wouldn't rear-steer rack & pinion steering neccessitate raising the engine by a few inches?

 

Thanx for the info Racer

 

I just want to throw out, my father has a chassis shop and builds chassis' and independent front suspensions for for streetrods and race cars. One thing to keep in mind is the width of the pivot points on the rack should be equal to, or as close to the width of the pivot points of the lower control arms as possible. This is to eliminate bump steer. Also if you don't like Pinto, Mustang II is the same exact front suspension. For rear steer applications we use "K" car rear steer racks. I am not sure how either of these will work with the RX7 suspension, if it is too narrow, the rods that pivot on the rack can be taken off and adapters can be made to widen the racks pivot points, if it too wide, keep looking for a better product. I plan on doing this also in a couple years, as of now, my list is too long to consider this switch.

 

Just wanted to thank you guys for your imput. This is something that I think NEEDS to be done for us. So hopefully I or one of us could complete this project in the next year or so. I think I'm going to put some other projects on the back burner to figure this one out. Please keep the info coming in. Thanx

 

I really wonder how difficult it would be to transfer the FC steering system (with PS and all) to the FB. And put it in front, just as the FC... Not sure if it'd be possible. Well, all is possible, but if gains would be worth the efforts?
Point is I have a FC that is used as a donor car for an engine swap, so might use some other parts too, as I paid for them anyway :-)

 

Someone on here was working on using a whole cross member from a 2nd gen... I forget the intended goal though, whether it was 5 lug hubs and bigger brakes, an engine swap, or if the rack and pinion was the intended main purpose. I think it was bigger brakes, because they suggestd using Turbo 2 type four piston calipers...

As I recall, the struts, control arms, and cross member were all 2nd gen...

The only problem with this was that the ride height was increased signifigantly.

I have no further infomration on this swap, it's just what I remember. Perhaps someone could filter throught he archives and see what they can find? Something relating to bigger brakes, enigne swap, or rack and pinion steering could all be the search terms. I don't remember what the original post was about though.

 

I think a rack from a rear steer is the way to go, if you plan to keep it rear steer. If you try to adapt a rack from a front steer (pinto, FC, etc.) you will have more complications since it will need to be reversed some how....Think about it - When a front steer car wants to go left, it pushes the left wheel and pulls on the right side. When a rear steer car goes left it does the opposite.

Manntis, what makes you say we might need to raise the engine, have you found theres not enough room?

 

Where is the rear-steer rack going to go, if not under the engine? and a rack is much thicker than the rod connecting the steering arm with the idler arm.

 

Yeah of course under the engine, I never proposed to put it anywhere else. Much thicker, maybe... but it's not huge by comparison. Again... have YOU, or some you know, measured it to see if it's even feasable? I have not yet.

 

it's a few inches thick and to line up the center to the same axis as the original steering tie rods you'll have to raise the engine, or you'll throw your steering geometry off.

The K-car racks are pretty beefy, BTW

 

If anyone has the time and their car isn't snowed in, could they get an idea of how much room there is around the drag link.

 

Tell me what exactly there is to measure and I'll measure it. I can get pictures too.

Hooray for Southern California weather, I don't have to worry about being snowed in. =D

 

why not use a rack from a 2nd gen without PS???? Seems that would be pretty easy.

 

Easy??? I think it be best if you'd check out the FC and compare it to the SA/FB... The steering rack is in front of the engine in a FC, while it's behind the wheels, underneath the engine in a 1st gen. Once my donor FC is complety stripped, I'll take a close look, but really do not think it'd be easy at all.
What about this, however...using a FB chassis, and putting all FC suspension under that. IRS at the back, and the struts in front. Seems a mighty job though, and we are still waiting on what Manntis is going to do with his spare FB shell. Cause I rather see someone doing that first, before I screw up my car :-)

 

As far as the measurement, find out how many inches of free space are around the drag link (in front of it, behind it, and above it)

And I'll state again, I'd love to find a way to do this with out MAJOR modifications, i.e. swaping a whole front end from a FC. And I want this to be done with minimal fabercation so it can easily be done by the rest of you. My main goal is to find a way to get rack and pinion into our cars with out having to build a new car.

 

I'm going to have to locate a pristine shell first. The parts bitch has too many dents and a slight frame pucker which puts her out of the running for any suspension work

 

I was told, at one time, that someone had used the parts from a Honda CRX to give an FB rack and pinion steering. I haven't seen it myself, though. Anyone hear or know of a successful conversion?

 

yea, from what I could find, he could never get it worked out. He had bad bump steer problems and he decided to sell the car, and to avoid any legal problems, he pulled out the crx steering and put the original back in.

 

That is why you need to do all the measurements before hand and get the right parts. Not just what you have laying around. If you aren't going to do the research and do it correctly, keep it original. You know that works right!

 

Damn your weight balance must suck. Sorry, but I'm completely against V8 swap into rotaries because it completely destroy's the RX-7's name and what it means to own one.

 

This is a thread about steering! Rack and pinion steering to be exact.