[ctcz28]

Sometimes a little bit of knowledge is dangerous and I hope I’ve not entered that zone. Still sorting out a few suspension/steering details and not wanting to create more problems with a mix and match suspension/steering. I’ve listed my current alignment specs below.

1. My steering is 12:1 constant ratio power (Lee Built) with short outer steering arms and a long (5.78”) pitman arm. Result is a too quick ~1.75 stop to stop steering. I plan to switch to a shorter (5.25”) pitman arm to slow it down.

a.) Any idea how much this change will slow the steering down to a more reasonable lock to lock number of turns of the wheel? ( One of Mr. Pozzi’s articles suggests about 2.5 turns L to L with a 12.7 constant ratio box with short pitman arm and short steering arms. Just curious if anyone has tried this combination and can report L to L number of turns.

b. ) Will I need another alignment or other adjustments after I change to the shorter pitman arm?

2. I have C5 front spindles that are quite a bit taller than stock, but I’m still using standard length upper ball joints and control arms are stock. David Pozzi has suggested using tall outer tie rod ends to reduce bump steer. Any issues with just swapping out the outer tie rod ends or will this also require another alignment?

Current alignment specs are camber: -0.3, caster deg: 3.7 deg, toe: 0.06 deg., total toe: 0.11 deg

 

[bilodeaulynn]

Should make a 9% difference.

 

[davidpozzi]

My 2.5 estimate might be closer to 2.25 turns with short pitman, short outer steering arms.
Most of my recent experience was with James Shipka's One Lap Camaro but it had Speed Tech A arms so lock to lock was adjustable and we limited lock to lock travel to prevent the large front tires hitting the subframe.

As first built we had huge understeer due to the rear tires being much wider than the front & no rear sway bar. This masked the too fast steering ratio. Once we got the car balanced the steering was too fast and twitchy to drive. I switched from the long pitman to the short and it was perfect. We kept the short outer steering arms.


Tall outer tie rod ends will reduce bump steer. Some bump steer was designed in to compensate for bushing deflection of the A arms, but likely it was too much.