Evo steering rack/column swap possibility?

[eclipsh]

Anyone gone any further in exploring this? Just curious.

 

[eclipsegsx1736]

I wonder if we could somehow change the tie rod position or geometry. That works on other cars like S13's and FC RX-7s. They reweld the tie rod end mounts farther in so the tie rod has to cover less distance to do the same amount of steering.

This steering quickener seems pretty simple, doesn't it just go in-line with the steering column? I wouldn't think it would be too hard to install.

Honestly our steering ratios are faster than probably 95% of the cars out on the road I'd say. Feels a hair faster than the newer STi's (06-07), on par with an RX-7, but definitely not like an Evo. I have a tiny Momo wheel, and while I completely understand this doesn't change the ratio (and I still DO want to speed up my steering ratio), the car to me feels very responsive. If I ever do let someone else drive it they always comment on how quick the car reacts to steering inputs. And yes this is coming from STi/Evo/RX-7 owners. I don't even have upgraded suspension bushings yet.

 

[cmspaz]

I'm going to toss my interest in as well.

I'm shooting for, as an end goal, Miata-like handling, or as close to it as a DSM can get. And I have steering rack replacement on the list, maybe even with a quickener on top of that... The racks on the Miatas are fast as f*ck.

 

[drivemusicnow]

Like is stated before, the quickeners (what a retarded word) are just little gear boxes that take your input (say a 90* turn of the steering wheel) and multiply it so that it would be a 135* rotation of the shaft (or whatever the gear set ends up being).

This is all you would need, and it shouldn't be too hard to install inline with the steering column. You probably would have to take out one of the 3 Ujoints our steering column has though.

This would make a lot more sense than trying to either modify another rack to work. I also strongly recommend against modifying the tie rod to spindle mount as it is really not the right way to do it. You would want to design a new spindle to do this.

 

[turboAWDfanatic]

Interesting thread. The inline quickener looks like an easy install on a car w/ lots of space like a hot rod or muscle car, but I can't imagine fitting it in a DSM w/o modifying the factory stuff to shorten it like greg mentioned. Seems like it's not a "simple" install at that point.

 

[drivemusicnow]

Interesting thread. The inline quickener looks like an easy install on a car w/ lots of space like a hot rod or muscle car, but I can't imagine fitting it in a DSM w/o modifying the factory stuff to shorten it like greg mentioned. Seems like it's not a "simple" install at that point.

Anyone who's at this point should probably have the skills/connections necessary to install it. The biggest issue would be to find the weld-on splined sockets to weld onto the stock steering shaft. **EDIT** which that same site also sells. This really wouldn't be too difficult. I'll have to see how I like my new setup and then take a look to figure out whether this would be worth doing.

As far as space, once you have a fiberglass dash and no stock chassis wiring you have plenty of room under there Plus, it's only 4 inches in diameter so even with the stock dash you would probably be able to fit it.

I don't really see a huge need for it on a road course car, but for autocross this could be very useful... It would definitely be an improvement, I'm just not sure if it'd be worth it.

 

[eclipsh]

So a little update. Looking at photos of an Evo rack it doesn't look like the unit would be a bolt in affair. However, Pagosa DSM and I are wondering if the guts won't swap over. Anyone know of a junked Evo they could get a rack out of?

 

[DSMunknown]

Holy crap. I might be able to salvage one from a recent Evo 9 wreck. We'll see.

What exactly should I be asking the seller for, other than the steering rack?

 

[eclipsh]

rack and possibly the column. I just asked Ray Peters about it though and he said the guts were too different. Still, you might be able to figure something out. Dunno.

 

[DSMunknown]

Different in what way exactly?

 

[polarmoment]

Less wiggle before the car moved.

there's a really cheap and easy way to get this effect.

install a ~1/4" spacer in between the inner tie rod and steering rack, effectively making the rack wider and the tie rod shorter, resulting in more steering angle for less rack travel (think ackerman). it's a bit of trial and error to see how much makes a significant difference without adding too much bumpsteer, but it tends to take out quite a bit of the slop from the center point of the steering to where the car begins to turn.

 

[DSM Jeff]

Maybe we could just use something like this:
Original Type 1.5:1 Steering Quickener

I am planning on trying this. A friend of mine spoke of a Galant guy who's set one of these up but I can't find the info anymore. I'm picking up a spare colum in October and will be in contact with speedway motors to find out what their best "quickener" is. I've delt with them before, hopefully someone there will have some good information as there are a few different options.

 

[eclipsegsx1736]

I am planning on trying this. A friend of mine spoke of a Galant guy who's set one of these up but I can't find the info anymore. I'm picking up a spare colum in October and will be in contact with speedway motors to find out what their best "quickener" is. I've delt with them before, hopefully someone there will have some good information as there are a few different options.

I'm planning on doing this as well in the next few months. I'm going to Hennessey's performance tuning/race school down in Texas and I'm bringing my car. While I'm there I won't need a car so I plan to do this along with a few other things. I'll have plenty of help at the school with any fabrication required to get this to work. I wonder how this thing will be for daily driving, and on the freeway? Can't wait to try it.

 

[DSM Jeff]

I'm planning on doing this as well in the next few months. I'm going to Hennessey's performance tuning/race school down in Texas and I'm bringing my car. While I'm there I won't need a car so I plan to do this along with a few other things. I'll have plenty of help at the school with any fabrication required to get this to work. I wonder how this thing will be for daily driving, and on the freeway? Can't wait to try it.

I've swapped to a manual rack some time ago so I'm hoping to get back to a normal feel with this. My good friend is going to be giving me the colum once he strips his car down in October (its free so I can wait). I'm always interested in learning more about chassis set ups, so this will be fun. I'll definatly report in the future and definatly won't be backing out of this one.

 

[talon187]

Has anyone got any new or more info on bolting up the evo rack or the guts? I can pick up an evo rack for about $200 because i work at an auto parts store. im just not looking forward to all the labor to find out theres no possible way to make it work

 

[underradar92]

Why not order one and one for a DSM and do a side by side with them to get a rough idea? No one seems to have been able to do such a comparison to the best of my recollection.

 

[talon187]

i may do that its a good idea and i can take some pics

 

[Purevil]

Definatly not a bolt on affair, as the subframe is setup quite different. I am curious about transplanting the gears into a dsm rack, that would be sic. I had an Evo for 3 years and the steering feel is incredible.

Would the difference in width be a problem, when I had both cars I measured once and the Evo is 2 inches wider than my GSX. Not sure if the rack itself is wider or just longer tie rods. Anyhoo, I hope someone tries it.

Here's a pic of an evo 8 subframe.

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[ZLODEY]

Any update on this maybe?

 

[drivemusicnow]

Find me one for sale at a decent price and I"ll buy it and try it out.

 

[ZLODEY]

I guess best deal could be found easily at Maintenance page

 

[drivemusicnow]

My problem with evom.net is as soon as I go there, I look for steering racks that come with the rest of the evo.

Seriously, there's a really clean 03 for sale and I've been thinking about updating my DD

 

[All_Boost16G]

We use pretty much the exact quickner on are dirt modified. They way it works is its like a gear reduction unit. And a 1.5 turn would mean you will get 1.5 turn in one way to be at steering lock. So you get 1.5 turns to the left, and your done, and then vice versa. We use a 1:1 which is 1 turn to lock each way.

 

[FyxxterZC]

Bump for a good thread? Found this on that same site you listed previously. Small Body 2:1 Steering Quickener

Would move down to a 13.8:1 and fit in a smaller area, or would this move the ratio into the other direction? Curious on how those quickeners work as well. So according the the previous post, we'd want a 1:1 quickener or even lower?

 

[turboAWDfanatic]

Another bump for a good thread. Anybody do an install on one of these quickeners yet? I'd be very interested in the outcome.