I'm in the process of buying an '84 GSL, and while I was looking at it closely, I noticed that while the steering seems to work, the steering wheel pulls out by an inch, taking the shaft with it. What does anyone suppose could be the reason for this? Is it something that can be fixed without pulling the whole dash out of the car?

 

Yea, common problem

Calgary?? (are you the one with the rx3)

Its the nylon pin things have collapsed (saftey bit of collapsable shaft)

Replace with aluminum rivet. Bit of a bitch but do-able (so I'm told by many. Still need to fix before getting a safety but I'm a bit away from that)

 

Why did the nylon shear pins collapse? Was there an accident?

 

Mine was never in an accident that wouldve caused anything to do with the steering (rear half of door and rear quarter damage). I can only guess somone was wither rough on the steering wheel or they wore out?

Does constant cold/hot affect nylon? Huge weather differences here, but quite a few forum members have had this that ive read about or replied in various threads

 

Could be that a previous owner hit the shaft in too hard(i.e. attempt at removing the steering wheel with a hammer, or smacking their head into the wheel out of frustration, etc). Can't this also be fixed just by replacing the steering gear box? if so, would a '79 version fit?

 

The steering is all one piece and its like 600 dollars new. I would recommend just sticking a pin of some form in the nylon pin holes.

 

True, but then again, I can just grab a used one from PnP. They have a couple of 1st gens there right now, one of 'em being a GSL-SE. I can't see myself having any luck with a replacement pin, since I don't know what they look like, or what I'll have to do to replace it without ripping the dash all apart. I'm buying the car as a replacement for my tired old '79, and I want to keep the stripdown work to a minimum.

 

Probably less effort to pin the column than replace the whole thing
Probably be a BITCH to get it out of the car at PnP because the box/column has to come out of the engine bay.

You mean the PnP down on barlow and glenmore?

Hmm, i better get down there, im in need of a few parts (not the steering column though)

 

The stock part that holds the two shafts together will not be able to had at a pull a part.

You would need to remove the shafts from the steering box as a whole. This involves removing the large nut at the gearbox body and removing the shafts with the worm gear attached.

Simply put 2 aluminum 1/8" diameter dowel pins in place.

-billy

 

Thanks for the solid info Billy.

I guess I should point out as well. For a few hundred more than a new mazda steering box, you could buy Billy's rack and pinion steering box and crossmember.

Check out his site (in his sig) for he has many products for our generation of RX7

 

could someone post some pics on how to change the pin?

 

Also if it's a GSL-SE it might have power steering so parts might not match.