OK, onto the next problem. Actaually before we do a small comment maybe verging on a disclaimer; I am following other peoples thinking here, collating information I have found in a variety of sources. I am NOT an automotive designer and cannot offer any opinion to the validity of what I am doing here. My car is for road use, not racing, not track days etc so please - if you are an automotive designer don't be offended by my lack of knowlwdge.
The MX5 steering rack is way too long, about 140mm or so. I qualify that statement by applying some basic steering setup instruction that I read somewhere once that is that goes along these lines:
The length of the steering rack is determined by the distance between a line drawn from center to center on the inner mounting point of the swing arms. A good way of seeing this is simply to put a rubber band between the holes on the brackets which quickly makes a visual reference - thanks to Keith Tanner for that little gem.
It follows that as the MX5 conversion front frame is the same as the Chris Gibbs offering the Escort MK2 rack is the perfect item for this. In order to make the MX5 rack fit the 140 odd mm need to be cut out of the cylinder and bore - the center section of the rack. If you trust yourself to do this then go ahead but there is no way I would mess with the steering rack internals like that esp. when the escort offering is perfectly good and readily available.
31st March 2011, 12:32 PM
Linear Mode
