My mechanic friend and I are retiring our 2nd and 3rd gen Preludes from auotx and building up a 88 Civic. (stripped bare inside and out -including cutting away of inside panel, etc.))

The 2nd gen has a steering quicken er, with a ratio of 2:1 halving the steering radius - it was like driving like a hero at how well this worked on the autox courses.

So I'm looking for any member(s) advice for the Civic quicken er application.

Seems like the oval track people use these and are mostly GM products.

 

I use this one (the blue one, a coleman pro-lite)



1.5:1, 2:1 is too much. I haven't really gotten to test it yet, as the car is still being built. You need too chop the steering column, and install this jam with a new u-joint. Power steering is a must.

http://dandcracing.com/images/...y.jpg

 

there's a guy on here that runs and loves the 2:1. *not for use by Parkinson's patients.

 

Thanks for the info. I actually did see the one you indicated and we had placed it under consideration.

You have installed a 1.5:1 ratio unit in a yet to be run Civic? How do you know if a 2:1 would be too much - as I said, it was really nice on the 2nd gen Prelude. By the way, we also 1/4 ran the 2nd gen and had no issues with the tight steering.

And yeah, we're planning on an electric/hydraulic steering system.

 

The 1.5:1 is in a new car. I only have experience with a 2:1 in a protege, but the stock rack was slower than an Integra rack and the steering was way too twitchy. Keep in mind this is for rally cars.

I've also used an electric subaru pump on an integra power steering rack. Works good, but is completely pointless and uses more power than the OEM belt pump.

 

My apologies for the slight hijack, but could you shave any information on the Subaru pump for the PS rack? I'd like to add PS back to my track car, but the problem is that I already have plumbing for the oil cooler where the PS plumbing used to be. Plus, the Prelude pump was quite a bit overboosted and the fluid would get VERY hot, which I suspect is due to the pump being run at WOT for long periods of time. Using an electric pump would seem like a good solution.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mattjohnston &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I've also used an electric subaru pump on an integra power steering rack. Works good, but is completely pointless and uses more power than the OEM belt pump.</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

I used a Subaru XT6 (I think) electric pump. big wiring and big relays (it draws about 25 amps 30+ at lock).

I made some stainless lines, and Earls makes adapters for the metric thread with o-ring on the steering rack to -6 AN.

Put a cooler on the low pressure return line and your all set.

 

Holy crap, 25A! That is a pretty serious current draw. I had no idea!

 

On our new rally car I was also going to use a coleman or howe 1.5:1 quickener, but I was concerned that the extra effort required to turn the wheel would be too much for a mere mortal.

To combat that I've been considering using an inline electric power steering unit from GM, but I'm concerned that it will be hard to hack the computer or eliminate the computer (which varies the assist based on speed).

I am going to buy one and find out how hard it is to eliminate the computer and wheel sensors and replace with like a potentiometer or something to adjust assist. Will let you know.

Frankly though it may mostly come down to the fact that the steering effort was so high with the welded differential. I just bought a KAAZ for the new car because I didn't like the feel of the welded. Perhaps with the KAAZ the 1.5 quickener will be okay for my weak arms.

 

Try the Miata power steering pump.

Although really I'm thinking a full electric assist is the way to go.

 

I have a spare S2000 rack. Wanna try and wire it up?

It's 2.2 or 2.4 lock-to-lock. I forget which.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rice r0cket &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have a spare S2000 rack. Wanna try and wire it up?

It's 2.2 or 2.4 lock-to-lock. I forget which.</TD></TR></TABLE>

When I was looking at the GM units, I read about Honda's electric power steering. If I recall the Insight and the S2000 use the same system which is intergal to the rack, although in design isn't too far off from the GM unit, just that it is built into the rack.

Insight uses the steering rack mounted way up high... not sure about the s2k.

Both use a steering computer. I need to look at the factory service manual and see if it looks like it would be hard to do.

Can you make some measurements and take a couple of pictures?

-k

 

Yeah, its basically a motor that's a big cylindrical motor that surrounds a worm gear. So half the rack is a rack in pinion, and the other half has this funky worm gear. Its maybe about 3.5" in diameter, and its pretty heavy (I'd say around 30 lbs). Though overall, its pretty compact and only takes up a little more room than a standard rack.

The S2000 has a front mount rack, and it sits between the radiator and the motor.

It does have some tie-in to a vehicle speed sensor, because it does do variable assist depending on your speed. However, it does *not* have variable ratio, as this was an option only on the JDM S2000 Type-V's w/ VGS (variable gear steering).

Whether or not its a whole computer (and whether or not its exists separate from the rack) is beyond my knowledge.

 

We have installed the 2:1 quicken er on the Civic - and it works GREAT!

The 2nd and 3rd gen Preludes, already had a faster lock-to-lock ratio. The Civic started out not as tight so the combination (stock Si rack) and quicken er is just perfect - soooo glad we opted for the 2:1.

Also, with full power electric pump, we have no fade or hesitation when steering on the autox course - full power for the entire run is the way to set this puppy up.
PIR we intend on investigating some sort of reduction or variable setting.

I'll post pics of the install in a week or two

 

2:1 is the way to go. It does in a way feel twichy but thats something you get used to real fast. Shifter karts are extremly twichy but once you get use to it you have total control.
I haven't seen some of the other electric pumps out there but I have used the pump from the 91 mr2, it works great. Jeff Owen from special projects uses one on his Integra. He has a laser cut bracket that he sales that bolts the pump to the shock tower using the factory bolt holes.

 

would love to do this to my eg6, could use stock powersteering though? adding electric pump alot of work with lines and things

 

The steering quicken er (as the pics above show), installs in-line with the steering column. So Yeah, of course you can still use the power steering off the motor.