[Home | Mail Archive | Join the mail archive | Photo Gallery ]

Mazda Rotary Pickup Forum
you are logged in as
profile | register | faq | search (active threads) | memberlist
Sponsored by:
Index > Suspension > Thread: Sloppy steering
Thread: Sloppy steering [' This thread is 4 pages long: 1 2 (3) 4 ']
Brad


Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
posted January 18, 2008 11:35 PM
Edited By: Brad on 18 Jan 2008 23:39

well, i got tired of my wondersteer

so ordered two MOOG center links for early B-series / Courier. will take to machine shop to get lengthened to REPU specs.

Steering box gonna come out and get rebuilt, gonna try lee mfg. and see if a quicker ratio was ever made.

also ordered two idle arm bushing kits. gots spares.

also greased everything in the front end that has a zerk fitting. always easier to steer afterwards. found out spraying the zerks and everything around them with wd-40 beforehand makes cleanup easier as the excess grease that gets pinched out don't stick to REPU.
____________
-brad-
74 REPU Lawn Green
81 Rx-7 racecar. 12a J-
Bridge

       
View IP (Administrators only)
Brad


Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
posted January 24, 2008 01:58 PM

taking the plunge

steering box comes off sunday and gets shipped out monday for rebuild. i hope they can find parts for it. looked online for COURIER steering box parts, no luck except for 1980+

if not,then i'll get a 78-84 box and see if the pitman arm can be rebent or if repu pitman arm will bolt on.

gonna be FUN!
____________
-brad-
74 REPU Lawn Green
81 Rx-7 racecar. 12a J-
Bridge

       
View IP (Administrators only)
Brad


Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
posted January 28, 2008 12:18 PM

Shipped it out today with a copy of the steering section of factory shop manual. Hopefully they can find parts for it.

The brake master and booster have to come out to pull the box. The box has to be pulled straight upward to remove.

New centerlinks should arrive tomorrow. Yippie! Then off to machineshop to be lengthened.

       
View IP (Administrators only)
Brad


Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
posted February 08, 2008 11:56 AM

monday they take it apart,

magnaflux it, and let me know what they can do for me.

       
View IP (Administrators only)
2wankel


Hauling
Posts: 133
posted February 09, 2008 10:54 PM

Oh ya, cant wait to hear the news. Hopefully we can all get our boxes done.
____________


VMRC Website

       
View IP (Administrators only)
Brad


Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
posted February 21, 2008 01:57 PM

LEE has the box and they've taken it apart. No quicker ratio available. Goes to magnaflux monday. Shop's been hit hard with the flu.

Center links are at a machine shop to be lengthened. Their fabricator will look at it tomorrow.
____________
-brad-
74 REPU Lawn Green
81 Rx-7 racecar. 12a J-
Bridge

       
View IP (Administrators only)
Brad


Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
posted March 03, 2008 01:43 PM

You get what you pay for





Had two new MOOG steering center links lengthened so they'll fit in REPU. $100 each to lengthen including $20 each for the DOM tubing, they made a jig for them so the eyeholes will be in the exact right spot including the angle.

LEE is waiting for a seal for the Steering box to come in this week then it's DONE.




       
View IP (Administrators only)
tpfister88


Revvin Up
Posts: 62
posted March 03, 2008 02:10 PM

Get what you pay for

Looks like nice work!
____________
74 Green/Primer REPU

       
View IP (Administrators only)
driftking777


Newbie
Posts: 5
posted March 09, 2008 09:56 PM

any updates on this jeff?

btw brad on page one you mentioned a r&p setup, were you refering to respeed doing the work possibly?

       
View IP (Administrators only)
Brad


Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
posted March 10, 2008 08:48 AM

no, pineapple mentioned it. not in the works.

       
View IP (Administrators only)
driftking777


Newbie
Posts: 5
posted March 10, 2008 11:36 AM

hmmmm...thats rather unfortunate...from my readings it you guys state that the steering setup is very similar to that of a FB, i know respeed has a r&p setup for the FB, one could possible fab theres to work, or have them tweak theres to make it work. specially if there was interest.

       
View IP (Administrators only)
Brad


Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
posted March 10, 2008 02:10 PM

the packaging is totally different between FB and REPU. FB has struts and lower control arm, steering box inbetween frame rails.

REPU has shocks, dual a-arms, and steering box outside the frame rail.

they're both rear steer recirculating ball boxes with idler arms, but that's where the similarity ends.

to do it right and not a hodge podge like cpracing's setup that bumped steered and had ugly u-joint angles, would require quite the feat of engineering.

       
View IP (Administrators only)
driftking777


Newbie
Posts: 5
posted March 10, 2008 02:22 PM

hmm...thats unfortunate. So heres a question for you brad, i know you autox your repu, how does it handle, any wandersteer? This seems to be a common issues with these trucks obviously, how has it affected you in your performance driving (im looking at buying a repu, to basically follow tail of what your truck is)

       
View IP (Administrators only)
Brad


Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
posted March 10, 2008 03:31 PM

handling has progressively gotten better. each time out there's upgrades and i'm a little faster. last time i was only 1 second slower than 3 miata's and there's a LOT more speed waiting on tap.

steering - not precise by a long shot and we'll see how the box rebuild and centerlink help out. new and freshly greased ball joints, upper shafts, and tie rods make steering smoother and easier.

20:1 ratio isn't awe inspring on the autox course. i've talked to someone who installed a steering quickener on his REPU and it really helped out. albeit u gotta be real careful doing lane changes at freeway speeds!!! all tradeoffs.

       
View IP (Administrators only)
Brad


Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
posted March 17, 2008 01:01 PM
Edited By: Brad on 17 Mar 2008 13:06

Group Buy new MOOG steering center links lengthened so they'll fit in REPU

If anyone's interested in buying one of these lengthened MOOG center links I'm trying to find a good deal on a bunch of the center links. The additional $100/each labor to lengthen won't change; machine shop won't do a group rate. 'It takes the same amount of time and materials to do each one.'

       
View IP (Administrators only)
MAZDAMARK


Hauling
Posts: 139
posted March 19, 2008 01:54 PM

quote:
If anyone's interested in buying one of these lengthened MOOG center links I'm trying to find a good deal on a bunch of the center links. The additional $100/each labor to lengthen won't change; machine shop won't do a group rate. 'It takes the same amount of time and materials to do each one.'


Yes, I am interested... Thanks very much Brad... Sorry I did not reply to your email sooner...
____________
94 RX7
89 RX7 GTUs
85 GSLSE
88 323 GTX
1975 REPU

       
View IP (Administrators only)
repu510


Hauling
Posts: 141
posted March 19, 2008 03:53 PM

i might be interested too depending on final cost and timing. funds are a little tight right now.

       
View IP (Administrators only)
Brad


Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
posted March 19, 2008 04:13 PM

steering box rebuild update

Just got off the phone with them.

Parts are a pain to find, truck is so old no volume so no one stocks parts. They are gonna try another parts vendor, possibly bring it to a shop and say find me seals that fit.

a bronze bushing is worn on mine. that plus wear on the tip of the adjustment screw caused the slop. a few thousandths wear on the bronze bushing is all it takes to cause slop. they made a new bronze bushing and will weld the adjustment screw longer like Jeff did. My adjustment screw is worn 20 thousandths so it wasn't doing much of anything.

Bearing on the worm gear is good. Cups great. Races on the ball screw are only 'fine'. the ball screw is almost the same as saginaw aftermarket. sector shaft diameter is similar to a GM 605 shaft. If the sector shaft needs replacing he may bore the box housing larger and put General Motors sector shaft in there.

They'll call around and look into it more.
____________
-brad-
74 REPU Lawn Green
81 Rx-7 racecar. 12a J-
Bridge

       
View IP (Administrators only)
Jeff20B


Moderator
Posts: 661
posted March 30, 2008 03:26 PM

I didn't lengthen my adjuster screw. I added material to it to make it thicker. It's closer to 10mm now, but not perfectly round. It was as good as I could get it. Had I had access to a lathe at the time, the end result would have been a little better.

My next mod is swapping to a smaller diameter steering wheel. Perhaps out of a 1st gen.

       
View IP (Administrators only)
Brad


Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
posted March 31, 2008 09:46 AM

I have a 1st gen 4 spoke and it is easier to GRIP and since it's a smaller diameter the steering response is a little quicker. Prefer it for autocrossing.

BUT it takes more muscle to turn the wheel and I'm going back to a stock steering wheel for more leverage. Swapping out to 1st gen wheel before an auto-x only takes a few minutes.
____________
-brad-
74 REPU Lawn Green
81 Rx-7 racecar. 12a J-
Bridge

       
View IP (Administrators only)
All times are PST (US) [' This thread is 4 pages long: 1 2 (3) 4 ']
Post New Topic    Post New Reply
Rate Topic:
Powerd By: BlazeBoard

[Home | Mail Archive | Join the mail archive | Photo Gallery ]
0.051789999008179 seconds processing time