tylerkck

I have a 1979 280zx with the power reciprocating ball steering box. Also, I have tokico lowered springs, tokico shocks (adjustable on front), eibach swaybars, bump steer spacers, adjustable eccentric front control arm busings, and techno toy tuning adjustable tension compression rods.

I was doing a "garage alignment" last weekend and looking for loose steering joints. I found the idler arm bushings need replacing.-done. I also found that the the steering box flexes the uni-body frame rail considerably. This is pretty scary. Is anyone else experiencing this?- have someone turn the wheel back and forth with the car sitting on the ground and watch for steering box movement and chassis flex. If you post, please list the year of your vehicle- I wonder if Nissan corrected this before going to power rack and pinion in 1982.

I decided to reinforce this area with some 3/16" plate. I cut one piece that will fit between the steering box and the chassis (I'll have to align again). A portion of the plate is bent 90 degrees to follow under the frame rail. A second piece will fit to the outside of the chassis (inside the fender well).- I'm not sure if I'll use this second piece, I need to see what the first peice does. I still need to fit them up and drill the steering box holes. I don't think I'll weld them in place, but instead use some bolts. If there is interest in this mod I'll post pics.

Also, I decided to eventually convert to power rack and pinion out of a later 280ZX. I'm going to post a thread that details this decision.

tylerkck

I have a 1979 280zx with the power reciprocating ball steering box.

Here's a little info....
S30? manual rack and pinion is 2.7 turns lock to lock
79-81 power reciprocating ball steering box is 2.7 turns (16.3:1)
82-83 power rack and pinion steering is 3.2 turns (17.8:1)
79-83 manual rack and pinion steering is 3.5 turns (19.6:1)

Rack and pinion is the preferred choice for performance cars and racing, mainly because it offers better feedback when compared to steering boxes. Also, I believe that it is a little lighter and simpler and the unit is mounted lower on the chassis. I've read here and/or on hybridz that people think that the power rack and pinion units Nissan offered for the 280zx are junk and/or are too loose and/or sloppy.

First I want to distinguish between slop and lower ratio steering. Slop can come from any steering joints, couplers, bushings, rod ends, worn rack/box teeth/gears, etc. while a car with a lower steering ratio may just feel sloppy because it takes more turning of the steering wheel to get the tires to turn the same amount as a car with a higher steering ratio. I'm not exactly sure what the posts I read were referring to. The slop I'm talking about is like the extra play you feel in the wheel, ie. go drive an old truck....if you just made a lane change you'll have to move the wheel 15 degrees back before the wheels even start to straighten back out. That being said, what are you guys with power r+p experiencing?- please give details; what year car, tie-rods good and tight, steering shaft coupler good and tight, good alignment, etc.

Jeff Winter with Rallye/Sport has done some work for me and has been a great resource throughout the years, so I gave him a call. If you don't know him he has been building successful race cars out of older Z's and 510's with over 30 years of experience and recently built up a 280ZX racer. I'm going to post about 280ZX rear suspension mods with his take on them and some links to his bragging rights. Anyway, he hadn't heard or at least couldn't comment on the 280ZX power racks being junk. The 280ZX he built had a power rack and pinion with the power removed. He said that steering ratio and power assistance is really all about driver preferance. He also recommended I get a used unit from the junkyard or whereever and not to spend the money on a remanufactured unit....just flush it out good with p/s fluid. For me, I like a harder steering effort and higher ratio's on the track (I have a really small Grant steering wheel), but I don't want to sacrifice drivability on the street, so unless my mind gets changed from replies to this post, I'll be going to Nissan's 17.8:1 280ZX power rack unit.

If you have something to add please be detailed with your reply.

PurePontiacKid

I love the manual steering in my Z, even with my shitty steering wheel and sticky tires. I wouldn't want to convert to power just because it would take that much away from the feel for the road I get from the car (should be even better once I get my car back together).

Sure it sucked at slow speeds, but if you whine about that, then I think you have bigger problems...

tylerkck

I bought my 1979 280ZX about 13 years ago with a bit over 100k miles on her. Shortly thereafter I got the front wheel death whobble. The front wheels would violently shake back and forth, only when driving about 40-55mph. First fix was to re-balance front wheels, this helped but I found slop in the idler arm. I replaced the entire idler arm (auto parts chain store) and the problem was fixed.

Recently, about 30k miles later, the whobble came back. I re-balanced the wheels and again found slop in the idler arm. First I added a small diameter washer (smaller diameter so it wouldn't bottom out on the "bushing carrier") and put the nut on real tight. This helped, but the problem remained. I was surprised that the bushings were worn out already. I called around, trying to find out what material the re-manufactured bushings were made of and who was the re-manufacturer.....I didn't get too far. When I called MSA, they said their's were NOS, so I bought them. I compared them to the re-man bushing I was replacing and found that the NOS bushing were much softer. Something to think about when you get the death whobble.

tylerkck

If I were building the car for track use only then I'd go with power rack with power disconnected (because the power racks have a higher ratio). Also, the car is my girlfriend's daily driver.

NismoPick

Merged all three threads into one 280ZX steering thread. No need for three individual threads for one main discussion.