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1881 gets a new rack

jepherz

Staff member
Joined
Aug 8, 2004
Messages
7,877
Location
KC, Missouri
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.
 
Last edited:

324vr4

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Apr 28, 2006
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Location
Bozeman, Montana
If I were you I would just make a "how to" thread of this...I'm a little confused to what you used to make it work but it sounds freaking rad...you have any links to who does this or the products used to carry this through? I'm interested for sure! And slightly jealous /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 

Larry Parker

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Feb 11, 2004
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Metro detroit
Nice... I have had plans to swap mine out and do this also, but have yet to getting around to it... What brand of quickner did ya use? Is it a unit that is straight in and out? I have seen a number of other units with a big offset in and out and I felt that those where no good for fit reasons...

Regards
LP
 

Quoting jepherz:
From my investigation I found a company who made/makes modified steering columns using a crappy quickener for over $800 with core.




What is the name of the company? Is it L and E fabrication?
 

I went to college with the E part of the company. He is a pretty damn good rally racer.
 

iceman69510

Turn Right Racing
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Mar 5, 2001
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Location
Michigan
So Jeff, are we to understand you did NOT use that company but did this yourself, and you are offering to do for others?
 

jepherz

Staff member
Joined
Aug 8, 2004
Messages
7,877
Location
KC, Missouri
Yes, that is correct. If you look at the rack they build for subarus, it actually isn't very impressive at all considering how much it costs.

I was also incorrect about their pricing. Looks like their columns are "$529.99 + $200 Refundable core exchange".
 
Last edited:

jepherz

Staff member
Joined
Aug 8, 2004
Messages
7,877
Location
KC, Missouri
Quoting Larry Parker:
Nice... I have had plans to swap mine out and do this also, but have yet to getting around to it... What brand of quickner did ya use? Is it a unit that is straight in and out? I have seen a number of other units with a big offset in and out and I felt that those where no good for fit reasons...

Regards
LP



Mine is a Coleman, although I think Coleman sells to many other companies and they rebadge their units. Either that, or Coleman doesn't actually make them. This one is offset, although not by much.

Some of the others, especially if not offset, are pretty heavy and WIDE.
 

thecman02

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Nov 3, 2007
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Kalamazoo,MI
This sounds pretty exciting. Great work.
 

CarRacer

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Jun 28, 2007
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Shakopee, MN
Coleman also makes collapsable steering shaft inserts. We used one on our circle track car. IIR its about 12-14 inches long, so probably wouldnt fit inline of the steering shaft. They might have other options though. Coleman stuff is awesome, spendy, but awesome.
 

Do you have to make the new racks at that ratio, or can you do any one you want?
 

belize1334

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Nov 18, 2003
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Location
Bozeman, MT
All I can say is, wow. Could you possible do a slightly more in depth write-up? Mainly I'm curious to see how much cutting/welding you had to do. It looks from the pic like you did a little trimming to where the quickener attaches at the top but what about the lower attachement? Also, is this the quickener that you used?
 

jepherz

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Aug 8, 2004
Messages
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Location
KC, Missouri
Quoting belize1334:
Also, is this the quickener that you used?



My quickener was a 2 bolt, but the body of it looks a fair amount different than that one. The difference is mainly in the mounting of the quickener.
 

Brunoboy

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Apr 25, 2008
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San Bruno,CA Home of SFO
sorry to bring this back, but i dont Follow, So you had to buy one of those items? and mod it to fit out car? or you made your own?
 

i think i understand how this works.... correct me if im wrong. but theres a gear inside the quickner that changes the ratio? i.e. if you turn one shaft one full rotation. the gearing makes the other end turn say 1.5 turns? thus aking the steering rack respond if you turned the wheel 1.5 turns but in reality youve turned it jsut once?
 

jepherz

Staff member
Joined
Aug 8, 2004
Messages
7,877
Location
KC, Missouri
Quoting brunoboy:
sorry to bring this back, but i dont Follow, So you had to buy one of those items? and mod it to fit out car? or you made your own?



Yes, I bought a commercial quickener. These are usually used in dirt track and other off road vehicles. I didn't have to mod the quickener, I had to mod a stock galant steering rack to house the quickener.

You are spot on on the effect it has on the steering. You turn the wheel 1 full revolution, the actual rack input sees 1.5 turns.
 

cheekychimp

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Apr 19, 2004
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East Sussex, U.K.
So, given that this is gear driven, does this make the steering any heavier at low speeds similar to a manual rack or does it remain the same because it is still power assisted?

And if so, if you did this mod to a manual rack would it become "too" responsive?
 

Brunoboy

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Apr 25, 2008
Messages
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San Bruno,CA Home of SFO
would you happen to have a link to the quickener you used? and Yes I am aware of the affects, do you have any install pics? or a write up on how you had to mod to fit. Thanks
-Shane
 
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