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SevPP and my Exa

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Callumgw
Posts: 2354
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 12:55 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by Callumgw »

I agree completely! the steering needs to be quickened up. A few ways I know:
Faster rack,
Change the ratio at the wheels via arm length
extra gear box in steering column (E's idea)

I like to find a faster rack, simplest idea. I was talking with a friend on the weekend about it and he said it is common in other cars to use power steering racks with out the power steering booster attached because they have quicker ratios. The idea is to install it with bolts to plug the point where the hydraullic lines go just to keep the crap out.

so if you can get your hands on a N13 power rack, might be worth comparing them...(anyone listening got one?)

C
SevPP
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Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2010 12:29 pm

Post by SevPP »

I know of a few fd rx7s that have removed the power steering for better feel and have just blocked the feed-return lines on the rack. With the weight I would love to have full power steering also. I read somewhere that the n12 astra ps is a quicker rack than the non ps rack. Finding one is the issue. When I get around to it (god knows how long that'll be!) I'll have a bit of a look around. good knowing the local wreckers haha!
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Callumgw
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Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 12:55 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by Callumgw »

the steering weight shouldn't be an issue when you moving, only if you reverse park it.....

C
SevPP
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Post by SevPP »

I found the effort required even when moving to be excessive. Especially with sticky or bigger tyres. But a bit of work on the old arms is easier to fix than a slow rack haha!
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TurboZ.Dude
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Post by TurboZ.Dude »

Callumgw wrote:the steering weight shouldn't be an issue when you moving, only if you reverse park it.....

C
Well, anything bigger and wider than 155/80 R13 tires make the steering heavy even when driving around normally... you must be a muscular man Callum! :lol:
SevPP wrote:But a bit of work on the old arms is easier to fix than a slow rack haha!
True :lol:

Are there any other steering racks that would fit our N12s? I mean, to get the steering ratio even quicker than on the N13 rack without having to create a custom setup?
My N12:
http://forum.n12turbo.com/viewtopic.php?t=4926,
http://www.zxoc.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6345
http://forums.mightycarmods.com/showthr ... Pulsar-N12
Image
in all honesty dude these cars are shit but they have so much character, are fun and go fairly well when running right. we still play around with these things because they are a fun addictive little shitbox! :D - Ash
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tassuperkart
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Post by tassuperkart »

TurboZ.Dude wrote:Well, anything bigger and wider than 155/80 R13 tires make the steering heavy even when driving around normally... you must be a muscular man Callum! :lol:
Cant be serious M8........................
I have fitted 205 x 45 x 16's to mine and its lighter that stock.
I cant work out what everybody is whingeing about......
l8r
E
Forcd4 wrote:Oh fuk no dude it's you a again, the oracle.
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TurboZ.Dude
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Post by TurboZ.Dude »

tassuperkart wrote:I cant work out what everybody is whingeing about......
l8r
E
Perhaps our front wheel alignments are off?

(In my case, the front bushes are all busted to hell and as a result, all front wheel alignments except for toe-in are completely off. And my front springs are definitely too short, would imagine that it does shift the camber a bit. :lol: Going to fix that ASAP.)
My N12:
http://forum.n12turbo.com/viewtopic.php?t=4926,
http://www.zxoc.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6345
http://forums.mightycarmods.com/showthr ... Pulsar-N12
Image
in all honesty dude these cars are shit but they have so much character, are fun and go fairly well when running right. we still play around with these things because they are a fun addictive little shitbox! :D - Ash
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EXAMADNESS
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Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2009 6:37 am
Location: South Africa

Post by EXAMADNESS »

tassuperkart wrote:
TurboZ.Dude wrote:Well, anything bigger and wider than 155/80 R13 tires make the steering heavy even when driving around normally... you must be a muscular man Callum! :lol:
Cant be serious M8........................
I have fitted 205 x 45 x 16's to mine and its lighter that stock.
I cant work out what everybody is whingeing about......
l8r
E
When i fitted the 17'' wheels 205/40/17s i thought the steering would be heavy, but there is very little diffrence in the steering, only when parking its heavy, but moving and steering like usual is quite light :wink: i can almost say it steers the same with the 13s on :lol:

Cheerz.
Mazda FE powered 2.0 16v N12 exa : http://forum.n12turbo.com/viewtopic.php?t=6592
Mazda 2.5 v6 KLDE into Nissan Exa "project" : http://forum.n12turbo.com/viewtopic.php?t=7442
Reswob
Posts: 107
Joined: Wed May 26, 2010 10:58 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by Reswob »

Hi SevPP and all,

Yeah the steering is a bit crazy in my pulsar too. When I got it all the ball joints were worn so I really had to struggle to park the thing. I was sweating and hyperventilating from reverse and parallel parking the thing under the pressure of the Sydney traffic with no air conditioning in summer. Yay!

Now that I have the ball joints replaced, it's a lot easier to steer but it is still hard. It does not seem to be that accurate either. It took me some time to get used to how the steering wheel communicates with the tyres because there seems to be a delay between the two; tyres lag behind what I do with the steering wheel. I've done some mad, dogdy cornering jobs with this thing. Because the steering gets easier the more momentum you get up, I tend to want to corner fast....I'm turning into a leadfoot...

Oh yeah, and the steering wheel is starting to squeak... the whole steering column rattles and jumps up and down when I'm sitting at the lights. Quite amusing.

One thing is for certain, I'm going to be a girl with muscular arms! :D :)
The legends we write help us grasp the truth.
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TurboZ.Dude
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Post by TurboZ.Dude »

Reswob wrote:It took me some time to get used to how the steering wheel communicates with the tyres because there seems to be a delay between the two; tyres lag behind what I do with the steering wheel.
My guess is, you've got some free slack in the steering gear (due to wear). Mine has approximately 1 cm of free turn movement (0.5 cm in each direction) of the steering wheel before the rack starts to move.
My N12:
http://forum.n12turbo.com/viewtopic.php?t=4926,
http://www.zxoc.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6345
http://forums.mightycarmods.com/showthr ... Pulsar-N12
Image
in all honesty dude these cars are shit but they have so much character, are fun and go fairly well when running right. we still play around with these things because they are a fun addictive little shitbox! :D - Ash
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Ash
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Location: Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia

Post by Ash »

tassuperkart wrote:
TurboZ.Dude wrote:Well, anything bigger and wider than 155/80 R13 tires make the steering heavy even when driving around normally... you must be a muscular man Callum! :lol:
Cant be serious M8........................
I have fitted 205 x 45 x 16's to mine and its lighter that stock.
I cant work out what everybody is whingeing about......
l8r
E
easy explanation for that is your getting old and your eyesight is starting to fail you. thats not 35psi going in your tyres it's bloody 55psi!

i run 205*40*17 and only find parking a slight annoyance. anything over 5kmh is easy.
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Kimmo
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Joined: Thu Nov 02, 2006 8:40 am
Location: Footscray

Post by Kimmo »

tassuperkart wrote:
TurboZ.Dude wrote:Well, anything bigger and wider than 155/80 R13 tires make the steering heavy even when driving around normally... you must be a muscular man Callum! :lol:
Cant be serious M8........................
I have fitted 205 x 45 x 16's to mine and its lighter that stock.
I cant work out what everybody is whingeing about......
l8r
E
+1

With 205/60x14s mine was fine. Could park it one-handed. I always found the steering really light. It might be to do with the front end geometry you're running, but then there's bugger-all scope for adjustment, so that's hard to imagine...

And as for using a power rack without power, wouldn't you need to modify it so all input isn't via a little torsion bar...?


Just had a thought about quickening up the steering - dunno if it's legal, but I've heard of this setup being used on RHD conversions - a gearbox would be easy to do if you used a bit of bike chain and a couple of cogs out of an old cassette, which would give you all kinds of options for the ratio you want. Add an adjustable idler to take out the slop, and voila.

Beats fucking around trying to make another rack fit, IMO.
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tassuperkart
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Post by tassuperkart »

Power assisted racks are easy. Just get a Suzuki Swift power assisted steering COLUMN. Replace the stock steering column.
You can also get electrically powered assisted racks out of similar small cars and Suziki Swift come to mind again.

A Quick-rack can be sourced from anywhere that supplies stuff for race cars. Speedway in particular.

Youll need to bolt a flat plate in place of the current rack and just attach your new rack to that. fabricate up some extended length tie rods and 1.2 turns lock to lock with one finger is yours.

Visit the gym is my personal advice!!!

L8r
E
Forcd4 wrote:Oh fuk no dude it's you a again, the oracle.
SevPP
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Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2010 12:29 pm

Post by SevPP »

Well I've been working on the arms all weekend haha! Spent today and yesterday on the jetski at Hazelwood so made a start.

I'll just work with what I have for the moment. And keep complaining haha! As I said, I'll look into it down the track.
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Damo
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Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 11:46 pm
Location: Canberra

Post by Damo »

Didn't the yanks have power assisted racks in their E15 mobile's? I'm sure the 3rd grove in the crank balancer was for P/S, which would mean there would have to be a 'shorter' rack.


Damo
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