Definitely not my thing half the evo heritage lies in the legendary 4g63, plus id miss the sound of those revs and turbo spool, its half the fun but i look forward to seeing how this turns out, i agree that the evo is the best looking sedan out there and i have been addicted to the aggressive but subtle look ever since it came to America , its compact size, lightweight and handling make it perfect for a project like this.

 

Lol I can't believe they think looping the lines is acceptable. I wanted to crush my miata, it was so bad hahahaha. With that said, i liked our welded rack more than the factory manual rack.

 

I mean yeah but an electric car with the handling of an Evo sounds right up my alley. If Tesla had just done that, I'd be buying one right now xD

 

I removed and sold the rear diff a couple months back.

The gas gas tank itself was not that difficult to remove only the filler neck gave me the biggest headache. I just left the filler tube in the car when I dropped the tank.

I lowered the subframe slightly and removed the mustache bar. That’s a good amount of weight savings . Sucks though the only way to remove its bolts is to lower the subframe as the spare tire well was in the way for the bolts.

I decided to unbolt and clean up the aluminum subframe piece that the diff side mounts bolted to. I was not sure if it serves another purpose to stiffen the chassis so I installed it back . When I approach installation of the motors part of the build I’ll see if it gets in the way etc... I left the gas tank and evap wiring to remove at another day.

 

The gas filler tube was quite a pain but I won that long fight .

 

Very nice! I have to pull mine as years of E85 have eaten through the hose.... Good to know it's such a joyful experience.

 

Maybe there is a better way to do it, but I was getting angry and stubborn. I refused to unbolt anything other than the wheel. So I had to pound and crush the tube slightly to squeeze it out the the wheel well area. I didnt have anything to cut it in half, I just used vice grip pliers to slowly crush and bend it slightly

I was doing some quick calculations in my mind and I believe its safe to say i took out 1000 lbs if not more ? What you guys think ?

 

I saw a few video clips of de-powering Miata racks and now I see what you mean by “welded rack” .


In your personal experience did you notice excessive bump steer de-powering the rack completely ?

 

I actually prefer power racks, but no I did not notice any bump steer post modification. I also had a roll center correction kit and running Ohlin DFVs so take that for what it's worth.

 

I took out the steering rack to prepare for its future, possible manual steering conversion.

 

Ok , thanks to rocknsnoboarder for the help I received in the other thread this is the company that makes it. https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...lighter-4.html

http://dracecars.homestead.com/
Phone: (419) 875-4080
diamondracecars@windstream.net​t

 

I called and spoke with Dan and I explained to him what I was looking for. Basically I do not want to lose the super tight/fast steering of the Evo . I want the ratio to stay the same as oem so he is looking into it and will get back to me.

If anyone is interested to know he also offers rear tubular subframe. I can’t get that now as I need to focus on my budget to complete this project first , then worry about spending money I don’t have for other things.

 

Unfortunately DRC is unable to source manual steering rack with the Evo’s steering ratio (~2.1 turns end to end) . So I placed an order for front subframe only .

After watching the Miata folks turn their power steering racks to manual racks I feel like I’m ready to do the same.


I started out by removing the pinion housing . I removed the two bolts at the top holding the housing. Also, at the bottom there is a cover screwed on that you have to remove to get to a nut holding the pinion and stem down.



Next up was trying to get the pinion and shaft out of the housing. The seal was holding the shaft pretty tightly in the housing and wasn’t coming out easily. I didnt want to damage the stem top protruding piece, so i took a nut to cover over and went to town knocking on the ground till it slid out. This helped preventing the top portion from mushrooming or getting damaged.


Once its out the seal slides off the shaft pretty easily. The other end you have to remove a C-clip to slide out the valve body.



Here are the pieces apart.


Next up, I will have to weld the shaft to make it one solid piece. And then remove the ring in the steering rack cylinder/tube. I don’t have time for that right now, more to come later. If you haven’t seen this video of depowering a Miata rack , check it out. It basically shows what needs to be done and it’s not too different with the Evo thus far.... .

 

Next up, I unbolted the driver side inner rod and took the rack out of the housing from the passenger side. There is a hydraulic piston disk on the rack in which I had to cut out.



A friend helped weld the pinion so that the top shaft and bottom pinion gear are one solid piece. Otherwise there is a very slight play in the design to direct fluid with steering input . I wonder if this will make the steering feel more connected/tighter than the already super tight responsive steering of the Evo ?



After cleaning up the inside and greasing everything up , I assembled it all back together and capped any ports to keep moisture out.

 

Although it’s not installed and driven with yet, I can Say this much about the steering rack . With the oem rack fill with fluid it was extremely difficult to try and turn the rack shaft . I had to push/pull the rod ends . Now I can grab pinion shaft and spin much easier. I think it was mostly the fluid causing major resistance internally trying to rush through the tiny holes in the pinion shaft chamber . Also the piston/ring piece in the rack acting as a pump . I also loosened the tension spring nut for rack to reduce a little more resistance .

Now I’m thinking if I should replace the tie rod end ? They seem ok but I don’t know how many miles are on them or when last replaced . The chassis does have 95k miles. If I do replace, should I go oem or whiteline etc... ?