Rebuilding an S13 HICAS steering rack

davidk

davidk

New Member
Did my first driftday ever with my PS13. In the first lap my car dumped all its powersteering fluid.
I was told this was because of my setup:
I have Tein inner&outer tie rods (extra lock kit), and S14 lower control arms. Apparently the lock stops on these arms aren't good so the knuckle doesn't touch my control arm lock stop, and the rack just stops against itself?

I'm guessing the rack end seals blew, since all the oil came out through the boots. Now where can I get the parts I need to rebuild it? And how does one go about rebuilding it?

Any help is much appreciated!
 
But can anyone confirm that this is going to be the problem? Rack bottoming out before knuckle touches the lock stop?

Because on other forums I've been reading stuff about dudes just removing the lock stop completely and having tons of more lock... how is that possible?

And where can I get a S13 HICAS rack rebuild kit?!
 
I have removed the rack, inner toe rods still attached. When I turn back and forth a bit, the rack stops against the inner tie rods. So I don't see how my lock stops are related to the problem at all? Again, Tein rods with spacer between rack and tie rods.

Or do my lock stops stop the rack too early and was it pushing way too hard and building too much pressure.. hence my broken end seals?

Or was my steering rack already fucked and did drifting at full lock push it over the edge?

I'm puzzeled.
 
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Lock stops limit lock before the rack runs out of travel.
The rack will physically stop at it's maximum travel on the inner tie rods.

Your rack probably blew up because it overheated, did it go "lumpy" before it blew?
 
kam said:
Lock stops limit lock before the rack runs out of travel.
The rack will physically stop at it's maximum travel on the inner tie rods.

Your rack probably blew up because it overheated, did it go "lumpy" before it blew?
Click to expand...

Actually no, and I only drifted 2 laps (very small oval track).. so doubt it overheated.
Letting the rack stop against the inner tie rods won't destroy it? So even if I didn't have lock stops it wouldn't really have mattered.

So I can conlude that the rack was just shitty to begin with?

I do have a spacer between the rack and tie rod, so at full lock, one side goes slightly in the rack itself (untill it hits the tie rod ofcourse).
 
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Well it's not ideal, you could break things. You want a bump stop.
I was just talking more in terms of what each bit actually does.
 
Having S14 knuckles + S14 LCA's, are the stock lock stops any good icm with the rack spacer? When I lift the car and turn from full lock left to right, I hit the lockstop just before hitting the inner tie rod against the rack (less than 5mm between inner rod & rack).
 
There you go then, your lock stops are working.
You want them to hit a fraction before the tie rod, so you get the most lock.
 
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