It's been a while but I made some progress lately. I got my front hubs machined down to fit the stock rims, thanks Hempy! I bolted the uprights on in hopes of getting the front steering buttoned up.
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I am using Motive's custom uprights which use a bolt on steering arm that needed to be cut to length. Since I am using a front steer steering rack, to get decent ackerman, the steering arm pivot needed to be wider than the top pivot. This is when things started to get tricky. I couldn't place the steer arm pivot as wide as I wanted due to interference with the rim. I widdled away on the steer arm and managed to get something that I thought will work.
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I mounted the rim and have "just enough" clearance for the steer arm.
I then made some tie rod extensions out of some DOM tubing, two weld in adapters, and a couple left right rod ends. Things were looking good.
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I mounted the rim again and this is when it went all bad. The tie rod extensions hit the rim after turning the wheel about 5 degrees
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I am now trying to weigh my options and need some help. I quickly mocked up a curved tie rod extension out of some plate to see exactly how much it would take to clear the rim. This is no way intended to ever be used.
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Unfortunately, it will require a large bend as is, that's doesn't look good. My other option is to get rid of the front steer rack and go with a rear steer rack. This will allow the steer arm to pulled away from the rim to get better ackerman. I looked at this and don't think it will help enough. I think my best option is to go with a rear steer rack but weld on a new steer arm towards the midpoint of the upper and lower pivots of the upright. This will allow the most clearance from the rim. This will eliminate the nefty feature of changing camber without effecting toe settings but at this point that is something I can live with. The other downside is that I need to find a new steering rack. If I go this route, I will now need a rear steer rack with a length of about 23in plus or minus an inch or two.
So, anybody out there know of a rear steer rack thats about 23in between pivots? Ratio is not as important, I can make the steer arm length whatever length I need, within a certain range. I searched and found a couple possibilities.
Rear steering racks
- 90's civic, but couldn't find the length
- AE86 toyota, length?
- Dodge Omni, length?
Any help or suggestions are welcome!
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S2000 powered locost; build log
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