'92 Miata Inner Tie Rod Differences

I recently depowered the rack on my '92 Miata, and ordered a whole host of Moog parts for it from RA. When I was putting it back together, the inner tie rods wouldn't thread into the rack. They were completely the wrong pitch and size. My rack was a fine pitch, while the tie rods were a coarser pitch and a slightly larger diameter.

This isn't my picture, but it shows the difference:

The left part is what came out of my car, and the right one is what I got in the mail, and what every parts house says is the right part (Moog EV329).

For some reason, the '92 power steering rack uses the same tie rods as manual rack. I haven't found any official documentation on this, but I've seen the issue pop up on a few boards.

Has anyone heard of this before? Thankfully Rock Auto is good with returns.

News to me. I've come across the different threads, but I thought it was manual vs power. I'll check the parts fiches when I get a chance and see what pops up. I'll believe that over the part house databases.

This happened to us with our '92 miata (also Rockauto replacements). Got another one from the local parts store that fit.

There is a difference in the Mazda part numbers - NA01-32-240 (non-power) versus NA02-32-240 (power). All the parts fiches I checked (1990, "1991-92", 1994, 1999) showed the same non-power part, with all the NA fiches showing the same power piece. I'd like to ask a Mazda dealer to look it up for the 1992 specifically though. I have no faith in Rockauto's database.

Keith wrote: There is a difference in the Mazda part numbers - NA01-32-240 (non-power) versus NA02-32-240 (power). All the parts fiches I checked (1990, "1991-92", 1994, 1999) showed the same non-power part, with all the NA fiches showing the same power piece. I'd like to ask a Mazda dealer to look it up for the 1992 specifically though. I have no faith in Rockauto's database.

We ran into some issues with differentials. I cant remember the details, but the diff in question was I think a very early 1994, and it had axles that mounted similarly to a 1990-93, and not like a 1994+ car at all. I think most 1.8 cars diff has a setup more like a front wheel drive CV, and this one mounted with the 4 small bolts per side...

Who knows If Im remembering that right, but it gave us fits.

Joey

It's an interesting problem. It's like the factory "accidentally" tapped the racks on some '92s with the wrong tap, as it doesn't seem to be a universal problem for '92s.

Joey - the 1994 and early 1995 cars use a two-piece halfshaft, similar to the design used in the 1.6. That was changed in mid-1995 to a one-piece unit. They're interchangeable, the one-piece unit gives more exhaust clearance but requires you to pull the shafts if you're going to remove the diff.

Keith wrote: Joey - the 1994 and early 1995 cars use a two-piece halfshaft, similar to the design used in the 1.6. That was changed in mid-1995 to a one-piece unit. They're interchangeable, the one-piece unit gives more exhaust clearance but requires you to pull the shafts if you're going to remove the diff.

That's right! The donor was an early 1995...

Joey