Rack and pinion kit?
 

Has anyone bought the Blacktie Motors rack and pinion kit? They just came out with it. Just wanted to know if its a qualiy kit?. Any info or opinion on their kit would help. Been asking blacktie for a few more pictures of their kit. But they keep referring me to their video but it doesn't show much of the kit on the car. Mostly interested in the tie rod angle in relation to the lower suspension arm. Also how the stock steering rod attaches.

Link? Never heard of em.

http://www.blacktiemotors.net/

Well, its interesting but you have to modify (weld) your stock steering, I won't fit 13 and most 14 in wheels. Definitely not bolt on for sure. Also its a front mount rack pushing being used which seems kind of odd but I'm no steering geometry guru.

Found this...but I am not qualified to comment on quality or design: Rx-7 rack and pinion steering kit / Blacktie Motors

They say "We are now taking orders for a run of six (6) kits. Do (sic) to the time and work involved in making this kit we will be doing them in batches."

and mention that it doesn't fit with AC and that 13 and some 14" wheels don't clear their retrfofit knuckles.

I'd also like to see a full installation to see how the tie rods fit with the tension rods.
The RE-Speed kit had custom arms behind the lower control arms.

Looks to be a pretty good kit. I think these guys used to be Hot Water Labs, and have some pretty good products.

They should post more documentation on the forums, they will get a lot of interest, people are always requesting R&P kits for the FB.

I would consider something like this. My FB has coilovers, 15" wheels and TechnoToyTuning control arms and tension rods. If this would fit with my setup i would be very interested.

A full on FC subframe swap is a bit beyond what I can do at the moment and it would necessitate new coilovers, brakes, wheels etc etc. After finding all the parts, hubs, brakes, wheels, etc it would be too much $$.

What members have a similar R&P kit installed? This looks similar to a few other kits that have been available in the past. Feedback on steering feel improvement and geometry would help.

With the FC subframe you can keep factory GSLSE brakes and 14" wheels by using the FC NA 4 stud hubs and rotors. 13" wouldn't be possible however.

if you have 4x114.3 stud pattern you should also be able to fit turbo 4 pot calipers and 276mm rotors with 15" wheels, again by using the FC 4 stud hubs

I don't like the way the front oil line has to be routed. It's literally touching the steering shaft. I'd like to see a stock install with the radiator, stock shroud, lower water pump housing hose, etc...

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...0be5e03d00.jpg

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...db15cdb7be.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...7d361ce66a.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...a3010530ca.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...7d6b36192d.jpg
Blacktie motors sent me a few more pictures of their kit.

Also notice that it is using small diameter poly engine mounts. It looks like factory engine mounts would foul at the last universal joint before the rack.

It looks to be an extremely poor quality looking kit with lots of cut corners for cost saving. I'd rather safe, properly engineered recirculating ball steering than half-assed rack and pinion any day of the week.

Also it looks like the tension rod would rub on the tie rod. i looked a the Respeed manual for their rack and pinion kit that i found online. That is a well engineered and designed rack and pinion kit. They put the tension rod behind the wheel so it doesnt interfere with the tie rod in the front. Wish they still made the respeed kit.

Holy moly. That kit is scary :o

Kudos to them for trying to bring a new product to market for our cars, but I would not feel safe with that kit at all.... I'd be curious to see what (if any) kind of testing was done on it... As said above, there are clearly corners being cut to make it more affordable (although this is about what the Re-speed kit used to sell for...)

If anyone on here does get one, please post detailed pics and feedback on the install!

I am interested in going rack and pinion and found the same Blacktie site. I am not mechanically inclined. The Blacktie offering sounds iffy from the comments so I will keep looking. (Holdfast / others) I am willing to jump in on a group order if others can bless the design / quality of whatever seems to be a good solution.

I'll pass on the black tie kit. Look to sketchy for me.

John Vargas from Angel MS out in cali made a kit for ~$1500 or so with drift angle. hit him up, say i sent you :)

Ya i seen that on Facebook. Looks promising. To bad I spent all my money on some recaro seats. Next tax return.

Old thread, but I have the Re-Speed R&P conversion kit and it is absolutely amazing. Straight forward install and everything was included. Took better part of half a day to install. Does anyone know if Re-Speed still sells these kits? They use a Mustang R&P. Looking at their website, it appears once they moved, they stopped focusing on the RX7. Sad, as I purchased a lot from them.

As for the Blacktie kit. The photos look terrible, and it that's what they are advertising with; I wouldn't want to be part of that first batch of 6 before extensive R&D has been performed. The kit doesn't look like a lot. The RE-Speed came with a whole new crossmember and other parts that he Blacktie seems to be lacking; however, I can't speak for this kit.

Re-Speed was sold the someone in Canada several years back. For whatever reason, he stopped selling/supporting the RX-7 stuff Billy from the original Re-Speed developed. A few tears back I even offered to buy the designs to build the R&P and didn't get any response. I know it doesn't make any since to not sell the designs because the new(er) Re-Speed doesn't make them.

I ran cross a brand new never installed R&P a few years back and like a bonehead I sold it to another member. I should have had some drawings made.

bruhhh :( :(

I just put an order in for the blacktie kit. Not sure if I'm going to have to change my motor mounts but I suppose I will find out and if anything doesn't fit I'll be sending it back. My car is in the garage for the winter and I'm about to pull the motor and swap in a new ported motor, so now is the time if they can get it to me before December. I also need to do the bushings so everything is coming apart anyway.

I just finished redoing my wife's Aw11 MR2 with new bushings and inner/outer tie rods. Honestly, the setup isn't that much more robust than what blacktie is offering....and boy is the steering better than my FB. For reference, my car had 20k when I got it, has 40k now, it's the P/S box and it has never been good. Plenty of feedback on the track, but so much work to correct a slide. I wish i didn't have to modify my steering shaft for this kit, but i suppose I can source a spare if i need to revert.

I'm already planning to ditch the p/s pump and I pulled the A/C last year because it wasn't working, so no issues there. I'm also running 15"s already. I'll be bummed I can't put the old 13"s back on but whatever, it's not easy finding tires for them anyway.

I'm hoping that is just an optical illusion, but I've got the RB oil line kit ready to go in since my car was an '85 with the beehive and I'm putting an -SE cooler in. Hopefully the fittings I got with the RB kit will avoid the rack or perhaps I can swap in a 45 or 90 degree fitting to clean things up.

I'd need more pics of the setup with a stock configuration of radiator/fan/shroud AC etc.

Let us know how the install goes.

Has your car been lowered?

It's on RB Springs and Tokico Blues. I asked whether that is compatible. Based on BlackTie's Facebook, they've been working on a drift car that I'm guessing is as low, if not lower than my car.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...70f701077f.jpg
Respeed kit. Tension rods behind lower arms
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...ede61a8d2d.jpg
Mustang 2 universal tension rods.
If i got this kit i would modify it by removing the front tension rods put them on the other side of the lower arms. Similar to the mustang 2 suspension and what respeed did with their kit. I dont like how the tie rods are so close to the front tension rods in the BT kit. Looks sketchy.