updating steering and front suspension
 

Hello. I have an 82 that i recently purchased. it is already heavily modded for speed, but it needs different mods to suit my needs. I need it to corner. (thinking auto-x in the future)
current mods are turbo ii engine and trans swap, gsl-se hubs and rear dif, stance coilovers all around and a T3 panhard in the rear
the original steering gearbox is shot, and my all the bushings and ball joints need replaced in the front end.
i've already searched and read extensively
it seems the opinion of some that the T3 control arm kit is flawed because of the solid heim joints on the frame end
another product is the Racing Beat adjustable control arms but these are more money and i would still prefer the solid tc rod (i think)

now to address the gearbox, it seems like nothing is available either new or rebuilt. what about a R&P swap?
i have my eye on this kit, but again some say that converting to a rack hurts cornering ability because of improper steering angles. how am i to tighten up my steering or make sense of any of this?

Before making any mods, determine if the auto-x you want to run is a sanctioned and if they have rules on mods.

BC makes some good coilovers. it requires some welding.

Nobody currently makes a good R&P system. The old RE-Speed was the best but it isn't available any longer. One of your fellow Canadian's bought the old RE-Speed company and abandoned all the RX-7 goodies. Very disappointing because the design was top-notch.

What he said. When I first started driving in SCCA Solo II, only to find out that changing springs moved me out of stock class and into Competition, Street Prepared (CSP), which meant I was driving against seriously modded cars. Find out what your club rules allow and then work from that.

If 1st Gen Rx7s are new to you, wouldn't you want to know how they handled,stock back when they were new? New rubber jointed OEM parts are still available and not too costly, and would tighten up the front suspension considerably for road or track use. Switching the easy bushings to poly will tighten it up even further, and if your car is manual steering, that will be a handful on a close track, anyway. Rack and pinion systems seem to come and go, and cause just as many problems as they claim to solve. If you're dead set on it - hit a local speed shop and let them recommend or fab something up.

These cars are getting on 40 years old and will not be competitive at any modern event without spending huge sums of $$$ to make it work. A stock S2000 or Miata would eat your lunch all day, every day and also be that guys daily driver. Just something to consider,

i agree i should just install new ball joints and bushings in the control arms and get to know it, but what are my options for the steering box?

There is some inherent play in the gear box, the nature of it due to bing recirculating ball nut and sector shaft rather than R+P. That said, getting the slop out of the components, having good bushings in the idler arm ( or even replacing it with the Moog one with zerk fittings), making sure your caster is good (helps with "wonder steer" on the highway), and adjust the box properly will go a long way. You might even be fine with it at that point.

You certainly understand the components, so I'll speak to the gear box adjustment. There are three bits to it:

1. The pre load on the bearing for the steering shaft (this shaft moves the ball nut forward and back).
2. The preload on the bearing for the sector shaft (this shaft turns left/right when the ball nut moves forward/back)
3. The gear tooth lash between the ball nut's teeth and the sector shaft's teeth, which you tune by raising or lowering the entire sector shaft/bearing assembly.

1 and 2 go toward the resistance in turning the steering wheel while 3 goes toward the freeplay. The pitfalls are to make the pre load on the bearings too tight and it wears them, or to make the gear laash so tight that it wears the teeth. Both will feel great at first and then wear to a sloppy feel that you can no longer adjust out. You will not achieve zero play but you can significantly improve the feel. The spec for free play is .2 to .8 inches, measured at the stock wheel's outer circumference. And of course the box should be filled with gear oil, covering all the stuff inside (190 cc of SAE 90 GL4 accd to the manual).

We have made the swap to rack and pinion as part of our LS swap. It has taken some mods and adjustments but we are pleased with the results so far. The car is scheduled for alignment on Friday and then we'll be able to be more aggressive in our testing. Our biggest issue turned out to be offset issues with my original wheels and I switched to a lower offset and the wheels now clear strut housings and tie rod ends. A mustang bump steer kit has leveled the steering rods and rod ends. We had limited choices since there was a header clearance problem on the driver's side and removing the steering box simplified things. It did start a two month quest to fix the unintended results.

you're satisfied with how it handles currently? snap some pics when you can