Finally! Unique coilovers and Steeroids R&P are in

70vert · May 24, 2005

Hey all,
After a long fiasco with modifications to the stock collapsible '70 steering column, I finally have my front end dialed in. Well, after 500-600 miles I'll do the height adjustment on the coilovers, and the R&P has a little sticktion, but it's DONE. I am STOKED.
If you're not iamlance on this forum, here's what I just had put in: (would have done it myself but my house demands other work and a 45-hour workweek, well you get the picture)

-Unique Performance coilovers

-Steeroids power rack and pinion

-Cobra Automotive Boss 302-style control arm crossmember

-TCP export brace kit

Here's the review. There is NO bumpsteer that I can detect. Suspension is not as harsh as I would have thought, but it's not soft, there's very little dive or plow. It just basically goes where you point it now w/o any drama. I drove it in some mountain twisties and I wasn't going to go all-out since there were bicycles around, but it was amazing to just have the car go where you point it and just keep on turning smoothly as the turn tightened.
Stock steering is 4 turns lock to lock, Steeroids 2.5. This is NOT too squirrelly by any means, it feels great. Decreased turning radius is a bit of a bummer in a parking lot, but you can do a u-turn on a 4-lane street no prob. There's a little sticktion at low speeds, hopefully that will work itself out as it wears in. What is weird is that the steering does NOT self-correct as you come out of a turn, you really have to point it where you want to go.
If anyone wants a recommendation for a shop in the SF Bay Area, PM me. The shop was very reasonable with the labor, seeing as the steering column issue was Steeroids' fault.
Anyway, very satisfied with the result, all things considered.

Joe

steel1212 · May 25, 2005

Is steeroids rack just a bolt in or is there modifications you have to do?

iamlance · May 25, 2005

What if you are "iamlance" on this forum????
Congrats !

70vert · May 25, 2005

well, if you are iamlance . . .

iamlance said:
What if you are "iamlance" on this forum????
Congrats !

you're up to speed on it already. I'll have to post pics soon, the car looks MUCH prettier underneath, and ground clearance looks great. It looks like I'll have to go with shorty headers whenever I do the engine, as there is not a ton of room there.

pics to come,
Joe

70vert · May 25, 2005

with a '65, should be pretty easy

steel1212 said:
Is steeroids rack just a bolt in or is there modifications you have to do?

You should be good. All of the problems they had installing it came from the fact that it is not designed for the stock collapsible column for the '70. A new shaft had to be welded since the original wasn't long enough. They put a '69 PS pump because the fitting was female where it should have been male, or male where it should have been female. If I were to start over I probably would buy the more expensive TCP rack just because it should be easier to install and headers will be easy to find and mount. But I like the fact that I have quicker steering than the TCP and the rack is up and out of the way where the front subframe starts to curve up. I don't know if the TCP affects ground clearance but this one doesn't seem to.

Joe

70vert · May 25, 2005

Photos - dialup-friendly link

Hey all,
Here are the photos, or what I could get done before my camera's battery gave out. The tape around the PS lines is teflon tape so the manifold doesn't cook the lines.

http://homepage.mac.com/jbauder/steeroidsuniqueweb/steeroidsuniqueweb.html

Let me know if you want any more specific photos. Hopefully I can help out people who are considering either of these mods.

Joe

ron67fb · May 25, 2005

"Sticktion"?

The self-centering (or lack thereof) is from different things, but one that you can adjust is caster. Your old box might have been so loose that even with minimal caster it would re-center with little effort.

reenmachine · May 25, 2005

ron67fb said:
"Sticktion"?

The self-centering (or lack thereof) is from different things, but one that you can adjust is caster. Your old box might have been so loose that even with minimal caster it would re-center with little effort.

Exactly. Did you get a good front-end alignment after everything was installed? Sounds like you need more caster.

70vert · May 25, 2005

"sticktion" and caster

ron and reen,
I haven't looked at the caster. It did have an alignment, and the shop I had it done at has been around for 28 years, but they sent out the alignment. "sticktion" is a highly technical term I picked up from bicycle and motorcycle shocks. It's the tendency for the shock to want to stick in its' travel. That's what it feels to the driver with my setup - that, especially at low speeds of course, there are points where it binds slightly and lets go. My theory is that the rack is still "tight" and that that is what is stopping the self-centering. And my hope is that as it wears in the self-centering will gradually start to happen. It's subtle, not a big deal. Some of it is due to it being a 2.5 turn steering and not the old 4-turn loosey goosey stock unit, so a little extra effort to move the wheel is expected. I'm thinking right now that that and the rack being not broken in are the causes of increased steering effort and lack of self centering. Hopefully.

Joe

reenmachine · May 25, 2005

70vert said:
"sticktion" is a highly technical term I picked up from bicycle and motorcycle shocks.

I'm an avid mountain biker, so I know all about sticktion! I've been riding nothing but Marzocchi for years now though.

I've never experienced a rack needing to break in though. I'd still suggest looking into the alignment specs for peace of mind. The factory tolerances on caster are large enough such that if it falls to one end of the tolerance band, coupled with the increased resistance from the quicker rack, you could very easily experience the effect you're seeing. Also, did Steeroids perhaps recommend a caster setting that would be different than the stock one an alignment shop would have gotten out of the book?

yeloxr7 · May 25, 2005

What you are experienceing may be from too much angularity in one or the other of the universal joints in your steering shaft.

ron67fb · May 25, 2005

The alignment shop, no matter how experienced, only need to know how to press the buttons on the machine. Most likely they set it to factory specs, which actually call for zero to negative caster. You want the max you can get, which is about +2.5 on a 67-70.

What you are experienceing may be from too much angularity in one or the other of the universal joints in your steering shaft.

Good point. Steering u-joints also need to be phased, just like driveshaft u-joints, or they might bind at every revolution.

krash kendall · May 25, 2005

yeloxr7 said:
What you are experienceing may be from too much angularity in one or the other of the universal joints in your steering shaft.

I think he is referring to this and I have to agree.

ron67fb · May 25, 2005

The angle is set, there's nothing to be done about that.
Phasing and other stuff:
http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/techarticles/32202/

yeloxr7 · May 26, 2005

krash kendall said:
I think he is referring to this and I have to agree.

There isn't a good picture of the other end of the shaft. Is it angled as sharply as the column end?

70vert · May 26, 2005

Phasing photos

Ron and Krash et al.,
Man, I love stangnet and thank god for digital cameras and the web. That link was invaluable. Here are a few more photos before I head off to work. The shaft is the "D" style and not the spline style, so I may not have too many choices of angles unless I put another joint in there. It seems that the more we stang guys go restomod, the more we rely on the groundwork the hot rod community has laid. The third picture is the best on this page:

http://homepage.mac.com/jbauder/phasing/phasing.html

and here it is:

It's just slightly twisted to the driver's side up top. I should watch this joint while someone turns the wheel to see if the "sticktion" point is the same point it would seem to bind at in its' revolution.

Thanks guys,
Joe

70vert · May 26, 2005

Phasing photos (this photo should work)

Ron and Krash et al.,
Man, I love stangnet and thank god for digital cameras and the web. That link was invaluable. Here are a few more photos before I head off to work. The shaft is the "D" style and not the spline style, so I may not have too many choices of angles unless I put another joint in there. It seems that the more we stang guys go restomod, the more we rely on the groundwork the hot rod community has laid. The third picture is the best on this page:

http://homepage.mac.com/jbauder/phasing/phasing.html

and here it is:

It's just slightly twisted to the driver's side up top. I should watch this joint while someone turns the wheel to see if the "sticktion" point is the same point it would seem to bind at in its' revolution.

Thanks guys,
Joe

yeloxr7 · May 26, 2005

There appears to be a difference in the angles of the two u-joints. This may be where your "stiction" problem lies.

Kinda makes you wish there was something like the old early-Pinto flex-cable setup that would work on these.

Look at all the room there for the intermediate shaft. This would not work on a 351W application because the outlet flange on the exhaust manifold extends out into the middle of that space. I tried a Flaming River install twice and it wouldn't work for that reason - no room for the intermediate shaft.

70vert · May 26, 2005

dang, and I wanted a 351w/408 eventually

yeloxr7 said:
There appears to be a difference in the angles of the two u-joints. This may be where your "stiction" problem lies.

Kinda makes you wish there was something like the old early-Pinto flex-cable setup that would work on these.

Look at all the room there for the intermediate shaft. This would not work on a 351W application because the outlet flange on the exhaust manifold extends out into the middle of that space. I tried a Flaming River install twice and it wouldn't work for that reason - no room for the intermediate shaft.

looks like my eventual 351w/408 might have some problems, thanks for that. But you mention the stock manifold, wouldn't the right headers solve that?

yeloxr7 · May 26, 2005

70vert said:
looks like my eventual 351w/408 might have some problems, thanks for that. But you mention the stock manifold, wouldn't the right headers solve that?

I dunno. Only experience I've had with headers was about 30 years ago, and not with a Mustang. I would guess that anything that hangs in the space between the block and frame member would interfere with the steering shaft.

In my case, I would have had to drill a hole through the exhaust manifold for the intermediate shaft to pass from the steering column to the rack. Your rack appears to be located similarly to the Flaming River racks I attempted to install in my 1969 351W Cougar. My experience (with TWO different Flaming River racks) is probably the reason why their R&P ads now say "for Mustangs only".......

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