in stock in the next week or two (Christmas holidays makes the ETA a bit uncertain). Since I would be shipping them from the EU there would be no customs or VAT fees for you guys. Price is 46GBP shipped to the UK/EU for a set of 6 lock washers.
So please let me introduce the FD specific eccentric lock washers for the LCA eccentric “camber” bolts!
Some of you may already be familiar with a similar product made for the MX-5 platform by Paco Motorsports.
Unfortunately these lock washers for the MX-5 do not fit our FD platform. So I decided to make my own. I have been working on designing these for the last year, going through many iterations and prototypes. I’m finally very close to the final version!
Early FD prototype #1 on the left next to a Paco Lock washer for the MX-5 on the right (notice the tighter and more precise cut and smaller teeth on my first prototype)
For those of you who are not familiar with these lock washers, please let me explain how they work and what their purpose is.
But some basics first: On the FD front and rear subframes, where the lower control arms connect, you will notice the bolt hole is not a circle, but rather a long oval shape. This shape allows the camber bolt to be fastened in various different positions thus pushing the LCA's inward or outward which decreases or increases the camber of the wheels.
The factory eccentric bolts use washers on both ends; these washers have markings which help when making adjustments and finding the desired camber setting. In order to keep the eccentric washers and bolts in place the subframes have welded on U “guides”. This method works great and some FD owners will never have any issues with the factory eccentric washers and bolts.
Ok, now that we covered the basics we can continue with the good stuff.
Here is a simple animation of the first prototype in action!
So one of the downside of the factory OEM eccentric washers is that anytime the LCAs are taken off for whatever reason…ideally you would want to get your suspension alignment dialed in again.
Also there is a chance of eccentric bolts slipping during hard cornering, especially if using new sticky tires in combination with old tired bolts/washers. This never happened to me personally as I never drive my car that hard, but I’ve heard of it happening to others.
So this is where the eccentric lock washers come into play. They fully replace the factory washer, and as you can see on the following image they also use an outer ring. The outer ring sits perfectly against the walls of the factory welded on U “guides” which prevents any left-right movement. Also notice the inner washer is secured inside the outer ring using “teeth” which ensure the inner washer cannot spin out of place.
So other than the obvious benefit of completely eliminating any slipping or movement during hard cornering, the lock washer can also be used to dial in a certain alignment settings, which you can easily revert back to anytime the LCA’s are taken off, without having to go back to the alignment shop. Or for example, one could always have a street and track setting which they can easily change on the spot by simply adjusting the inner washer to a different position. It’s easy to keep track of the positions as you simply mark the teeth with a sharpie perhaps.
What I didn’t like about the Paco Motorsports locks is the size and number of the teeth, the larger the teeth the less available camber position angles you have available. Adding a larger number of smaller teeth increases the available positions that one could use. I’m proud to say that these locks that I made offer 21 different positions which allows for a more precise camber setting. Also I decided to make mine form Stainless Steel, while Paco made theirs from mild steel.
Also for the hard core FD guys who track their cars and only ever use one single alignment setting, they could easily tack weld the outer ring in a desired position, and never have to worry about alignment again.
The lock washers are made using 4mm thick high grade 304 stainless steel, they are cut using a top of the line laser cutting machine. My goal is to virtually eliminate any play between the inner washer and outer ring, to make sure the outer ring sits snugly against the U “guide”, as well as making sure the inner washer fits snugly on the bolt (unlike Mazda’s OEM washer which has significant play between the washer and bolts)
Mazda older style suspension bolts (D-shape) and newer style suspension bolts (H-shape)
So our FD’s originally came with D-shaped suspension alignment bolts, at one point Mazda changed the design to the H-shaped bolts. I designed two different inner washers to work with either the newer H-shaped bolts or the older “D” shaped bolts.
Here is the development of the 2nd prototype (3D printed for faster R&D
). I added teeth all the way around..
TLDR
Summary and key advantages:
- Custom made for the FD in the EU
- Increased number of smaller teeth for more precise camber adjustability
- Made from 304 Stainless Steel so it wont rust
- No more slipping bolts during hard cornering
- Available in D and H shaped bolt holes to accommodate older and newer style Mazda bolts
- Will be made for both front and rear lower control arms (total of 6 lock washers)
- Attention to precision and quality to ensure a tight fit while minimizing play between washers and bolts
- Price 46GBP shipped to the UK/EU (no VAT or customs fees)
Paypal link for payment: PayPal
Thanks you FD:OC for the opportunity to present my Lock Washers.
Next step is to contact the admins and see what I have to do to make this official.
Cheers!
Matt @ Split Street Motorsports
P.S. In the next post I will be sharing some interesting and important info regarding the Lock Washers
As some of you might be aware I recently made a FD Lock Washer GB on the rx7club.com mostly for the US and Canadian markets. You can find the original GB thread under: Lock Washer GB (if I'm not allowed to share links from other forums please let me know and I will remove it). I will also be contacting the admins here on FD:OC in case I need to become an official FD:OC trader for this GB, if I do not have to become an official forum trader I'm more than happy to make a donation for every unit sold to the FD:OC forum!
Since I live between the US and EU (and just returning back to the EU) I was able to find a local supplier who is making the lock washers here. I should have 20 sets in stock in the next week or two (Christmas holidays makes the ETA a bit uncertain). Since I would be shipping them from the EU there would be no customs or VAT fees for you guys. Price is 46GBP shipped to the UK/EU for a set of 6 lock washers.
So please let me introduce the FD specific eccentric lock washers for the LCA eccentric “camber” bolts!
Some of you may already be familiar with a similar product made for the MX-5 platform by Paco Motorsports.
Unfortunately these lock washers for the MX-5 do not fit our FD platform. So I decided to make my own. I have been working on designing these for the last year, going through many iterations and prototypes. I’m finally very close to the final version!
Early FD prototype #1 on the left next to a Paco Lock washer for the MX-5 on the right (notice the tighter and more precise cut and smaller teeth on my first prototype)
For those of you who are not familiar with these lock washers, please let me explain how they work and what their purpose is.
But some basics first: On the FD front and rear subframes, where the lower control arms connect, you will notice the bolt hole is not a circle, but rather a long oval shape. This shape allows the camber bolt to be fastened in various different positions thus pushing the LCA's inward or outward which decreases or increases the camber of the wheels.
The factory eccentric bolts use washers on both ends; these washers have markings which help when making adjustments and finding the desired camber setting. In order to keep the eccentric washers and bolts in place the subframes have welded on U “guides”. This method works great and some FD owners will never have any issues with the factory eccentric washers and bolts.
Ok, now that we covered the basics we can continue with the good stuff.
Here is a simple animation of the first prototype in action!
So one of the downside of the factory OEM eccentric washers is that anytime the LCAs are taken off for whatever reason…ideally you would want to get your suspension alignment dialed in again.
Also there is a chance of eccentric bolts slipping during hard cornering, especially if using new sticky tires in combination with old tired bolts/washers. This never happened to me personally as I never drive my car that hard, but I’ve heard of it happening to others.
So this is where the eccentric lock washers come into play. They fully replace the factory washer, and as you can see on the following image they also use an outer ring. The outer ring sits perfectly against the walls of the factory welded on U “guides” which prevents any left-right movement. Also notice the inner washer is secured inside the outer ring using “teeth” which ensure the inner washer cannot spin out of place.
So other than the obvious benefit of completely eliminating any slipping or movement during hard cornering, the lock washer can also be used to dial in a certain alignment settings, which you can easily revert back to anytime the LCA’s are taken off, without having to go back to the alignment shop. Or for example, one could always have a street and track setting which they can easily change on the spot by simply adjusting the inner washer to a different position. It’s easy to keep track of the positions as you simply mark the teeth with a sharpie perhaps.
What I didn’t like about the Paco Motorsports locks is the size and number of the teeth, the larger the teeth the less available camber position angles you have available. Adding a larger number of smaller teeth increases the available positions that one could use. I’m proud to say that these locks that I made offer 21 different positions which allows for a more precise camber setting. Also I decided to make mine form Stainless Steel, while Paco made theirs from mild steel.
Also for the hard core FD guys who track their cars and only ever use one single alignment setting, they could easily tack weld the outer ring in a desired position, and never have to worry about alignment again.
The lock washers are made using 4mm thick high grade 304 stainless steel, they are cut using a top of the line laser cutting machine. My goal is to virtually eliminate any play between the inner washer and outer ring, to make sure the outer ring sits snugly against the U “guide”, as well as making sure the inner washer fits snugly on the bolt (unlike Mazda’s OEM washer which has significant play between the washer and bolts)
Mazda older style suspension bolts (D-shape) and newer style suspension bolts (H-shape)
So our FD’s originally came with D-shaped suspension alignment bolts, at one point Mazda changed the design to the H-shaped bolts. I designed two different inner washers to work with either the newer H-shaped bolts or the older “D” shaped bolts.
Here is the development of the 2nd prototype (3D printed for faster R&D
TLDR
Summary and key advantages:
- Custom made for the FD in the EU
- Increased number of smaller teeth for more precise camber adjustability
- Made from 304 Stainless Steel so it wont rust
- No more slipping bolts during hard cornering
- Available in D and H shaped bolt holes to accommodate older and newer style Mazda bolts
- Will be made for both front and rear lower control arms (total of 6 lock washers)
- Attention to precision and quality to ensure a tight fit while minimizing play between washers and bolts
- Price 46GBP shipped to the UK/EU (no VAT or customs fees)
Paypal link for payment: PayPal
Thanks you FD:OC for the opportunity to present my Lock Washers.
Next step is to contact the admins and see what I have to do to make this official.
Cheers!
Matt @ Split Street Motorsports
P.S. In the next post I will be sharing some interesting and important info regarding the Lock Washers
Last edited:
, or if you do it yourself you might hate me haha. However the obvious benefit is that once put in place the lock washers reduce play and eliminate the possibility of bolts slipping (camber geo changes) in the future.
