zredbaron Posted October 14, 2014 Author Share Posted October 14, 2014 (edited) And Jon, if you haven't already unsubscribed, you have me thinking about assisted steering. I'll be pouring through your thread tomorrow or whenever I get the chance to really sit down and digest it. I took a closer look at socorob's suggestion. Looks to me like that solution would require the steering rack mounts to be an other-than-stock position, correct? Not sure I'm comfortable going that route unless I have an example of someone doing it with positive reports. I'm not the fabricator/designer type, after all... and I'm getting antsy with my desire to get my motor back in after three years without a drivable Z. Thanks again to all the contributors! Edited October 14, 2014 by zredbaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socorob Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 (edited) All components are threaded and screw together, so maybe rearranging is a possibility? By them of course! Edited October 15, 2014 by socorob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 I'm still here. There are several options for power steering. The Subaru rack seems like the easiest hydraulic option, then you've got the electric power assist, and the Woodward/Appleton/Sweet race racks. I chose the Woodward rack because the length can be customized, you can choose the rack ratio, and the amount of assist is also adjustable. It is supposed to have larger ports for the hydraulics so fluid flow won't create problems (you see this sometimes on stock ps systems when autoxing--they chatter and do other weird things). The Woodward rack is also WAAAAY more heavy duty than the stock rack so less concern about bushings and wear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tube80z Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 And the Woodward spool valve has no damping built into it. So it allows for a lot of assist but you can still get good feel and treat it much more like manual steering. It's one of the few affordable solutions that lets you change t-bars in the spool valve to change the steering force curve. But to the original point I don't think there is a bolt-in solution that uses new parts anymore. All require some fab to use newer used or rebuilt parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zredbaron Posted October 20, 2014 Author Share Posted October 20, 2014 (edited) Been sleeping on this with some mild tossing and turning. Both the Woodward and electric assist seem like great solutions, the Woodward being the obvious choice from a performance standpoint. For now, I'm going to stick with manual steering. I'm stubbornly outclassed in XP, so I might as well be proud about my decision to have a blast as a priority over being competitive. (I absolutely concede that I may feel differently after a season or two as the suspension and driver continue to evolve.) Thanks again to all the contributors! Edited October 20, 2014 by zredbaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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