Simple Assembly Questions
 

Rear Spindle: Is the lower spindle bolt something special? Or can you use any 14mm bolt?
What keeps the spindle from rattleing around?

Front ball joint: The horizontal cross bolt holds the ball joint to the arm. What is the vertical hole for?

I'm trying to recall on the lower rear spindle bolt, isn't that thing like 8" long? I know the lower control arm inner bolt goes from one side to the other, In the front its also one long bolt, correct? Nothing particularly interesting about the lower spindle bolt, but it I would for sure go with the OE mazda bolt from the dealer. No sense in taking risks, not sure what strength/spec it is. Its been 2-3 months since I did it all, but I know what you are referring to. IMO, just not worth messing with the risk, and any suspension job I've done in the past I use OE bolts, just for that reason.

On the front ball joint bolt, I think you are talking about a hole being in the bolt on the threaded end? There is a castle nut that goes to it, and the hole is for a cotter pin that goes through the castle nut. Your verbage isn't working well for my visual brain, possibly, so maybe include pictures?
http://www.etrailer.com/Merchant2/gr...166078_500.jpg

Yes it is at least 8" long and has a shoulder on it that needs to be there.

I was a fraid of that. I'll ave to try and get that from the Mazda dealer, I guess. FM doesn't do used parts any more.

For the front ball joint, there's a horizontal 12mm bolt that goes through arm, and through the body of the ball joint.

Then there is a tongue that extends in to the arm, pointing towards the center of the car. There is a hole in the top of the arm, and through the tongue of the ball joint. Neither of these two holes are threaded. And there's only a small hole in the bottom of the arm.

I'm guessing that there's a short bolt that goes in from the top, and you have to work a nut inside there somehow? Of course, I could just drill big hole in the bottom of the arm and run a socket up there.

I took another look at this tonight, and I'v got it figured out.

The tongue on the ball joint is threaded - 12mm x1.5. I need a 22mm bolt to go in there. The trouble is, finding it!

I can't believe these metric fasteners are so hard to find! I'm held up for days just trying to find the right bolt or nut to put things together. I'll do some assembly, and then find that I need a bolt with a different thread pitch. Then I have to order it and wait a week for it to come in. Then start the cycle over again. Even something as common as a ball joint castle nut is impossible to find locally. Very frustrating.

I'll go back to the dealer tomorrow and see what I can scare up.

If anyone else is doing something like this, I strongly suggest using a donor car. Then you have every weird little fastener you need.

Shoot, you are doing an Exocet, I forgot. Bob, have you tried MT.net? I am sure there are tons of people there with spare parts.

If not, Try 949racing, or try Thepartsgroup.com either of these guys will have heaps of spares, I'd imagine.

Good luck.