10cjennings

iTrader: (1)

Quaife makes 2 quick ratio steering rack kits for the Civic:

QSF10U001 = Advertised as 2.8 Turns Lock to Lock (I’ve read several posts saying its 2.5 turns LTL, will confirm once driven) for the 88-91 civic steering rack

QSF11U001 = 3.25 Turns Lock to Lock for the 92-95 civic steering rack

I decided to try this when I saw a thread by k20a user “Luici” who claimed he got the Quaife 2.8 rack and pinion set into the 92-95 case. With the stock 92-95 4.25 rack I find myself shuffle steering a lot, resulting in rougher steering inputs, particularly in transition between two turns which both require shuffling to achieve enough steering angle. A lot of that does come down to driver skill. Also, I know that I could’ve gone with a PS rack and depowered it for less money, but I’ve wanted to try out the Quafie parts for a long time.

I haven’t found anyone else who has done this, and know some people were asking for a better how-to. I outsourced the fab work, but it’s simple.

For basic questions about installing the Quafie kit/rebuilding a manual steering rack, these are good instructions: http://www.accutach.com/Documents/QuaifeRackUpgrade.pdf

There are 3 complications in fitting the 2.8 parts into the 92-95 case:

1. The Quaife kit doesn’t come with a pinion bearing and there is no part # from Honda for the 92-95 pinion bearing. The 92-95 pinion gear is sold from Honda with the bearing already pressed on with a washer crimped over it.

2. The gear section of the 2.8 Quafie pinion has too large a diameter.

3. The shaft on the 2.8 Quafie pinion is too short.

NOTE: All measurements were taken with a basic slide caliper or ruler and aren’t especially accurate.

Solutions

1.

While the 92-95 bearing is not available separately from Honda, the base model crx/4th generation civic is. Same dimensions as the 92-95 bearing (15x35x11). Part number: 96100-62020-10, $7 from Autofair.



2.

I bored out the pinion hole from 21mm to 28mm. This area has plenty of excess material from the factory and the outer race of the pinion bearing (ID of 30mm) is still fully supported.

Outer Diameter of 92-95 Pinion Gear = 17mm

Outer Diameter of Quaife 2.8 Pinion Gear = 25mm





3.

Length of 92-95 pinion = 215mm

Length of Quafie 2.8 Pinion = 158mm



The Quaife pinion shaft needs to be lengthened ~57mm or 2.25 inches. The method k20a user Luici described was cutting the pinion shaft in half, slipping a pipe between the now separated pieces and welding. I searched and couldn’t find any 15mm ID, thick walled/strong tubing so this is the plan I came up with:

Use a damaged rack gear (you could use the original rack gear being replaced) as my extension. Cut it to 3.25 inches, drill through it with a 15mm bit using the inner tie rod hole as a centered pilot, slip ½ inch of each cut pinion end into the extension, and weld.

In speaking to the machine shop, they recommended I go a different route. Instead they would swap the 92-95 shaft onto the Quafie pinion gear. Pin the two together to align, weld and straighten.

There are many ways this could be done, I’m happy with these results and am confident there won't be any issues with the strength, but I guess time will tell.


And that’s it, reassemble the rack and install.

It’s going into the car this weekend, I’ll post some initial/street impressions, and the real test will come at the next autocross.

Also here’s a pic of the rack gears for anyone interested (Ignore the broken end on the OEM rack gear, I had a little trouble originally removing the pinion from case, so I cut the end off the rack gear allowing me push up on the pinion from below). The Quaife rack gear has one less tooth, but covers a further distance; on the ends it has half depth grooves. It appears that the pinion gear rotates into these shallow grooves (vs. if this section was flush with the rest of the rack gear, like the OEM gear).

When I get the car re-aligned I’ll see if I can get a max steering angle calculation, seems to me like it should give a little more steering angle, or about the same.

Spade

Damn, that's a lot of effort to get that to work.

10cjennings

iTrader: (1)

meh, not really. I have access to a mig welder and very basic skills, and a drill press. I think anyone with that could do this on their own, you could even open up the pinion hole with a dremel. I just wanted to make sure it was done right the first time so I took it to the pros.

mattbatson

My next mod is to reduce the truck like ratio on my 93 xd rack

I've been researching it for a bit off and on

This is my favorite so far...2.8 turns l to l would be phenomenal and completely transform the car

I may just go get a rack from the junkyard so the car won't be down...that way can take my time without being rushed
Please come back with updates on this after putting some miles on it

10cjennings

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, I picked up a rack for $50 off Craigslist, but make sure it has good bushings, unless you want to replace them as well. When I put this one in the car I'll have my origional rack available with some new parts as well (Autofair accidentally sent me some doubles, I know I have an extra rack guide, maybe extra end bushing as well.), if you're interested shoot me a PM, don't think shipping from Miami to Orlando would be too bad.

It should be going in the car this weekend, I ran into an unrelated issue with the threads where the rack guide nut screws in, but it's being figured out.

2fast4u831

Thanks for the write up! I have the 2.8 quaife rack as well and I'll be doing it later this year. The 4.25 ratio rack sucks. lol

MSchu

I hope that doesn't break... ask Senna.

...esteban

wow, really?

10cjennings

iTrader: (1)

I thought about that, logic/intuition tells me it will be perfectly fine, but obviously that isn't a very good research method.

Look at the tiny splines on the end, yet I've never heard of any issues with them/the UJoint they slip into stripping nor have I heard of pinion/rack teeth cracking. The only force being applied to the pinion shaft is rotational, obviously the drag within the mechanism is very minimal (rotates on a bearing, the rack gear slides freely/smoothly, so assume it = 0), so for the force to be high enough to break the weld (which I would argue is stronger then the force required to strip the spline on it's end, which again, I've never heard of stripping) the other end of the system must lock into place, with a force equal to/against rotating forces high enough to break the gear/welds, which are coming up through the system, presumably from the wheels. The "other end of the system" is me, the driver. I aint dat swole.

Franshow

Really great write up man! Should be available this weekend to help you out hopefully. I think it should be fine.

STN_Pat

All this work........and the 94-01 integra fits bolt on and is 2.8 ltl ?

Never understood the craze for that ill fitting quaife product.

10cjennings

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, I acknowledged that, but to quote you, the integra rack is 2.98. Also I think the Quafie unit is closer to 2.5 then 2.8 and may do so with more max steering angle (making the ratio even quicker). Not a huge difference, but I wanted to give it a shot.

STN_Pat

No problem, I sounded like an a-hole; didn't meant to !

I am a big fan of improved steering ratio with these cars. It is a must !

10cjennings

iTrader: (1)

The car is back together, but not on the ground (just need to install tie rod ends and torque everything to spec), but I'm getting LESS than 2.5 turns lock to lock. I'd call it 2.4, everything seems to be working correctly so the rumors that the kit was significantly faster then the advertised 2.8 seem to be true. I'll finish the car tomorrow, and get the toe re-aligned. Will confirm this and also try to get the max steering angle measured on the alignment rack. If anyone knows the OEM spec for a 92-95 manual rack civic, let me know.

10cjennings

iTrader: (1)

Got the car finished/aligned (1/8th toe out), and a couple interesting things.

1. The rack is definitely faster then 2.8 turns LTL, it's 2.5 or 2.4.
2. The steering is lighter then I expected. This is really subjective but I'd say it's totally reasonable for a DD/street car. Also I think the new parts will probably wear in a little and loosen up, also there's 0 play in the wheel so I may have set the rack guide a little too tight (which would make steering more difficult), but I'm gonna leave it as is for a little while.
3. I wasn't able to get a max steering angle read out (Just got a quick alignment at a tire chain, getting those guys to align the car "in the red" is difficult enough). When I get the car properly aligned I'll see if I can get a readout there. I took a couple full lock u-turns and the turning radius doesn't seem to have changed at all.
4. I think it's going to be a big improvement in an autox setting. Next event on Saturday, I'll try to get some video showing the steering inputs.

2fast4u831

Nice!! can't wait for a video comparison. Thanks for the write up.

Franshow

(NOT MY CAR BUT....)So I got to drive his car today and the rack feels AWESOME in comparison to the old EG rack. Resistance felt a bit harder than a looped Integra rack but that is expected with a shorter ratio and with it not being "broken in" yet. I think for an autoX car this is going to be a night and day difference for him, as well as myself ( if I get to drive it again). On a road course car I don't think it would be as big of an advantage due to the nature of road racing in particular ( not as tight ).I drive an Integra with P/S so it's just my (unbiased) opinion of course, good **** Chris!

10cjennings

iTrader: (1)

I thought it felt easier then the looped rack, but it was a while ago since I drove the looped rack so I don't know. On a looping on-ramp I definitely felt the manual rack required less steering input then the integra ps rack, but that's expected for a 3.0 LTL vs 2.5.

Really happy with it thus far, drove around some tight cul de sacs and it feels awesome. "Telepathic" and "go-kart like" are two ideas that come to mind.

Franshow

Go kart like steering wheel feedback is exactly what I told you while i was driving. That was the one weak spot I felt your car had, no excuses now! lol

mattbatson

great info
really appreciate you taking the time to post all of this up.

this is my next mod planned for my dx hatch....

thumbs up

10cjennings

iTrader: (1)

Had the first event with it today. Felt perfect, but it took some getting used to. First couple runs I was turning into slalom cones early, then we got rained out. Think I have some video from the early runs but it's pretty sloppy driving. It definitely will take an event to get used to.

I was really just expecting it to allow me to not shuffle steer anymore (which it did), resulting in smoother inputs, but even more was the difference it made on turn-in, and "flickability".
We also had 2 tight sections of the course and the extra steering weight was unnoticeable on course.

My next event will be with another club who uses the same course layout for all their practices, so I'll be able to see the difference it's making on the clock, and compare feel from previous practice days with the same course layout.

So as of now, I'm 100% happy with the Quafie kit, I did even better then I thought it would.

BiggieBert

Nice write up, gives me ideas for the future!

bks84

iTrader: (9)

I run the standard EG kit, and like it. I cant imagine going to an even quicker ratio...

mattbatson

Jennings,
I'm in for more updates and if you have any in car video....

thx

10cjennings

iTrader: (1)

Running it this weekend, got a better camera mount (RAM for iPhone) so I'll get some video.