E30 Tie Rod spacers

[gray_ghost]

Yeah, no. That can only be changed by changing your steering ratio, aka rack. The spacers will just give you a tighter turning radius it seems, it will still take just as much steering wheel rotation to get there. More in fact, because "there" is now further away.


It still sounds like a bad idea but to each their own...

the steering wheel can only turn X turns, lock to lock. You are changing it from Y degrees at full lock to Z degrees at full lock. Its the same amount of maximum possible steering input (amount steering wheel is turned) but creates more angle at any given position.

[Fidhle007]

No, that's wrong or I'm not understanding the concept. If, as I understand it right now, you're simply spacing out the tie rods, effectively lengthening the usable part of the rack, then you will be increasing the amount of travel the rack has and in turn, the amount of steering wheel rotation required to the end of that travel. You can't change the ratio of wheel angle change to steering wheel input without either changing the rack or changing the pivot points on the steering knuckle. And without a serious machine shop and some impressive skills, I don't see the latter happening any time soon...

[Cronus]

Its a kind of hard theory to wrap your head around. It took me a little while to get the idea firgured out.

Don't think about the tie rods. They have nothing to do with how this mod works.

The spacers work by giving the rack the ability to move further. Think of it this way. (Example only: no idea if the #'s are right)

Say the stock rack has 175mm of total rack movement/travel and gets you 35 degrees of angle each side. Then by adding the spacers gives you 185mm of rack travel and 43 degrees of angle (8 more degrees) because the steering can TURN or MOVE 5mm MORE each side, or rather 8 degrees more.

It basically allows the rack to have more movement before it hits the steering stops.

[gray_ghost]

Its a kind of hard theory to wrap your head around. It took me a little while to get the idea firgured out.

Don't think about the tie rods. They have nothing to do with how this mod works.

The spacers work by giving the rack the ability to move further. Think of it this way. (Example only: no idea if the #'s are right)

Say the stock rack has 175mm of total rack movement/travel and gets you 35 degrees of angle each side. Then by adding the spacers gives you 185mm of rack travel and 43 degrees of angle (8 more degrees) because the steering can TURN or MOVE 5mm MORE each side, or rather 8 degrees more.

It basically allows the rack to have more movement before it hits the steering stops.

Oh okay, I think I understand now. I was reading about them on roadsterdrift.com when I had my mx5, I must have misread something. Thanks for the info

[Fidhle007]

Its a kind of hard theory to wrap your head around. It took me a little while to get the idea firgured out.

Don't think about the tie rods. They have nothing to do with how this mod works.

The spacers work by giving the rack the ability to move further. Think of it this way. (Example only: no idea if the #'s are right)

Say the stock rack has 175mm of total rack movement/travel and gets you 35 degrees of angle each side. Then by adding the spacers gives you 185mm of rack travel and 43 degrees of angle (8 more degrees) because the steering can TURN or MOVE 5mm MORE each side, or rather 8 degrees more.

It basically allows the rack to have more movement before it hits the steering stops.

I like how you lifted that explanation directly from here...

[Fidhle007]

Oh okay, I think I understand now. I was reading about them on roadsterdrift.com when I had my mx5, I must have misread something. Thanks for the info

So do yourself a favor and get an E36 rack and leave this spacer nonsense behind. You'll be able to get from lock to lock much faster and I doubt you'll miss the added angle. Plus, you'll have full thread engagement between your inner tie rods and your rack so you'll be less likely to spontaneously die.

[shiboujin]

E36 racks will give you less turn lock to lock
spacers will give you more angle.

My car after them but before an alignment



You have enough threads with 5mm spacers to keep your steering rack one. I've gone a year with them and nothing has fallen off yet.

[nando]

Its a kind of hard theory to wrap your head around. It took me a little while to get the idea firgured out.

Don't think about the tie rods. They have nothing to do with how this mod works.

The spacers work by giving the rack the ability to move further. Think of it this way. (Example only: no idea if the #'s are right)

Say the stock rack has 175mm of total rack movement/travel and gets you 35 degrees of angle each side. Then by adding the spacers gives you 185mm of rack travel and 43 degrees of angle (8 more degrees) because the steering can TURN or MOVE 5mm MORE each side, or rather 8 degrees more.

It basically allows the rack to have more movement before it hits the steering stops.

uh, no.

yes, you can turn sharper at full lock. The problem is the RATIO of wheel turns to rack travel hasn't changed, you've only changed the rack travel, not how fast the wheel turns. Say your rack is 3.5 turns lock to lock. you add the spacers, and gain more travel. Now your rack is 4.5 turns lock to lock, because the ratio is unchanged. the only way to change the steering ratio to make it faster, is to change the gearing inside the rack.

if spacers were the simple answer nobody would do rack swaps and things like steering quickeners wouldn't exist.

[shiboujin]

I got em from Erick. I forget where the thread is. They are just some spacers. you can drill out some washers and get the same effect.

[Cronus]

Yes I lifted it from another thread. Why would i go through the trouble of typing it out when I could just copy and paste.

I never said anything about changing ratio. That's not the point of the spacers. Their sole purpose is to create more steering angle. If you have to turn your wheel just a tiny bit more than oh well. I'm willing to live with that. Or hell I could just get a 2:1 steering quickener and be like 2 turns lock to lock.