1st Gen General Discussion The place for non-technical discussion about 1st Gen RX-7s or if there's no better place for your topic

Crash

Old Nov 23, 2018 | 10:26 PM
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Crash

Hey I crashed my FB it sucked but it happened I destroyed my lower control arm and the sway bar end link but I have replaced all of that now with new parts and I thought it would be all good but now it has an excessive amount of toe out and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on what else I could have bent to cause this. (the way I crashed it did no damage to the body because it only hit the wheel so I would say the whole area that could be damaged would be really any of the front driver side suspension its probably something in the steering but idk i haven't taken a really good look(it also has GSL-SE suspension))
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Old Nov 24, 2018 | 01:16 AM
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How much is excessive,can you see it by eye,is the steering wheel off center?
Is it possible you have bent inner/outer tie rod or center link. Look at them closely.
Has the wheel that was on the car been replaced,is/was it bent?
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Old Nov 24, 2018 | 06:56 AM
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I agree on the inspection of the inner and outer tie rods. Is the center link damaged at all? Have you had the car on an alignment machine yet?
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Old Nov 24, 2018 | 07:43 AM
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I have seen the inner and outer tie rods and they look fine but I will check the center link and no I haven’t had it aligned I was going to do that today but the toe basically makes it
un driveable and yes the toe is very visible it looks like I have the wheel cranked a bit but the wheel is actually straight
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Old Nov 24, 2018 | 12:46 PM
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Rereading this and your other thread...have you checked steering knuckle on damaged side with another known good part,or replaced it with new/used,if used are you certain not bent?
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Old Nov 24, 2018 | 09:14 PM
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Not to be a pessimist but you might have tweaked the body. I hit a curb with my first RX7 and it bent the LCA but that was enough to bend the channels on the body where the LCA attaches.

Obviously you need to check the alignment before making any snap judgements. Find an alignment shop and have them take a look at it. Any front end mechanic worth his salt will be able to tell you what you need to replace or adjust.

A tweaked body isn't the end of the world though.... A cool property of metal is that it is malleable and can be re-formed
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Old Nov 25, 2018 | 11:33 AM
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I plan on taking it to an alignment shop when the weather clears up in my area and there is no more salt on the roads and i will see what they say i hope i didn't tweak the front end it looked good when I looked at it but it could be really minor as of right now I just adjusted the toe with the tie rod end and its driving fine the steering is a bit more floaty than before and it is quite a bit lighter but I think that is just because I went from a 225 to a 195 ( the 195's came on the wheels I traded for and I just plan on keeping them for the winter then changing to my Nitto neo gens for the summer) but other than that it is perfectly fine also the steering knuckle is all good.
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Old Nov 25, 2018 | 02:22 PM
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Nobody else mentioned it, so I will - if you've not done so already, replace the Idler Arm assembly with a Moog part, and it will be the last time you ever mess with it. Given the wheel I pact and extend of damage, it may have transmitted force to the Idler Arm and blown out the weak bushings if stock. Their proximity to the exhaust cooks the stock assembly and they don't last long. The Moog lasts forever. Hoping it's something simple,
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Old Nov 25, 2018 | 11:10 PM
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Originally Posted by LongDuck
Nobody else mentioned it, so I will - if you've not done so already, replace the Idler Arm assembly with a Moog part, and it will be the last time you ever mess with it. Given the wheel I pact and extend of damage, it may have transmitted force to the Idler Arm and blown out the weak bushings if stock. Their proximity to the exhaust cooks the stock assembly and they don't last long. The Moog lasts forever. Hoping it's something simple,
what exactly does it do I'm just wondering I will replace it but I'm just wondering what it does for my steering
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Old Nov 26, 2018 | 12:27 AM
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.,!? Please accept this free gift of punctuation. Thank you.
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Old Nov 26, 2018 | 05:34 PM
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Originally Posted by Photo_Boi
what exactly does it do I'm just wondering I will replace it but I'm just wondering what it does for my steering
It elevates the center link to ride at the same height as the pitman arm, That keeps the center link parallel to the cross member* (hence the name of the steerage "parallelogram steering")

Its not an adjustable part so unless you got an alignment with a faulty idler arm it won't change any parameters. But you are already adjusting things so at this point the sky is the limit swap it out


* for reference in reality its the imaginary line between the center of movement in the pitman arm and the center of movement in the idler arm.

Last edited by Qingdao; Nov 26, 2018 at 05:37 PM. Reason: clarification
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