luiml73

iTrader: (1)

He sent me an E-mail saying the new brace will clear the oil pan nut. I hope they ship it soon though

purple82

I've been driving the car with the rack for about three weeks now. It really is great steering. I took it up into the mountains the other day. The steering effort loads up very nicely when speeds increase and it's very easy to tell when the front tires are are starting to loose grip. The feedback is miles ahead of the stock steering. I'm sure that if you drive a car with the stock system and the rack at a track you'd be faster with the rack, the responsiveness is a big improvement.

I'm going to replace the supplied steel bolt that attaches the inner and outer steering shafts with a plastic one and add a piece of soldered wire between the two shafts to make the horn work. This will restore the function of the collapse-able steering column.

Now if they'd hurry up and send me the revised frame...

luiml73

iTrader: (1)

Please take pics. I might try this myself.

luiml73

iTrader: (1)

Have you stopped by yet?

smnc

Not in person no, but I've talked to Chris and he says all should be good with the new brace...

smnc

Well, I went by CP to pick up my car, and as an early anniversary present, my wife bought me the CP R&P kit for my car

It is the new re-designed brace, and there are no clearance issues with the oil drain plug.

As for driving with the kit, all I can say is WOW!

I've only been out once (I have a nasty flu right now), but the change is incredible.
There is NO lag or slop or vagueness in the steering anymore. It's as tight as you could want and perfectly precise too!

I'll post more details and some pics later...

purple82

The only thing I'd like to see is a little faster ratio. Other than that, it's what the 1st gen steering should have been in the first place.

smnc

True. The ratio is no worse than stock, but no real improvement there either.

But I can forgive that based solely on the improvements across the board otherwise...

purple82

Agreed.

The only thing they need to do now is retain the collapse-able function of the steering column and they've got my full endorsement. I think it's a simple matter to do too.

The only other thing that I've changed is I'm using nylock nuts to hold the rack to the frame instead of the standard nuts they supplied. Peace of mind, you know.

luiml73

iTrader: (1)

Still waiting for mine

purple82

It takes a while, and it's a painful wait.

rotorizit

iTrader: (1)

I too would like to comment on the cp rack and pinion. I bought the stage one kit last year at the revolution 2004. I paid $500 dollars for it. However, Chris neglected to tell me that there is a $20 customs fee for shipping to the US. After taking about four months to recieve, it sat in my closet for about 6 more months, and yesterday I decided I would install it. It seemed to be a simple enough install, designed for bolt in application. Wrong! What should have only taken several hours took 2 days. The 1st problem I had was that the rack wouldn't fit. The mounting plates on the frontward brackets that are designed to be bolted to the crossmember had clearance issues with the surronding metal on the crossmember. I had to cut about 1/2 inch off of the bottom off the plates and trim off the upper corners. Once i had the steering column &rack installed the steering wheel would only make 1/4 turn. It turns out that the universal joints on the steering column were bottoming out. So from there i had to find a place where they wouldn't bottom out to bolt the rack and pinion. This required making new brackets, since the rack was about 2 inches below where cp racing "says" it should be. I then realized that the outer tie rods wouldnt fit. The rack kit has right hand threaded studs, which all outer tie rods are left hand thread. I this situation i had to use the inner tie rods with the right direction threads. Of course they were longer than the outer rod ends, so i had to cut an inch off the threaded sides to allow for enough travel to get a good alignment. Luckily, at my buddy's garage, if we dont have the tool or part we need for the job, we just make it. Now with that all said and done, I do like rack kit better than the old reciprocating ball bearing crap. I agree that the feedback is better than stock and there is almost no noticeable freeplay. Also that the ratio is not much off an improvement. I dont want to diss Chris or CP RACING, I just wanted to inform the rest of the crowd of my install results and what i thought of the kit. Maybe also to inform Chris of the install problem. Because, if you think about it, RX7 club is about the best R&D info center you can find for the rx7 and aftermarket parts. I hope you stage two guys didn't have as many install problems as i did. Also I hope CP racing will continue to come up with new products for the FB. All of our feedback will help them produce better and better products all the time. I just sucks that we are the lab rats.

CarlRx7

its good to see ernest is doing well stil., i drove to his place about a year ago and bought a complete se suspension front end and rear end for a great deal, really saved the 7 from getting totaled out.

carl.

CarlRx7

dp

rotorizit

iTrader: (1)

I was checking posts and the old lightbulb flashed over my head. What if someone was to drill and tap the upper steering column ( with cp racing's lower replacement column removed from vehicle), and install a small allen bolt or something that would not interfere with the steering column tube. This would eliminate the roll pin and possibly allow the steering column to become collapsable again. Just a theory, I might try it. Of course there is only one way to test it ( doh!)