Hi all. I have a 1985 RX-7 with the CP Racing Steering Conversion. I have been running the car with the kit for approx. 4 months, and have decided I can no longer stand the slooooow steering. I have 4 turns lock to lock. I have looked at the Howe Steering Quickener boxes, but wasn't sure if I could get them to fit our steering columns. Can anyone give me any ideas on this?? It's to the point now that if I don't get the steering to be quicker, I am going to take out the kit and buy a new factory steering box. If I get no help, I will be posting the entire kit in the for sale section. Please help, I would hate to spend 1200 dollars just to get all the way back to factory specs.

Thanks guys!

 

yet another CP R&P kit bites the dust.

 

I'll give you fifty cents for it...sorry I have no clue. Good luck.

 

I'm sure it would work. You'll just need some custom work done to the steering shafts. Take both the upper and lower shafts (and the column tube cover) out and bring the whole thing to someone.

 

does anyone actually like the r/p kit? seems like everyone is all excited when they get it, go through hell to install then think it sucks afterwards. Man I'm glad I didn't buy one for my project car....

 

It doesn't suck, it just isn't as good as it could be. Now that I have all the bugs worked out, I like it. I just wouldn't go through the pain of doing it again.

 

There is a guy over in the V8 Rx-7 forum that did a R&P swap with '95 mustang pieces and seems to work great. For those who want R&P but don't like the feed back on the CP kit, I'd go over there and start asking questions.

 

Just would take some ingineuity and fab work.

 

ok so it doesn't suck, but its far from perfect if everything i read is correct. I think its cool that cp makes so many things for our cars as not many other compaines do, its just too bad that it has to be a rabbit rack. Theres gotta be something more high performance out there....

 

From what I've read there is absolutely nothing wrong with the CP R&P Kit. The thing is that changing out any component of a car for one that does the same thing in a different way is usually tricky. Some things don't take well to kit-ing.

Think of converting from a carb to EFI. Sure there are lots of cars (niot just 7's) that have done that, I have yet to hear of one that didn't require tuning to get it working right and a lot of tweaking over a few months to get it running just right.

 

CP is modifying the kit to get the steering lock to lock the same as the stock rack. They'll have an upgrade kit for the current rack and a brand new kit with enhancements that I couldn't get Chris to elaborate on.

 

nevarmore: your right, it sounds like the cp components are just fine, its the rabbit rack that sucks, people say its slow to center, less turning radius, slow ratio, etc. Purple82 if what you say is correct it might become a good upgrade afterall...

 

They also mentioned that if you use the rack from a rabbit/jetta GTI that you'd have a quicker turn with less lock-to-lock. The kit that they have is just slightly more than stock, while the GTI is 3.2 lock-to-lock IIRC.

4 turns seems excessive... did you get the kit with a refurb'd rack from them, or just get the kit and use a rack you acquired yourself?

Jon

 

When installed on the car, for whatever reason, it's possible to turn the wheel nearly 4 turns lock-to-lock. I'm not sure what's letting you do this, but the rack itself is 3.8.

 

While I'd be enthusiastic about an upgrade to the CP kit, I don't recommend taking it apart too many times. The fit of the upper shaft/u-joints to the rack's input spline is a lot more precarious than it looks like it should be. There isn't much of the bolt holding it on there and it's constantly being pulled upward. If it comes apart while you're driving, you're really, really fucked.

 

Hmmm! Mustang rack, Must see I almost bought a rack from some dude in Ind. gald I didnt now

 

damn 4 turns lock to lock, isint the factory steering box a little over 2 turns?

 

im just gonna rebuild my entire front end eventually, there is nothing wrong with the pittman style steering IMO, when the steering is all tight, our cars tunr and handle awesome enough, i see no need for a rack and pinion conversion that is hella expensive and a bitch to install

 

First off, Thanks to everyone for their input. I bought the complete "bolt-in" kit form CP. I have to agree that in hind sight, the factory steering is much better. I wanted to try a quickener to see if it would help before I bought a complete new steering gear box. The way I see it, i can try the quickener on the R&P and if it doesnt make it feel like I want, I can replace the box and use it on the factory style, so I can get around 2.5 lock to lock. I believe the factory is right above 3 turns, if I am not mistaken. I must say that overall the R&P kit is not at all what I had hoped for. The next thing I will have to do if I keep it is change the steering column to fix the bad angles on the universal joints. After many hundred miles, it is still quite lumpy feeling, and the last .75 turn is extremely difficult. I have also thought about making an entire new R&P kit using te rack out of a BMW M3 or even power steering equipped Miata rack. The BMW rack is 13:1 so that should get me where I want to be. I will let everyone know if I do decide to let go of the CP rack, if anyone would be interested in a VERY cheap kit. Thanks Again All!

 

How many other racks are compatible with the Rabbit/GTI rack? Maybe a Porsche rack? Perhaps it's not about finding a way to make a new kit, but simply putting another rack in the bracket.

 

For $650, it sure seems like you could do better than a Rabbit base rack.

 

I posted this last time and no one paid any attention ... you can buy a quick rack kit for a VW rabbit (also known as a golf) that will reduce the lock-lock to either 3 turns or 2.5 turns IIRC ... do a search for "golf quick rack" on google.

 

I also seem to be in the minority when it comes to liking my CP rack.I was unsure about it too,shortly after install,but its been almost a year now(I got one one of the first ones) and it really is a nice unit.Not perfect,but hey,no one else has had the ***** to try a mass-produced RP kit for our cars.Im sure too,that they will improve the design and hopefully it will be adaptable to the older setups.
My setup is 3.5 turns lock to lock,but I set my stoppers a little short to prevent rubbage on my IC pipes.
My only complaint,other than install quirkiness,is also about the slow ratio.While not bad,it could be a bit faster.

 

you could redrill the spindle, so that the outer tie-rod is mounted closer to center.

this is an old drifting technique, just make sure that you also creat some sort of bump-stop to keep the tire from rubbing.

I was thinking of doing this with the stock setup.

 

This is off the 85 brochure

3.7 for non SE

3.4 for the SE

3.0 for the SE power steering