Valkyrie

Would getting polyeurethane toe rod boots and bushings (at least on the front) make the steering tighter? Even a *little* slack gets pretty big at 80+...

And how about a strut tower bar/lower frame brace, etc?

jgrewe

iTrader: (1)

Toe rod boots/tire rod in title? Do you mean tie rod boots? Or the trailing rods that are on the front of an FB? Which chassis are we talking about.

If nothing is worn out or maybe loose in the steering box(FB only) wheel alignment will have more affect on how the car feels at speed. Anytime you can add urethane it will make things feel tighter but if this is an FB don't put it on the trailing rods.

A strut tower brace will show more improvement the more miles the chassis has.

Black91n/a

FC, I had to look it up in the profile. Next time specify.

No.

If there's slack then it's probably a worn tie rod or tie rod end. Find the slop and replace the part. I don't think there's stiffer steering rack bushings available, but that would help. Strut bars help. I can't say I noticed a difference when I installed my lower arm bar, but I know for sure that it stiffens the chassis. Here's a writeup I did on how to make your own lower arm bar for less than $15, it only takes a few hours and some very basic tools:

https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/how-build-lower-arm-bar-under-%2415-448638/

Valkyrie

There is almost no "slack" when you move the wheel... the steering wheel movement correlates almost perfectly. Although very small steering movements *may* have slightly smaller movements than bigger movements, relatively (may be my imagination though).

But I figured that maybe stiffening up the suspension and steering would help while actually driving?

Of course theres only so much you can do given the flexing of the sidewalls and such...

jgrewe

iTrader: (1)

It sounds like things may be a little worn, I'd get under there and grab links and shake tires and see if anything moves. If nothing looks suspect try different alignment settings. If it still doesn't make you happy remember what a wise racer taught me,"There is no good deal on bad tires"

Anything you can do to make the suspension move only in the arcs it is designed to will help the steering 'feel', it will also probably mean more road noise and feeling every bump. Its up to you to decide what you can live with everyday. A car with spherical bearings in all the suspension is great on a race track but it will drive you nuts on the street.

turboefini88

iTrader: (1)

When Im inspecting a car at work, I get one of the other guys to "shake" the wheel while I look at all the steering and suspension components. Get someone to turn the wheel left and right, not full turns just something like a quarter turn each way. You will see if tie rods are worn, ball joints moving control arm bushings worn ect ect, worn areas will move before the wheels will.

Valkyrie

I think maybe the "slack" I'm feeling is just compliance in the crappy old bushings and the chassis, as well as the worn out stock springs and shocks... (and perhaps to a lesser extent, the anti-sway bar...).

I would imagine new bushings, strut bars, and stiffer springs and shocks will change the feel a bit.

...and it's probably me just being ****... you can only get so much steering feel from 15-inch street tires anyway.