Decrease Stang's Turning Radius?

OK, maybe I wasnt clear. I WANT the car to oversteer - as much as possible. When turning the wheels, I dont want to correct the oversteer, I want to control the direction of the vehicle. The sharper you can turn wheels when the car is in an oversteer, the further you can hang the rear end out. Think about it. If it was possibe to turn the front wheels to a 90 deg. angle, then you could slide the car completely sideways but still drive in a straight line.
 
Bottom line Jeff is you need custom made Spindles OR a Steering Rack that moves the Tie-rods farther when turned. Unfortunatly I don't think anybody in the Mustang word has figured enough people would buy them if they were made. I've been searching myself for some and have come-up with zip!:shrug:

Most Mustang guys that use their cars hard know the Spindles suck especialy when you lower the car but nobody has done anything about it...... :bang:
 
huesmann said:
If you get more turn out of your wheels, you're probably just going to push.

Push/understeer is a condition (in a way) of too much speed entering a corner for the amount the wheels are turned.

It has nothing to do with the fact that this guy wants to be able to turn his wheels more while the back end is sliding. What he's trying to do is keep the front end in front of the back end..... More steering angle would help this....
 
TKT GETR said:
I was wondering if there is anyway to decrease the turning radius of a stang. I have a 98 GT and I would like to be able to turn the wheels sharper. I do some drifting and I want more steering control when the car is in an oversteer situation.

Are there any aftermarket parts that make this possible? Or can the stock suspension parts be modded to do it?

Jeff,

Just wondering if you ever made any endroads to this situation?
 
DV19 - thanks a lot for you posts so far. Unfortunately, no, I havent made any progress. My car has been in the shop since May for a motor swap (dont ask, its been a f&%@king nightmare) so the steering project has taken a backseat until I can get the engine clusterf@#k taken care of. :bang:

Just thought Id share - here is a good article explaining Mustang suspension basics:

http://www.miracerros.com/mustang/t_suspension.htm
 
squares98 said:
I got those 03 arms on my gt(because i wanted the bushings). You are a fool if you think a sn-95 will ever have the radius of a bmw, saab, or porsche(or anywhere close).
Keep dreaming
WTF does the BMW, Saab, or Porsche comment have to do with this conversation? Im simply trying to improve MY car by decreasing the turn radius of MY car. So what if my car will never turn like an import? I dont care, I just want it to be better than it is now.
When you put the 03 spindles on your 98, did you notice any difference in the turn radius or lock-to-lock distance?
 
the difference is there, but it is not really noticably better, A little better high speed turn-in though, It does improve u turns, but unfortunatly mustangs have sucky short radius steering caused by our wind up axles and heavy front ends, that is the part that will never be
 
With enough thought and a little cash....... anything is possible. So much so, I've been able to increase my steering angle by 30% by shortening up the steering arms on the spindle. AND YES, I welded them and plated them correctly so if anthing they are stronger than when they where stock.......

So now I've got 39-degrees...... Problem is I want 55 or better....... Probable have to chage the lower A-frames or get a longer-traveling rack and then add a steering quickener........
 
Flaming River does make a replacement rack for the 99+...I just ordered one.

I'm assuming they'd make one for the 94-98 too...or maybe it's the same piece.

They're site needs to be updated...so I'm not sure if it lists the piece there or not.

You should call them.
 
DV19 said:
Being a replacement, I wonder if the travel and demensions are the same? If they are it would not be any improvment at all, just new/the same.......

I've been told there will be a big improvement. I corresponded with Flaming River online...described what I was trying to improve, and the FR rep seemed to know exactly what I was concerned with. I don't believe it is just new/the same. I think it's a tighter box... :D ...less turns lock-to-lock.

I'm replacing the rack to get rid of that "sloppy" disconnected feel. That feeling you get when you're diving into a corner, and you lose confidence to go in way deep because you can't really feel the road. I also want a "show quality" rack as well.

I was considering going with a manual rack, but we'll see how/if this one improves it.

Won't be able to give feedback on performance until the Spring though. The car is off the road until March. I'm just stocking up on all the mod in the off season. :nice:

A tighter box and a show quality rack.... :banana: :banana: :banana: ...the wife better not read this!
 
Wow, has it really been over 4 years? :nonono: Sadly, I still have not done anything to address my turn radius issues. It took a lot more headache/money than expected to get my car running and back on track again, plus I had 2 kids in that timeframe, so yeah, suspension mods took a back seat. Heh, lately I'm just glad if I got the cash to pay for track time! :rolleyes:

First, you may have steering rack limiters on your car. See here for how to remove them:
Mustangmotorsport - Mustangs and a whole lot more!

I know for me, the rack isnt my current problem. At full lock, my 17x8 wheels rub my factory A-arms and my 255 tires rub the factory sway bar. I have a 1/8' wheel spacer, but they still rub. It seems this only happens at full lock AND under load. Sitting in my garage at full lock, nothing rubs.

For more information mustang steering angle info, you can try these links:
Oops, All Angles! | Drift Mustang Project
Steering Angle Solutions | Drift Mustang Project
Drift Mustang - DriftLive Community
 
Yea I don't have a mustang yet so I haven't even looked under the car to see what can be done. However, I am in the idea form of building one :).

I know Geoff from awhile ago and David personally from driftlive/drift50. David is a drinking buddy.

I also know that DV19 DOES have a solution for this and I'm hoping he chimes in soon.



What kind of suspension are you running? Stiffer springs might help with the rubbing under load or possibly rolling your fenders a little (ghetto but thats how i'd do it...probably with a baseball bat).
 
rise from your grave...


was there ever a solution to this problem? is anyone making aftermarket spindles and shorter tie rods yet?
Man this HAS been a long time :jaw:
And now with Long Beach 09' right around the corner it seems like only yesterday I was getting started...

Anyway, to answer your questions:
The Mustang Aftermarket Industry has pretty-much let us down, as sadly there still isn't many parts made for our application.... Guess we still need more Mustang guys to get out there slide'n and then calling-up the Steeda's/Maximum's bitching at them to make us some parts. The tech is there, they just don't think there's a market (despite the fact that there are 4 Mustangs in Formula D and more showing up at grassroots events every day)

To my knowledge, there's only one place that can supply us with a custom built rack and it's like $2700.... Which is why I don't have one.... The "Flamer" guys have been absolutely Zero help and when you call there, I swear the guys answering their phones must live under a rock or something because all they seem to be able to talk about is what they read in their catalogue... Ability to think "outside the box", ZERO..... :notnice:

I have heard about some guys getting spindles from RaceCraft. From what I hear, they work pretty good. If they give you their road-race version with a shorter steering arm, you'd probably be headed in the right direction. On my car I just have the stock spindle that I took an inch out of the steering arm and it works great. If you go this route (very important), have it Tig-welded back together with "silver" rod. It's a forged part so it needs to be pre-heated and welded with silver so it won't break. Also add external gussets/bands on the outside of the welds for extra safety!

No you don't want shorter Tie-rods. All that would do is make your car toed-in... What you need is a rack that moves farther OR Tie-rods that will slide into the rack (like the 240's) effectively allowing the rack to move farther. That will give you more steering angle... You can also add little spacers between your rack and the tie-rod but I don't recommend this as you don't have many threads left to hold on to the tie-rod end.

Then from this place, Performance Hose Distributing you want his Mustang Power Steering Hose Kit so you don't blow your stop PS Lines when your start playing hard (ask Mr. Gittin about New Jersey last year). And while you're at it get a KRC Power Steering pump so you won't get any "pump cavitation" when you speed up your ratio down the road....

If you do ALL OF THAT, you'll then probably be hitting your lower A-Frames with the back side of your wheels. Only way to fix that is to buy my (or build your own) custom fully adjustable lower control arms.... Very expensive but very correct... PM me when you get to this point....

HTH,
Good luck...