Used racks are pretty hard to find. I looked for a while and the ones that do come up seem to be pretty spendy.

 

Aluminum I think.

 

That would explain the chipping and magnets not working on them.

 

Yeah they're aluminum. The fact they chip with the spring compressor tool is why I tell people always go to Ti retainers if doing a spring upgrade. Don't run stiffer springs on the stock retainers.

 

I guess I never thought about it since I never raised my rev limit.

 

Stock retainers work fine for slightly stiffer springs. Just be sure to check the spring seating face on them when you remove them. If you see any impression marks then replace them.

 

Its really easy to check. jack the car up at the front and get somebody else to turn the wheel quickly left to right and watch the rack and youll be able to see if its moving. if its moving left to right then its the 2 bolts that go down from the top of the rack into the subframe theres rubber bushings in here and they wear away especially if youve spilt brake fluid n stuff down there. If its moving up and down then its the brackets that go over the top of the rack.

Ive had some aluminium bushings made up for mine so it dont get a repeat failure.

 

Would anyone have interest in delrin steering rack bushings to solid mount their rack?

 

They actually look pretty good right now, though the whole setup only has a couple thousand miles.
Car is apart, may as well swap all retainers, IF necessary. Otherwise I have new, OEM on the work bench.

 

I believe the WL ones are delrin or something similar. I remember them being basically solid.

 

They are poly. I have them too.

I'll me bringing my evo home soon and I've got some more products planned. Lots of design work done already but once I have printed prototypes made I'll post more.

 

Silly question for you folks...want to pull my driverside airbag. I happen to like the factory wheel but my car still has tags so I need to pass safety inspection. The no airbags are fine but I need a functioning horn and seems the horn button is sorta built into the airbag assembly.

Is anyone here using a gutted stock wheel but still have a functioning horn? I haven't pulled it apart and really inspected it to see for myself but if someone has the answer already that would be sweet. Alternatively, if I must go to an aftermarket wheel what are you guys using as a hub adapter? Really dont want to have to resort to aftermarket bc the free 5# savings quickly turns to ~$100/lb.

 

Maybe option C: you could wire up a button to honk the horn. Does your safety inspection require the horn to be honked from the steering wheel?

 

I don't see any verbiage around that. Even so, would it be as simple as making a blockoff plate and sticking a momentary switch on there? Guess I could pull up some wire diagrams or just pull it apart and see for myself. Not sure where the horn switch is currently hiding or where the pins are.

Personally, I think it would be cool to gut the airbag portion but keep all the other factory stuff in there just to keep it clean and simple. Again though haven't played around with it but figured someone in here has.

 

Yeah it would be trivially easy to wire up a button to honk the horn. The easiest place to tap into the wires would be at the steering column harness, but I'm sure you could grab it elsewhere, probably around the etacs.