[sixpack]

I was suprized that I did not find any threads here for steering quickeners.
Hell, even the guys road racing Hondas have been installing them.

I am fed up with 3 turns lock to lock, and have been gathering parts to install one.
Just haven't decided if I want a 2:1 or a 1.5:1.
Having road raced 140 mph karts, and bikes, with 1/4 turn lock-to lock, I don't think the 2:1 would be too agressive, I am just not sure my electric power steering pump will keep up.

I have found the tough part, a universal joint with the Toyota rack metric spline on one end, with the common quickener 3/4"-36 spline on the other, so that I don't have to try to deal with the OEM universal that is overly long.

I have also found that more than half of the available quickeners are chinese copies of the Coleman.
Only Coleman, Keysler (rebranded Coleman), and Howe are US made.
I am leaning toward Howe's new Stealth, as it uses a planatary gear set, instead of a single pair of gears like the Coleman does, and it is about 1/2" shorter.
But the Coleman has a much smaller body, and comes in both ratios,
where as the Stealth only comes in 2:1.

Anyway, as soon as I decide which unit I'm going with, and actually start installing it, I will post pictures.

 

[Highrevs]

Interesting indeed, subscribed for up-dates. I'll be going down this route so links to parts is appreciated. Cheers

 

[airhead04]

Also subbed. I've thought of doing this myself, but never pulled the trigger.

 

[95jza80tt]

Subscribed

 

[Mr Ree NZ]

Subscribed for results

 

[FLZ_Boy]

Thank God, I already have been fed up with the steering ratio with the Supra for awhile....................

 

[marshallpre1]

Awaiting results!

 

[SideWinderGX]

An indoor karting place opened up near where I live and I've gone way too many times...and I was searching for this exact stuff not even two weeks ago.

Can't wait to see what you come up with

 

[sixpack]

As soon as I get caught up with stuff around here, I'll snap some pictures of what I already have, and part numbers.
I just ordered the Howe Stealth from Speedway today, and the lower universal, along with the upper splined coupler are here.
I have my spare column layed out, and know about where I will need to cut it.
The upper coupler has a 3/4" plain bore on the other end.
The upper column is 1" OD, but until I cut it, I have no idea of the ID.
The only thing I will have to make is a slug, 3/4" od to what ever OD will fit in the column, that will then get welded to those two pieces to form a single new upper column.
And I will need to make a bracket off the frame rail to bolt the quickener to.

Keep in mind, this is all on a MX83 Cressida.
I know that the spline on the racks are the same, and by what I seen parts diagrams, the upper column looks simular.
But the length that I cut my column may not be the same as for the real sports car.......
And the lengths of the quickeners differ a little also.

 

[sixpack]

OK, the Howe quickener hit the door today,
so I snapped a picture of it, with the new universal, and the coupler,
along with the stock shaft, then played with a little cut & paste to show how it will go together.

 

[sixpack]

Oh, and the special universal is made by Woodward Steering, p/n UA20108
http://woodwardsteering.com/

 

[marshallpre1]

Thanks for the updates! Looking forward to the results. Sometimes it feels like I'm driving a truck lol

 

[gfallon]

great work, i have never been happy with the lock to lock on the supra

 

[Zach90Turbo]

Every steering quickener I've seen would be a bad idea for a street car, as there's inherently some play on center due to the nature of the design. Nothing would be more annoying in a street car than having to constantly work to keep it straight on the highway. I can see this as being helpful in a dedicated track car, though. Adapting a rack with a better ratio would be the better solution for a street car.

 

[sixpack]

Zack, I think your imagining a problem that doesn't exist.
Because of the front geometry, the car will track in a strait line just fine without any input from the steering wheel, if the suspension & tires arn't worn out.
That is why I can cruise the Texas highways at 135+, with just one finger on the wheel.

Now, I did have a 1960 VW that was just plain scary at 60 mph due to a bad design, and it being worn out.

 

[Zach90Turbo]

Zack, I think your imagining a problem that doesn't exist.
Because of the front geometry, the car will track in a strait line just fine without any input from the steering wheel, if the suspension & tires arn't worn out.
That is why I can cruise the Texas highways at 135+, with just one finger on the wheel.

Now, I did have a 1960 VW that was just plain scary at 60 mph due to a bad design, and it being worn out.

I'm not imagining things, I've laid hands on a car with a steering quickener installed and I wouldn't be comfortable driving it on the street. Rally? yes. Autocross? Sure. Street? Absolutely not.

Here's somebody else's input if you don't believe me:

Re: Steering Quickener
I have a Coleman 3-bolt 1.5:1 quickener in my EK rally car. It is about 2.2 turns lock-to-lock as I am using a 99 Si rack which was about 3.3 turns stock.
Notes:
-There is noticeable play and the feel/feedback is mostly gone.
-I spliced/grafted/welded the ends of the stock steering columm onto the quickener ends so nothing can ever come loose(the car takes an unbelievable beating on rough gravel roads). Similar install to rotten.
-I had to modify the bypass and output valves of the EK power steering pump so I would have more assist at higher RPM(took 8 tries to make it work). I cannot imagine trying to steer without power assist on 15 miles+ of twisty dirt roads with rocks and ruts trying to yank the steering wheel out of my hands every few feet. Even on smooth asphalt it could get tiring without assist and 2.2 turns.
All in all though the benefit to a rally car is that it is much easier to catch slides at higher speeds. This is what makes the quickener worthwhile. For road racing where fast means smooth and scubbing as little speed as possible is the way to go(opposite lock is not the fastest way around a track), I would probably not install a quickener. For autocrossing where tight slaloms and quick direction changes can be a real problem, I would try a quickener with power assist.

My 2 cents.

 

[Zach90Turbo]

And my point is not to discourage you from doing this, I think all your projects are interesting. This is more for the guys chiming in that think that this is a fix for the relatively slow steering on their street cars.

 

[sixpack]

I understand Zack, that is one reason I put it in the road race section.
The new style quickener from Howe has a planatary gear set, not a single pair, as I explaned.
I sat here playing with it, and there is no noticeable play in this unit.
And I expect to get more feel into the wheel, as now the rack has a 2:1 mechanical advantage against what I am putting into the wheel.

And I see all sorts of things about this, or that not working.
But unless I see a large percentage of that kind of feedback, I figure it's from the 1 or 2 guys that can't change their spark plugs without screwing something up.
Who knows if the person with slop even had the correct couplers, or installed them correctly.
There are 2 simular splines, 3/4" 36 spline, and .735" 36 spline.
The universal was listed as .735", the quickener was listed as 3/4".
But the universal slid on real nice, so I lucked out there. The coupler was listed as 3/4", and is loose on the quickener, so today I ordered a .735" one.
Now if you put the 3/4" coupler on the quickener with a .735" size shaft, you will have a problem.

In fact, all these couplers & universal joints have set screws.
Toyota uses pinch bolts.
I am leaning toward splitting the coupler, and the universal, where they slide on to the shaft, and putting a steel lock collars on the OD, so that I can squeeze the splines together the way Toyota does. The steel 1-piece lock collars are only $5 or so each, so for $15 more, I end up with peace of mind.
I've never liked set screws only, on something important.
If there is any slop in the fitment, all torque & vibration is directly on the set screw, and they don't like that.
They work just fine on a shaft that turns in one direction only, like a lawnmower, but when driven in both directions, they rock, and work themselves loose.

I wish I had the $$ to just go buy an aftermarket race car rack, then I could pick & choose ratios.
But that is way out of my league.
And the quickest 'almost correct' OEM rack is not much better (2.75 turns lock to lock), and not worth all the work & parts to make that fit into my car.

 

[sixpack]

I had a little time to put towards this project.
Got the upper half of the intermediate shaft measured and cut.
Then machined the slug to go between it, and the upper splined coupler for the quickener.
Upper shaft had a .780" aprox ID (it was a little oblong).
The ID of the spline coupler was .762", not the .750 it was advertized to be.

I left a flange in the center of the slug a little larger to act as weld filler when I TIG the pieces together.
It will go in my lathe, and I will just turn it slowly while running the amperage up until the flange melts down into the 2 other pieces, at which point I will ramp the current back down to zero, and let the argon run across it until it's cooled.
This eliminates any warpage to one side or the other.

The only thing I have to do still is make some insulators for my lathe chuck, and tail stock to keep from putting any currant through the lathe.

 

[jose_supra]

Wow iv never even looked Into anything this.. id assume reaction to the cars handling would have to be a lil quicker once this goes in. Pretty cool tho