Went to the track last week with my new setup. Pretty much one of the first times I ran on my slicks making enough power to turn them.
Here is the story. I do run quaife and a CM4 clutch. Starting the night off with about 10.5 psi in both slicks -- 24.5 MT's. Did a pretty mild 2nd gear burnout....from what I hear the MT's dont need to be heated to much. Came out of the hole on the 2 step at about 6500. The car jumped towards the center ine and I felt like I came pretty close to the tree!! I was in the groove, not off centered or anything. The whole rest of the way down the track I was fighting the wheel and pretty much held the steering wheel to the right most of the time.
I noticed when I removed the power steering system and drained the rack on normal everyday driving the car would pull to the left on acceleration and go off to the right on decel. So there is a lot of slop in the rack without any fluid.

Do you guys have any input on this. Right now Im looking for a non-power rack...look in the sig.

EDIT* N/M, i found a rack!


Modified by 93LSivic at 6:15 PM 10/14/2003

 

I am running a "drained rack" I guess... I have the breather style bypass setup...
I also run slicks and spool, and I havent had any problems...

Maybe there is something else wrong...

 

YEah I tried to do the bypass by using a return line back to the rack, but using a different thread fitting............well i cracked the rack where the fitting threads in and just decided to drain it. Oh well, Im hoping to find a rack. Unfortunately non of our new parts suppliers offer a manual rack for some reason, i guess cause they virtually never go bad. It is really hard to drive down the 1/4 with slicks. Its a good thing I made my passes in the right lane cause I was fighting going across the center line and not fighting the wall!!!

 

i didnt have a prob with mine. mine actually feels really good the way it is.

 

I guess I'll try looking into other possible options for problems. Im not exactly sure if my coilovers are set exactly at the same height---maybe a thread or 2 away at most, but i guess its a possible problem.

 

it could be a couple diff things. i heard that track hasd like waveys in it too , so that might not help as you start getting more power they strart gettign harder to control too .

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 93LSivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I guess I'll try looking into other possible options for problems. Im not exactly sure if my coilovers are set exactly at the same height---maybe a thread or 2 away at most, but i guess its a possible problem.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Are you still on the stock, old bushings in the frontend?

 

Yes, stock old *** bushings. But they look fine, no major cracks or oil damage.

 

I'm run the same setup with no problems.

 

check out http://www.car-parts.com i found a manual rack for my dsm for $75 compared to over $200 that most places were selling them for that actually knew they are kinda rare and hard to find

 

Thanks for the help Gritsak. I just orderd one from that site from a place in Pa by me. $39 shipped and it'll be here by friday! Hopefully its gonna help me out.

 

$39 for a complete manual replacement rack?

sign me up...


where?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by trboCIVICWRX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">$39 for a complete manual replacement rack?

sign me up...


where?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Follow that link and plug in your state. Should come back with a list of auto-wreckers availability listed by price. I shot for the lowest and called. Gave my CC number and low and behold it'll be here friday!

 

this is good info..I just found one for my 99 civic for 85 bucks shipped!!

great link

 

pulling to the left on acceleration and to the right on decel is not a rack problem, sounds like a driveline issue.

 

check axles, intermediate shaft, and mainly ALIGNMENT

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jared &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">pulling to the left on acceleration and to the right on decel is not a rack problem, sounds like a driveline issue.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Im not doubting you, but it has never done this before i drained the rack. I noticed it almost immediately after taking a test drive when i drained it. Axles and everything else is fine. I havent had an alignement in forever but maybe it just way more noticeable now without the fluid in there.

 

dan, next time you go, drop the tire pressure. start at like 8.5 psi and go down. even that will be too high for sure.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jinxproof99 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">dan, next time you go, drop the tire pressure. start at like 8.5 psi and go down. even that will be too high for sure. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Actually on the 2nd pass I went down to 8.5 psi and it seemed to be a little better.

Oh yeah, also I am running tubes in the slicks. I spent a good hour getting a perfect balance on them the day prior at the shop.

 

The reason it sounds like a driveline issue is that when I was running the spool in my car, when I broke an axle, or when one was starting to go, it would do the same thing, but you could have a worn bushing somewhere that's flexing too much as well that would cause the same problem.

 

One thing that I havent seen mentioned is the slicks roll out. Make sure the slicks are the same size in diamter. Take a string and measure it. If you have slicks and they are pulling like that chances are you have on slick bigger than the other.

art

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Arturbo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">One thing that I havent seen mentioned is the slicks roll out. Make sure the slicks are the same size in diamter. Take a string and measure it. If you have slicks and they are pulling like that chances are you have on slick bigger than the other.

art</TD></TR></TABLE>

thats an interesting thought...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Arturbo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">One thing that I havent seen mentioned is the slicks roll out. Make sure the slicks are the same size in diamter. Take a string and measure it. If you have slicks and they are pulling like that chances are you have on slick bigger than the other.

art</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks Art. I didnt think about that. I will do it tonight before I get back to the track.

 

so what all is needed for the steering rack swap..?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GOLDBERG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so what all is needed for the steering rack swap..?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Tools. The rack and pinion swap is pretty straightforward. When I did my power-to-manual rack and pinion swap, I had to use one of the rubber bushings from the power rack to hold the manual rack and pinion on the right side. Other than that, it was a straight bolt in.