It's been noted for some time that an Evo steering rack is one of the parts from an Evo that fit a Lancer. But, to the best of my knowledge, I'm not sure if anyone has ever installed one on their Lancer. So yesterday instead of just replacing my worn inner tie rods, I opted to replace my 180,000+ mile Lancer steering rack with one from an Evo 9. Visually, the differences between the Lancer and Evo steering racks are minimal. You might even think they are from the same vehicle. Everything bolts in and attaches 100% like stock. No modifications needed whatsoever to install an Evo rack on your Lancer!

The Evo rack has beefier inner and outer tie rods but slide right into the Lancer spindle and have the same size crown nut for the tie rod end. Where the Evo rack truly shines is with it's tighter ratio. From center, one full turn right or left is max. Taking a turn I only have to turn the wheel about 60-75% from center and it is very, very responsive. This is a MUST HAVE for any Lancer that autocrosses. There are no two ways about it. You'll wonder why you weren't running one from the beginning.

If you opt to perform this swap on your Lancer, I strongly recommend replacing your front sway bar bushings with Energy Suspension 27mm universal poly sway bar bushings (part # 9.5111) while you have the crossmember dropped. They are a quick 2 minute swap and damn near impossible to do while the crossmember is installed on the car.

After you're done with the install an alignment is MANDATORY. The Evo has a slightly wider stance. As a result both your wheels will be toed in and the car will be difficult to drive. So after the install it's straight to the shop for an alignment.

If anyone has any questions about the swap, feel free to ask. Next up is the Whiteline roll center adjustment kit meant for an Evo. It will fit now that I have the Evo larger diameter inner tie rods on the rack. This kit will not work with a Lancer steering rack.

Pete

 

awesome nice work as always senate, also i saw this on works web page listed for the lancer and they even say it for 02-06 lancer but the part number is the one that evo's use, i wonder if works tried it?

http://www.worksevo.com/store/produc...roducts_id=503

 

like always senate providing the community with great new information, and giving the lancer more options.

 

I can tell you with 100% certainty that it will NOT fit a Lancer. The diameter of the tie rods is different between the Lancer and Evo. The Lancer uses a 12mm jamb nut, the Evo uses a 14mm jamb nut. You CAN use the ball joints that are included with the kit, but not the outer tie rods.

 

nope ball joints wont fit.. I have the whiteline kit, before I tossed my lancer lca's we compared them and the evo ball joints for sure have a wider diameter.

 

Did you actually try to install the Whiteline ball joint into the Lancer front LCA or was this a visual comparison? I haven't tried myself, but everything I've searched and referenced says that the Lancer/Evo ball joints are interchangeable.

 

we did a visual comparison just placing the whitelines overtop and they looked substantially wider. I can for sure confirm that the actual ball joint nub shaft is a thicker diameter then the lancer; measured via micrometer.

I'm not sure if you could use the lancer knuckle with evo bolt or lancer knuckle with lancer bolt but you might run into issues there.

 

would the whiteline steering precision kit work for the lancer?

 

The Lancer/Evo share the same ball joint boot and bolt/nut pair for the ball joint to mount to the spindle. This tells me that the shaft of the ball joints are likely the same diameter. There are also many parts interchanges that show the Lancer and Evo having the same part number for their replacement ball joints. Without actually pressing out the stock Lancer ball joints and trying to install the Evo ball joints the measurements are subjective.

I am very meticulous about researching parts from multiple channels of information. Now all this info is all speculative, but it leads me to believe they are interchangeable. I'll be ordering the kit in the coming weeks and will post up the results one way or another.

 

Follow up:

I had the opportunity to better inspect and size up the Lancer ball joints in comparison to the Evo ones. As it turns out, they are the same diameter and will press into the Lancer control arms without issue. However, they will not work. The Evo ball joints have a longer body to them that is held captive in the control arm. As a result, there ends up being too much space on top of the control arm. The snap ring won't sit flush against the control arm. It sits about 1/4" - 3/8" above the control arm.

So the final verdict is: Lancer and Evo ball joints are NOT interchangeable.

 

Isn't the Evo turning radius shorter than the regular Lancer?
It might be good for track, but s*cks ***** for daily driving. A buddy of mine had an Evo and that's the one thing he hated about his car.

 

The Evo rack has a much tighter radius compared to the Lancer. I absolutely love it compared to the stock Lancer rack. The steering is so much more responsive. I would never go back to a stock rack.

 

wouldnt it be possible for a place to machine something like a spacer to help fill in the gap to make it work?

 

I did give that some thought. However, I think it would take more than just a spacer to fill the gap. It would have to be welded in place to prevent lateral movement on the upper part of the ball joint. There is alot of weight and force exerted on a lower ball joint and it has to be very strong and reinforced. Another option would be to have the end of the control arm cut off and a new piece to tubing welded in place that is the same diameter, but longer to accommodate the Evo ball joint.

 

Does only the Evo 9 rack fit or can others?

Also I know this will sound stupid but... What all is in a "steering rack" and do you source from new or the junk yard?