Has anyone ever done this. The benefit is hydraulic power steering as opposed to electrically assisted. If anyone has any knowledge or links on this it would be much appreciated.

 

Typical hydraulic steering provides more feel than electric steering, but the RX-8 has great steering feel. Most magazine reviews indicate the car has great steering feel as well. I've never been a fan of power steering, but I have to admit that with the RX-8, I do not miss my old TII's manual rack and pinion. Do you disagree?

 

Before you swap a steering rack pay very close attention to the geometry else you may end up with bumpsteer.

If you're interested in understanding bumpsteer check this out:

http://www.racecartuner.com/03/203.html

 

Cluelessness

U haz it ....

 

I love teams enthusiasm.

 

nice post kartweb

 

The benefit to hydraulic power is steering feel as previously stated. The real reason I would want to do it however is that I have heard you can add massive steering angle to the 8 this way. That.s why I wanted to know if people had any info on it. Part of this angle adding I believe has to do with the after-market support for FD steering mods.

 

Have you tried drifting the 8 with the angle it has? It has plenty of angle unless you absolutely need more.......

 

I want my lost 30 sec on this thread back....plus maybe a bit more.

 

Yessir I have. It has ok angle (stock on stock better than the 3rd gen rx7) I can't find anything out there to increase the angle though. Whereas the rx7 has many options

 

@DriftWood I know it's been a while, but I was wondering where you've gotten on your drift 8. Have you swapped the rack or did any mods for steering angle? If it matters, my 8 is my daily as well as my drift car.

 

super now has tie rod ends I have them they are adjustable for more angle.

you can get them at japanparts.com

here are pics: Super Now - SE3P

 

good luck with it. even if you do the basic install without the electronics you will still need to find a place to put the pump, then figure out the belt geometry, then fabricate mounts for the rack, a steering shaft adapter, modified tie rods, disable the EPS malfunction indicator and a number of other things i can't even think of at the moment.

virtually none of it will fit without serious modification.

now if someone took the time to actually find a fix for the harness and angle position sensor it would probably be near bulletproof with the stock equipment. most of the problems with the system i would bet are actually quite simple, but no one has gone much further than to just replace parts.

 

my original thought still has legs to stand on ...

 

I don't even have the 8 anymore. (Though I'm thinking about getting one again). I have done a ton of research on the rack swap though. If I did swap in a rack from an FD3S I would have to fab custom mounts for the rack on the front of the subframe. As far as pumps and belts go I would use the MR2 power steering conversion, so electric pump. As far as angle goes, from what I understand Nissan s14 tie rods will fit. If I wanted serious angle I would modify the knuckle like the Bergenholtz car


Its possible that to utilize that angle you would need custom control arms for clearance and to control wheel flop.

These days I'm drifting an FC3S that I swapped a 500hp LS6 into. I did all the angle mods on it myself (knuckles, tie rods, ball joints) and it works very well. My next step on it might be custom lower control arms. I pull about 70* on the ground (Not that I drive well enough to ever use it, haha)

 

I never thought of it that way before, but having the front wheels turned 70* from the chassis centerline likely explains why drift cars are so slow through the turns as compared to real race cars ...

 

The angle plays a part but the main reason is simple old loss if traction. The moment you initiate a drift and start spinning tire you are getting slower because 100% if the power is no longer pushing you through the turn. You might get 40% power propelling you through forward bite but the other 60% is just pluming up in smoke.