GTA91

iTrader: (1)

Yet again I have another question. I decided to try and turn my steering wheel lock-to-lock tonight just to see if everything is free and works after rebuilding my frontend and it would turn right but not left. I finally figured out why. The idler arm on the passenger "frame rail" is hitting the lower front bolt on the AC compressor when I go to turn left. I thought I remembered seeing somethign about this on Speartech's website and theire write-up but I don't see anything there. Has anyone else had this problem??? Can you loosen the idler arm bolts and move it down some or is something wrong with my car??


TIA
-Jeremy

5.0Camaro

i take it your using a stock k-member? From what i have read you will need to slot the idler arm so you can slide it down a bit to clear, then bolt it back up .

Justin

Knyghtmare

Yes, it needs to be notched a bit and or moved. You should go to www.fbodymotorsports.com and Hawks and look at their write ups carefully. Both of them cover that problem and have pictures I believe. I went AC delete so I actually have no experience with this specific problem, but I am pretty sure those sites will help you.

GTA91

iTrader: (1)

Thanks guys. I figured the only way was to slot the bolt holes on the idler arm. I'll look at Hawks and Fbody Motorsport's websites a little closer but I haven't found anything specific yet.


Thanks again!

GMTech

I did not have to slot mine, because it was already slotted from the factory. I just loosened the bolts and moved it all the way down. You will have to have the front end alignment checked after you do that though.

http://sethirdgen.org/ls1swap/idlerarmclearance.jpg

GTA91

iTrader: (1)

Sweet! I haven't unbolts mine yet to check but I'm assuming the mount on the frame rail of the car is slotted and not the actual idler arm?? I'll have to mess with it next week when I'm back home. Thanks for the pic!


*You guys rock on here!

GMTech

Yes, my body was slotted, not the idler arm.

92CamaroLS1

wish I woulda known that before I bought the $1200 rack and pinion that im havin all kinds of trouble getting to work right . Although I dont think I could have moved my Idler arm down far enough because the tubular kmember I have sat the engine pretty low. and I would need to be moved down quite a bit. O well life goes on...I just hope I can get it to work correctly.

5.0Camaro

whats the problem with your rack and pinion, i was thinking of upgrading to it some time in the next year or so.

Justin

92CamaroLS1

Well the rack and pinion the Hawks offers is a racing rack and pinion and it does not have a very wide turning radius. If my car was going to be a 9 second car then I wouldnt worry about it, but its probably going to be running 12's and my turning is going to be really restricted, but life goes on. Another problem I am having is that I had to use like 5 different adapters fittings on each powersteering line to get it to fit and of course they are leaking. So I hope that a shop can fab me some powersteering lines that work, if not I dont know what to do because I dont think I can get it to work myself. Ill take any ideas if anybody has any. My third and final problem (I hope) is that I set the steering wheel straight and hooked up the steering arm to the rack and pinion the only way I saw possible and for some reason i can make 1/2 more turn to the left than I can the right. I hope I can take it to a steering shop and have them fix it all, but I dont know.

Ace

iTrader: (2)

damn 92..i though you were almost ready to roll.. im pretty sure you can get the lines made up.. maybe even a hydrlolic shop could help ya out or something to that accord

sounds like theres something funked up with the rack if its centered and the wheels are centered when u bolt it up and one side moves more then the other

92CamaroLS1

Lol, well it rolls just cant roll it anywhere withought gettin pulled over or leaking powersteering fluid everywhere. I hope that some shop can make those lines for me. And I dont know why it doesnt line up corretly. The steering ujoint is only supposed to slip on the post on the rack and pinion in one of two ways so i can only adjust it 180* at a time but I need to adjust it ~90* to make it even. Its hard to explain but its even harder for me to try and fix it because Im sorta new with workin on cars so i dont know all the tricks of the trade.

Ace

iTrader: (2)

theres no splined joints on the input shaft? even if its 90 out its not gonna cure the problem of one side having more turns..

i finally got mine on the road.. drove around for a bit and then brake pedal was gettin sloppy and goin to the floor so i parked it back at home..

guess one of the brake lines came loose :| sprayin fluid on the wheel which sprayed it all over the exhaust.. good times

92CamaroLS1

The joints are splinted on the input shaft, but there is a flat spot on each side of it that you are supposed to put the set screw and I didnt think you could put the set screw on anything other than those two flat spots. Maybe im wrong. But it would fix the problem because the middle of the complete turning radius would be correct where now it is 90* off. I would just have to realign the tie rods.

Thats good you got your car running, Ive had to re bleed the brakes a couple times already due to some leaks, but i have to do it again because the pedal is feeling squishy so theres probably some air in the lines. Good luck with gettin that all fixed up.

Ace

iTrader: (2)

its not like the stock one that goes into the steering box.. its got a splined shaft that has a bolt that goes through it and pinches it shut... it also had a flat face on it but i opened it up enough that i got it to go on 90 degrees as well.. or 87 anyways as the wheels out a bit..

i cant see any reason why you cant 90 it.. then tighetn the setscrew down to get a reference.. then take it off and hit it with a dremel so its a little flatter.. then throw it back together.. its not coming off then

i hate brakes... i think i finally got all the kinks worked out.. well except for the exhaust and stuiply putting the stock front springs. and now bein 2" higher then stock and lowered in the back. and some rocker noise I have to located this weekend... list gets smaller but gets replaced by other junk

92CamaroLS1

Yea it seems with my list, Ill take 2 steps forward and then 1 step back in a 40000 step process. But its getting down to the final few thousand steps lol. Ill give that a try with dremmelin down the inpust shaft in order to get it to work alright. I feel ya on the front springs too (I hate the spring perch and am Im going with coil overs when I have the money to do so) Im just lazy and sick of crap happening. And Im still waiting for my fricking money back from a certain someone on this board (you know who you are) so I can buy my headers from hawks. Good luck with your rocker problems and the rest and thanks for the idea.