Need some advice on my Power Rack and Pinion set up, need less assist more feedback

[PhillySpeedNYC]

My Mach 1 has a power Rack and Pinion, a Randals Rack I am not familiar with this system or its design versus others on the market for these cars.

I absolutely love driving my car but my NYC roads suck and with the over assist its so hard to control the car when going fast. I want to knock the assist down a bit.

Anyone have suggestions?

[Ron in SoCal]

Make sure your PS pump output is flow matched to the rack requirement. You can get a valve from Turn One and they probably can ID your rack for you. There was a recent thread on just this subject, but I'm too lazy to look...

[ironworks]

Borgeson - 899001 - 15 dollar fix. Easy money.

[Rhino]

Your rack could need a stiffer t bar. Have you called randals to see what your options are?

[PhillySpeedNYC]

I spoke in detail to the Randals Rack guy and he said the PS pump is a low pressure pump, GM style. He is certain the issues have to do with alignment being way out of spec. I did have the car aligned last week but they never gave me a print out and i only know the cars front end feels worse.

i found a shop that i can wait and watch what they are doing. I am installing a new steering wheel tonight so it makes sense to do that just in case it comes off center prior to a new alignment.

if the alignment doesn't work i might just disable the power pump and run it manual.

[PhillySpeedNYC]

Originally Posted by Rhino

Your rack could need a stiffer t bar. Have you called randals to see what your options are?

What is a T Bar? Photos?

[Rhino]

Originally Posted by PhillySpeedNYC

...He is certain the issues have to do with alignment being way out of spec...

I'd be interested to see hear why he came to this conclusion. Power steering feel is very subjective. Some people want a ton of assist, others want very little. You may fall on the "heavy" end of the spectrum.

The one thing I could agree with in regards to the alignment is how it was performed. Did Randal's supply the alignment specs or did they align it as a stock mustang? The reason I ask is that modern vehicles/steering gear uses much more caster than you would have found in the stock mustang. This helps reduce how "twitchy" a car can feel on the road and will help with "return to center".

In regards to the T-bar: The torsion bar is internal to the rack. It's a little difficult to explain but the twisting of this bar is what controls the power assist you will get from the rack. If you want less power assistance you'll want this bar to twist less.
Torsion bar selection is something that happens at the factory or during rebuild. I didn't know if Randals had any different options to tailor the rack to your liking.

EDIT: This link from Woodward does an excellent job explaining what the torsion bar's job is. Much better than I ever could.

http://www.woodwardsteering.com/inde...:woodward-tech

[funcars]

I have a power rack and pinion in my Mustang and have some extra caster (6.5 deg) and a good alignment with 275-40 17s and a bit of scrub radius. Even with that it used to have a very overboosted feel as well. I changed the T-bar since it has a woodward servo valve. It made a significant difference (improvement). Woodward was very helpful in helping me pick the bar to use.