Here are some shots of the hubs. New hubs are entirely too expensive and finding 4 lug versions is even more difficult. SuperNow makes a nice set, but only in 5 lug and I'm keeping to my plan and staying 4 lug.
Original hub once I pulled the bearings:
The original bearings and races were actually in good shape, but I replaced them anyway. I followed the write up on Mazdatrix, but they leave some details out. Long story short, get a good strong bit - a dremel and sharp punch. You need the sharp punch to get the large race out as its difficult to get behind it. I didnt take pics of my notches that I cut, but its best to make the large. I used a normal grinding bit to clean them up. VERY IMPORTANT for the new races to sit down flush as possible.
Hub before removing races/cleaning:
Another shot of the outer race... these have 112K miles on them and are damn near perfect... but I pulled them anyway and replaced with new:
Original spindle:
I cleaned the spindle up (soaked in gasoline, wirebrushed and then coated w/ three coats of rust proof gloss black). You can see the cleaned hub underneath it with new races installed. I am getting another set of spindles from a friend of mine to modify (more steering angle still) and will powdercoat those set:
Installed the refinished spindle:
Installed the new ball joints:
Installed the new repacked hub and dust cover. I didnt snap any pics of packing the bearings.. at this point the SLR went inside and my old digi cam came out - that grease is nasty shit to have around expensive electronics! Side note... I ended up packing the bearings by hand instead of a bearing packer, hand worked better:
The drivers side is the same deal... no need for pics on that one.
As with the entire project, every bit of hardware was inspected, cleaned and recoated as needed. I also modified the stock brake dust shield as you can see in the last pic. The new brake rotors will measure almost 12" and the stock cover is for 10.2" rotors... Once the new brakes come in, I'll have to find a handy tig welder to make my new dust covers. I want to integrate a cooling duct into it as well...