Ok... so I made a post in a thread about how I fixed the infamous "wondersteer" problem that plagues the first gens.


And my PM box got FLOODED.


So, here'll detail what I did to make it work.

--Energy Suspension makes a set of urethane sway bar end link bushings, and is sold in packs of 8 at almost every AutoZone/Pep Boys, etc. Set of 8 was 19 bucks. You only need two bushings, so share with 3 of your 1st gen friends. (The new urethane bushing will be referred to as ES, herein)

--Attaching the steering linkage to the frame, is two idler arm bearings... basically the pivot point. There's a 17mm castle nut and cotter pin that you reach from the top of the engine bay. You could do it from below, but it's easier from the top.

--Remove the cotter pin, and castle nut. There will be a fairly large washer under the castle nut. Take the washer off, and here's where the tricky part comes in.

-- You need to use a drill bit that's the same size as the stud that the washer and castle nut came off of. But when you look close, you'll see that the stud is tapered. What I did was I found a drill bit that was the same size as the raised part of the ES bushing, and basically, just re-drilled it.

-- Now that the ES bushing has the right size hole, it's still too tall. A bench grinder is your best friend for this. I had to take a third of the material of the ES bushing off. The way I did it was by holding it against the SIDE of the grinding wheel, where it's flat. This way, it all grinds down quickly and uniformly.

-- After a third of the material was ground down, I put some hi-temp axle grease on the stud (NOT A LOT! just enough to get it on), put the washer back on, and started the castle nut by hand. I finished it with an impact gun, and it worked GREAT. I put a new cotter pin on it, and tried it out.

-- Everything worked WONDERFULLY. But I did the other side just to see if it worked, and my final conclusion, it's a hundred times better than the stock steering, and it's a fraction of the price and time of the rack and pinion kit.


Don't get me wrong, I love the Rack and pinion kit.. I've autoXed with both, though, and I am truly torn on if it's something I want to invest in. This works beautifully, and it's dirt cheap. Hell, 4 people can do their cars for the price of a case of beer.


Just thought I'd share info with everyone. Hope it works the same for you, as it has for my friends and I!

--Evan

 

The picture shows 8 bushings, all mounted nose-to-nose.

But the package has them all separated.

 

I'll try to get pics up next time we do an install of them.

 

I'm confused!

Are you basically just making custom idler arm bushes? Are there no urethane idler bushes available for you guys?

 

That's essentially it, S2-13BT.


But I can't stress enough how well it works.

 

cant wait to see photos, have you concidered doin a photo step by step?

<l><l>

 

Ah ok, because I recently replaced my idler arm bushes with urethane items made by SuperPro hear in Oz. They are off the shelf parts.

You're right though, it makes quite a difference. I did it before going to a trackday, and the difference was noticaeable, and beneficial.

Well worth the trouble. Although for me, it was easy, because they came in a packet to suit!!

 

Surely you can buy poly-urethane idler bushings in the States.

 

I think I bought an entire idler arm assembly for $20 or something through VB...

 

yea, i put the urethane bushings on my idler arm. got them from vb. didnt really feel a difference.

edit: you said you did the other side, what do you mean?

 

How about a kit?

For those of us who do not have a bench grinder....and other stuff....

 

PLEASE post pics of your install! I would LOVE to see how you did it. I would be interested in trying it and posting my impressions of the fix as well. I can't stand the sloppy steering on my 7. It is the only thing on the car that makes it NOT feel like a true sports car.

 

I can't really see the idler arm making that much of a difference. I know for a fact that my idler arm is fine, but my steering is still loose. This will only fix one of many problems that can lead to "wonder steering".

 

I am in agreement, I'm not seeing this as a fix for the steering box adjustment issue, just the idler arm at best. Good idea, just not sure if it's a hole in one fix.

 

Great write up, I have the ES bushings at home, will do this mod immediately.

Not to jack the thread, but I need some help. I get some vibration sometimes and sometimes not at about 40 MPH. It is not the tranny or anything, I checked by taking it out of gear. It is not a full body wobble, just in the steering wheel, anyone have any ideas? When the car was up in the air the wheels were solid, no play at all.

Any help is appreciated, I want to get the steering perfect before I throw on the new wheels.

 

One of your wheels could be out of balance or your alignment is off.

 

Would the balance or alignement be off only intermittently? Sometimes I get a wobble at 40, sometimes not till 60.

 

Try rotating your tires and see if anything changes. If it is balance or something else tire related, the problem will change (i.e. get better or worse). I've had tires that were near the end of their tread life give my a "shimmy" in the steering wheel. Rotating the tires to put the best tires on the front gave me some time to shop for tires. I imagine worn out tie rod ends, and other 22 year old stuff also has something to do with it too.

 

Can't rotate the tires, there are narrow tires in the front and big ones in the rear.

I will just put the new wheels on after doing Chef's little trick and see how things go. Thank you for the input.

 

Hey Chef! How soon do you think you could get a walkthrough with pics (i like to know what goes where) up and going? This sounds like something that i would want to do, whether it fixes the whole "wondersteer" problem or not, because i dont think its gonna make it perform worse.

****, for less than the price of a 12-pack, cant go wrong!!!

 

Thats funny thats what happens when the idler arm goes, what an apropriate place for the question.

crazy huh

 

So do I need new Idler arm bearings?

Sorry for the stupid question, I have no clue on suspension obviously. Thanks for the help V8kilr, I have read many of your posts and appreciate your knowledge.

 

Well, I've never been in a car where the Idler arm bushings go bad. I've actually never heard of this either, so I guess I could be wrong. But it could also be a VERY worn out strut and spring assembly, but I doubt that. My friends camaro has very weak springs and shocks on the front of his car and sometimes it shakes like a **** at highway speeds and sometimes not. It even shakes in town sometimes, but other factors could contribute to this. The tires are probably 7 years old and are dry rotted. There is no doubt that those tires are most likely out of balance.

 

his problem is definitely the idler arm bushing. mine did the exact same thing when it was going/ went out.

 

Vibration in the steering wheel is USUALLY caused by front wheels beign out of bailance. Your wheels being out of balance will leed to unevan tire ware ie. choppy tires

You could also have bent rim or a tire that is starting to seperate.

A good tire shop will be able to see these problems while the wheels are on the bailancer

I would go and get all four tires rebalanced brefore I spent any time or money on the suspension

Try the simple fix before you start ripping the car appart.

When my Ideleer arm bushing went all I noaced was a knkocking sound when ever I hit a bump. New arm fixed that in about 20 min.