Impreza steering rack mod

[carsy]

WinstonWolf said:

I guess they'd sell me the correct part, one less bit to fabricate/modify

Keep us informed.

[Rowge]

New steering shaft 400 mm long arrived from car builder solutions, very good service, trial fit today, new 9/16 36 spline to be machined on shaft next week in the area with paint removed. All parts removed and chassis given 2 coats of POR 15, not the best job, one of my Scooby TRE needs replacing so will have a look for a direct replacement that fits the Scooby hubs, M14 1.5mm pitch, also need to sort out the pipe work, again see photo showing standard impreza pipes and standard tvr pipes, still a bit to do

[Rowge]

Pipe connections

[SteveSPG]

whilst you've a rack in hand, i did hear that the TVR steering arm will screw into the scooby steering rack. never tried myself, but worth checking

[Rowge]

Do you mean the standard TVR track rod end, may fit on the Impreza steering arms, if so I will try in the morning, tip do not get POR 15 on your hands and arms as it does not come off even with white spirit

[carsy]

So what exactly have you done to the pinion now then.

Is that now machined to a hex shape.

Can we have a pic of the pinion now. and in particular of that pin that passes through it.

[Rowge]

I used a 8 inch g clamp to hold a 17mm AF nut onto the small diameter in the picture and carefully filed until I had a 17 mm hex, easier for me as I had already had 2 flats machined as originally was going to use the fiesta uj, these pics were before I filed the hex on ,

[carsy]

Thanks.

Re the steering arms which SteveSPG refers to, i think he means the actual arms that screw into the rack. They may be the same thread so you can just use the TVR ones and then obviously the TRE`s wont be a problem.

[Rowge]

Ok will have a look in the morning, I only have a manual TVR rack though, fingers crossed

[SteveSPG]

carsy said:

Thanks.

Re the steering arms which SteveSPG refers to, i think he means the actual arms that screw into the rack. They may be the same thread so you can just use the TVR ones and then obviously the TRE`s wont be a problem.

yes this

never tried myself, so I've no idea if its correct, or how the lock washers will work, but worth a check

[Rowge]

Not many things surprise me but this today did, it fits, stripped the steering arms from TVR manual rack and impreza rack, the impreza uses locking washers that are tapped into 2 grooves on the nut to stop rotation, the TVR ones use only thread lock, so arms fit and also looks like i can use the nylon washers which limit full lock both ways. Happy days.

[WinstonWolf]

So the only "engineering" required is to get the steering column to marry up with the rack splines?

[carsy]

RESULT.

[AceOfHearts]

Great thread, lots of interesting information and I may well do this in the future.

[wuckfitracing]

That is excelent news. Im glad I bought a spare manual rack when I saw one for sale cheap some time ago.

[phazed]

SteveSPG supplied my arms, hopefully he can remember where they came from?

[SILICONEKID345HP]

Will there be anyone selling these racks ready to bolt on with instructions ? because i do not understand a word you are talking about .

[SteveSPG]

Rowge said:

Not many things surprise me but this today did, it fits, stripped the steering arms from TVR manual rack and impreza rack, the impreza uses locking washers that are tapped into 2 grooves on the nut to stop rotation, the TVR ones use only thread lock, so arms fit and also looks like i can use the nylon washers which limit full lock both ways. Happy days.

those nylon bits that limit rack movement

when you fit the scooby rack, you may find that you have a little too much travel when turning lock to lock , i recall having to make a replacement washers in nylon which was a little wider to prevent the wheels touching the (wishbones i think) on full lock, but i was using a wider rim than stock. before you threadlock it all together, check this with the suspension at road height.

you will also notice the position of the rack in the chassis is dictated by the rack mount pinion side. if you measure carefully you will find that the rack outer casing is slightly off centre . don't worry, it has nil effect on the steering at all, as the rack bar will be central, but it does mean when you turn the steering lock to lock, you will find that to get the clearances to the wishbones from the wheel spot on, the spacers mentioned earlier will need to be slightly different each side to accommodate. i think its about 4mm if i recall correctly more one side than the other.


HTH


i really should have made a bunch of these up and sold a kit when i did the first one on my griff.....would have made a few pennies to cover my HP habit!

[SteveSPG]

phazed said:

SteveSPG supplied my arms, hopefully he can remember where they came from?

yours were new scooby ones, modified to the TVR length needed

[Chuffmeister]

SILICONEKID345HP said:

Will there be anyone selling these racks ready to bolt on with instructions ? because i do not understand a word you are talking about .

Not so much the whole rack, but a pre-machined pinion, shaft and UJ as an off-the-shelf item would be good. Just the right bits to make it fit.