Howdy All,

I went out to the skidpan on the weekend.. and one of the problems that came up was that if I start with my hands at 9/3 and do a full turn (as far as you can twist your hands without moving them) - it's not enough to get me around a full "U-turn" at the end of the skid pan.. in fact tryign this on the road I can only just get around a normal right hand corner with this full turn.

To combat this the instructor taught me to move my hands half a turn around so I can then turn a full 1.5 turns which is enough to get me around, although only just. He said most cars (but not all, some are like this.. but especially the performance type cars) can make the 1 turn only.. and thus I hard to work a fair bit harder than some of the other guys.


In general I tend to turn the wheel full lock quite a lot, and slide my hand around on the nice big leather section.. probably to compensate this and a friend of mine has commented to this effect when he drove my car (that the first half a turn or so is relatively useless.).. admittedly he drives an EVO X so not the greatest thing to compare to, but the idea is there. I can pretty much wobble my steering back and forward a quarter turn without going too far... it's not quite as bad as I describe it but theres a fair bit of slow uptake anyway. I also get a bit of torque steer partly due to my LSD but like even taking off gently my car tends to pull one way a smidge at the start.. so I wonder if my rack is worn.


So my question is two fold

(1) What is your steering like, does it behave like this? Or do you have much more pointed steering in the center?
(2) As a result is my steering faulty/worn in the center (car has done 135k) - is it normal.. and if normal.. will a ralliart rack be better? (if someone with ralliart and someone without.. or someone with both a TL and ralliart like T_Double_U.. maybe you can comment).. mal was commenting he thinks the TL units are like the ralliarts but he seems far from certain on that.

Thanks all!

all magnas have a HORRIBLE turning circle. its just the way they were built

Welcome to the world of large front wheel drive cars where the positioning of the transmission limits the pivot angle of the wheels (the angle from full left to full right).

Also, you should never hold your steering wheel at full lock. Does nasty things to the pump.

The ralliar and TL/W just changed the pump ratio so that it feels more on-centre at highway speeds (less left/right drift which requires constant correction). They have less boost. Turning circle remains the same.

all magnas have a HORRIBLE turning circle. its just the way they were built

Ja, it's not just the turning circle as such but also the rate at which the steering wheel makes it move!

The later TL onwards (and TJ ralliart) have better steering "feel" but thats it.

Ive had the TL rack and ralliart pump in my magna for quite a few years now and thought it was quite good until i got the car back on the road in 2008 (after a couple of years of not driving it) and i must say damn the steering feels like a old 70's car, especilly after the cars i had whilst the magna was off the road and the other cars i have now!

The magna feels dead just off centre, heaps of turns lock to lock (big steering wheel exagerates that) and just plain horrible over all (light and floaty). My magna steering feels much like the steering in my BT50 dual cab 4wd lol

Im sure when/if i start driving the magna more often, especially if i return it to daily drive duties, i will once again get use to its vague steering.

It's a tendency of front wheel drive cars to pull to one side on harsh acceleration from a start...some are worse than others.

..sorry to poke in on ur thread lathiat, but is there some adjustment that can make the ps more heavy or light? Won't do jack for ur problem but might give some road feedback..

It's a tendency of front wheel drive cars to pull to one side on harsh acceleration from a start...some are worse than others.

its called torque steer, and its why they started mounting the ff motors on the other side to try to counter this (its why there was a huge reduction in it in the evo4 compaired with the 3)

you can gain some more lock (not sure how much there is to gain on a magna, although ive done it, i never measured.

Its the same way they increase lock on silvia's for drifting. You space the tie rod (steering arm) out from the rack using washers. The washers go on the threaded shaft that is behind the pivot on the tie rod that screws in to the rack. Remember, even 3-5mm of washers both sides add quite a few more degrees lock at full steer.

once you have spaced out the pivot/knucle you need to then wind the rack ends back in, so that the overall length by ball join to rack mounting surface remains the same, otherwise allignemnt will be out. You wont be able to go as exterme as a RWD car, as you have cv geometry to worry about. The less washers you put in the less likely the knuckle will become loose from the rack. From memory i used 5x 1.0mm spacers and have 20mm of thread into the rack. torqued up to the healthy side of the factory spec. On cars like the silvias i mentioned ive seen 15mm of washes and 15mm or thread in the rack, personally this scares me.

I'm wondering if its possible to fit a restrictor in the PS pump or lines without starving the system of fluid and breaking shit. This will help correct the 'vague' steering as there will be less assistance than normal.

Yep the steering is one thing that really annoys me as well, and it's magnified after suspension mods etc. Whiteline make a steering geometry correction kit for Evo's but not sure if it'd fit magnas

Was looking into steering quickeners a while ago, just need to check for room on and around the steering column, here's a link to one installed on a liberty ( i think it's a 1:1.5 ratio) :

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/most-enjoyable-mod-so-far-l-e-steering-quickener-126316.html

Meh! You turn the steering wheel and the car turns around. Sometimes you have to do a three point turn. No biggie. Magnas have a big turning circle due to the restrictions of driveshafts and room under the front end. Personally I like the straight line stability the steering provides, very relaxed in a straight line. Now my wife's Lancer has a much smaller turning circle, fewer turns lock to lock, but its twitchy in a straight line, I really need to concentrate much more than in the Magna when driving in a straight line at 110 KPH. If you sneeze, by the time you open your eyes you are in a different lane. lol

i know its not a 3rd gen, yet the steering on my first gen annoys me soo much, its way to light and floaty, similar to my pops 3rd gen, i dont realy like it to much, my first gen ive been driving with no belt on the pwr steer pump for a while to give me a better feel until i can work out what system i can retrofit, i realy miss the steering feel i had in my old r32
as for mad max's lancer, try to give it a bit more toe in, should remove the twitchyness

My 30M diamante fells alot more direct than the old verada, not sure if this is due to the multilink front suspension or whether the jap versions got different pumps/valving?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVwgoMPTltI&feature=player_embedded

Video of Cummins doing a hillclimb.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BnC8C5doOg

and Chisholm at Wakefield.

I'm wondering if its possible to fit a restrictor in the PS pump or lines without starving the system of fluid and breaking shit. This will help correct the 'vague' steering as there will be less assistance than normal.

underdrive pulley?

Meh! You turn the steering wheel and the car turns around. Sometimes you have to do a three point turn. No biggie. Magnas have a big turning circle due to the restrictions of driveshafts and room under the front end. Personally I like the straight line stability the steering provides, very relaxed in a straight line. Now my wife's Lancer has a much smaller turning circle, fewer turns lock to lock, but its twitchy in a straight line, I really need to concentrate much more than in the Magna when driving in a straight line at 110 KPH. If you sneeze, by the time you open your eyes you are in a different lane. lol

Hah I don't think I've ever done a 3 pointer in the 2 years I've had the Magna! I have no prob's with the steering whatsoever - plenty of feedback in hard corners and no slop..

The only problem with the magna steering i find is lack of road feedback. Smaller hydraulic pump would have been nice. And yes, the turning circle is shocking, but i got used to it.

Dingers - both of those videos are EXTREMELY helpful.. thanks.

Dingers - both of those videos are EXTREMELY helpful.. thanks.

Yeah I thought they would be lol.

Both are members of AMC. Cummins doesn't have a ride thread, his stats are on his website: www.cumminsracing.com.au

Chisholm has a members machine thread, just look him up.

Wookiee is another track Magna.