jepherz
Staff member
Well, not really a rack..
I've had a modified column in my car for about a month now, and have put a fair amount of miles on the car. After some testing, I figured I'd post.
Anyways, the research:
After driving KC's old Evo, I felt what a decent handling car should feel like. My VR-4 at the time was rocking stock bushings that were then 15+ years old. I set out to put sway bars, all new Energy Suspension bushings, Whiteline Caster bushings, and full suspension setup on my car. It's probably not that necessary to describe the feel of a "tight" car like a brand new Evo. It's simple enough to say that steering the wheel makes the car react 'sooner'.
I had investigated swapping in an Evo rack. The problem with this is that they go for $500+ used sometimes. In addition, an Evo rack would require modifying the in and out lines, as well as modifying the length (and possibly the couplers) on the car itself. I had originally intended on machining my own gear box from a couple of gears and an aluminum enclosure. Thumbing through a dirt track mag a few weeks later landed my eyes on "steering quickeners", which accomplished the exact same thing I had set out to do.
From my investigation I found a company who made/makes modified steering columns using a crappy quickener for over $800 with core. Not only was their quickener not ideal, but there wasn't even much fab work involved on these Subaru columns per the way the column mounts to the under side of the dash. Working with a Galant/DSM column was going to be much more involved.
Some steering ratios:
Stock VR-4 > 17.8:1
Evo > 13:1
STI > 15.2:1
WRX > 16.5:1
Miata > 15:1
S2000 > 14.1:1
My VR-4 > 11.9:1
Anyways, the product:
And, the comments:
The first time I drove my car with the quickened rack installed, I was amazed. The car was so much more "go-karty" and fun to drive. I also ran my first autox recently, and that was a blast. For those who are questioning how the car would handle at speed, I can only comment that at around 80 MPH on the highway, it is a little darty and I'd think twice about putting it in a daily driver. However, when I drive my Galant it's really only on spirited drives every week or so, and it honestly isn't a problem at all. The one part of the system that still has a little bit of slack, is the factory U-joint that bolts onto the output of the steering column. I'm looking into how to fix this as well, although it's not much to worry about.
Unfortunately with the fitment of the quickener, I was forced to remove the collapsible section of the column, although after seeing the methods that Mitsubishi used on older '89 Galants as well as DSMs, I'm not too sure my chest would be at all saved. I'm currently looking into enhancing the column a bit to retain the collapsibility or utilize some sort of aftermarket method.
I'd really like to take another Evo for a drive for comparison, but with the caster bushings I have installed along with the camber adjustment and stiff suspension, I'm thinking my car will fair very well. I'll have to make some more Evo friends to give it a fresh shot /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
If anyone is interested in one of my modified columns, please PM me. I'm working on getting a few spares to make swapping very quick.
I've had a modified column in my car for about a month now, and have put a fair amount of miles on the car. After some testing, I figured I'd post.
Anyways, the research:
After driving KC's old Evo, I felt what a decent handling car should feel like. My VR-4 at the time was rocking stock bushings that were then 15+ years old. I set out to put sway bars, all new Energy Suspension bushings, Whiteline Caster bushings, and full suspension setup on my car. It's probably not that necessary to describe the feel of a "tight" car like a brand new Evo. It's simple enough to say that steering the wheel makes the car react 'sooner'.
I had investigated swapping in an Evo rack. The problem with this is that they go for $500+ used sometimes. In addition, an Evo rack would require modifying the in and out lines, as well as modifying the length (and possibly the couplers) on the car itself. I had originally intended on machining my own gear box from a couple of gears and an aluminum enclosure. Thumbing through a dirt track mag a few weeks later landed my eyes on "steering quickeners", which accomplished the exact same thing I had set out to do.
From my investigation I found a company who made/makes modified steering columns using a crappy quickener for over $800 with core. Not only was their quickener not ideal, but there wasn't even much fab work involved on these Subaru columns per the way the column mounts to the under side of the dash. Working with a Galant/DSM column was going to be much more involved.
Some steering ratios:
Stock VR-4 > 17.8:1
Evo > 13:1
STI > 15.2:1
WRX > 16.5:1
Miata > 15:1
S2000 > 14.1:1
My VR-4 > 11.9:1
Anyways, the product:
And, the comments:
The first time I drove my car with the quickened rack installed, I was amazed. The car was so much more "go-karty" and fun to drive. I also ran my first autox recently, and that was a blast. For those who are questioning how the car would handle at speed, I can only comment that at around 80 MPH on the highway, it is a little darty and I'd think twice about putting it in a daily driver. However, when I drive my Galant it's really only on spirited drives every week or so, and it honestly isn't a problem at all. The one part of the system that still has a little bit of slack, is the factory U-joint that bolts onto the output of the steering column. I'm looking into how to fix this as well, although it's not much to worry about.
Unfortunately with the fitment of the quickener, I was forced to remove the collapsible section of the column, although after seeing the methods that Mitsubishi used on older '89 Galants as well as DSMs, I'm not too sure my chest would be at all saved. I'm currently looking into enhancing the column a bit to retain the collapsibility or utilize some sort of aftermarket method.
I'd really like to take another Evo for a drive for comparison, but with the caster bushings I have installed along with the camber adjustment and stiff suspension, I'm thinking my car will fair very well. I'll have to make some more Evo friends to give it a fresh shot /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
If anyone is interested in one of my modified columns, please PM me. I'm working on getting a few spares to make swapping very quick.
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