Steering drift and other
 

K...so we have a 1984 GSL with 42k on the clock. Yes its in show condition physically and amazing...lol.

Anyway, there is a dead spot at the top of the steering while driving. Additionally, it likes to pull right or left sometimes. When we bought it, I chalked it up to being because of the wind (they had a wind advisory and recorded 65 MPH winds!). I replaced the idler arm and put poly sway bar end links on it and it helped a bit, but not much. It makes it really squirrelly while upshifting. Not because of mounts, but because of the force from driving and then letting off to shift.



Also, the car smells bad from the exhaust. I'm not sure if its running rich or what, but I was outside around the car for ten seconds and now I smell like exhaust pretty badly.


All help is appreciated, and perhaps one day I post pics.

Welcome to non-rack and pinion steering, which most cars had up through the 70s.
It will always have a small dead spot or play in the middle. Get used to it. Its not a
honda :)

Thats said, you may need new tie rod ends and/or control arm bushings.
Possibly even ball joints as well. If replacing the sway bar bushings helped some
thats probably your issue.

The stink, we love the stink. Its what rotaries are known for besides their sound.
Since the engine burns its own oil as part of combustion it can get kind of stinky.
Premixing with 2 cycle oil that burns cleaner can cure most of that if you choose
to do that.

Our cars smell, get used to it. A great tune up any makes it smell less. As stated I think the tie rods and ball joints need to be replaced.

exhaust fumes and rx7s go hand in hand. if u can't stand the smell, don't own an rx7. once u get all the bushing replaced, have the alignment checked.

Should not need bj's or tr's at 42K. There is some adjustment in the gear box, but still rare to need at that mileage. Check idler arm bushings? Check toe in.

Smell can be from Cat starting to work if it has been down for a while. Check emissions if they are not close to 0 0 you could have some control system issues.

If it is a raw fuel smell, check the vent valve and gas cap.

A properly tuned factory equiped rotary should not have any smell. Other than hot exhaust.

wrong, the dead spot can be fixed to under 5 degrees with proper alignment and new parts.

as for the sway bar thing thats just nuts, the new poly ends would tighten up the left right sway hense thier name.

you just need to replace all the components and have it aligned by a high end shop not a cheap one they will get it all messed up.

Like I said, it will still be there get used to it.

agreed.

Here's a good, detailed thread on this issue and how to handle it: https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...steering+grind

Best of luck. :)




.

I dunno man. If the prostate is still there, I can't see why not. :lol:

I had big time play in my steering till I got the steering box adjustment directions from this site http://www.mazspeed.com/steeringgear.htm. Had my tech friend help me and it restored it to factory settings. Hardly any play at all now. I can drive it with one hand or my finger tips and its so much better. I had my idler arm and bushings replced too, before I did the box adjustment. Its so much more fun to drive and predictable, especially at high speeds. Now I can rip thru the tight turns and attain speeds at 115+mph and feel safe and confident.