Fix for slow steering

The autocross on Saturday had a nasty pin turn that was really killing me. It was about a turn and a half of the wheel to get around, best case. Has anybody modified their knuckles to make the steering quicker? It's been an annoyance the entire time I've been autocrossing the car and I'd like to do something about it. Eventually I want to switch to late hubs because I'm paranoid about the left front spindle breaking with the early ones, but I'd assume there isn't a difference in the steering geometry on those.

do you have a manual rack? if so you could switch to a de-powered power rack for a quicker ratio

No, I've got power steering. I'm not trying to get drifter steering angle, I just want something a little quicker than the stock power rack and want to know if anybody has already been down that road.

you could put in a faster ratio aftermarket rack, maybe something from woodward or flaming river. its not gonna be a cheap endeavor, or simple.

dont mod the knuckles. you would need to shorten the steering arm to make the ratio quicker, it would also increase the maximum steering angle. you would need to cut and weld it, and welding to cast in a structural piece is a no-no. yes i know drift guys do it to get the insane steering angle, but they also dont have a lot of respect for their cars, or care if they smash it into a wall. add onto that most drift cars that do that arent driven on the street, so if the knuckle breaks they dont risk killing other people. if you really want the steering arm shorter i would devise a way to have a fabricated bolt on steering arm, although i dont know the feasibility of that.

Maybe I wasn't clear. I'm asking if anybody here has done anything about it. If not, that's fine, but please don't assume I'm planning on JB Welding some crap together. I'm asking because there's no point in reinventing the wheel if somebody already has a solid solution.

im not assuming your gonna hack something together, you mentioned modifying the knuckles and that's why i brought up the issues of welding a cast steering arm. there is a lot of info out there saying this is an ok thing to do (on other cars, haven't seen any discussion specifically related to the 944), and the fact is its not. i feel its best to discuss the right and wrong ways to do things, this is a public forum and the discussion does benefit everyone.

nobody here that i have seen has tried to get quicker steering. i did do some searching as it had my interest, there was some discussion about 10 years ago about getting a some other zf rack parts and putting them into a 944 rack, but it didnt really go anywhere. same thing when discussing aftermarket "universal" racks. another thing i found mentioned was using a steering quickener on the steering shaft. they are avaliable is 1.5 and 2:1 ratios. fitting one in a 944 with a v8 could be an issue, most seem to be about 8" long, and they need to be solidly mounted. these are generally used in circle track racing, however i found some talk about others using them in autocross cars with success.

IIRC someone on the old board put in an electric steering rack from a Honda S2000 or maybe they were talking about installing the rack. May be an option for you.

I've seen a bunch of people complaining about the S2000's steering feel, but having driven an S2000 on course, it feels fine to me. I'll check into that.

I have never modified my setup, so I can't offer any help in that respect. I have, over the last 20 years, seen 2 solutions discussed time and time again, in regards to quickening the 944 steering. The first, have Quaife Engineering make you a replacement rack and pinion gear, the caveat being that you will have to pay for a minimum run of 20 sets.....I have never seen anyone get enough interest to get this going. Second, the steering quickener you mentioned, but I have never seen anyone install them in a street 944, as you said no place to put them. Let us know what you

I haven’t done this to a 944, but I did to our VW RallyCross car: put in a steering quickener.

You can get them from summit in all sorts of different ratios ( we got a 2:1 ratio for really small movements to get the car to turn)

They run anywhere from $80-150 for decent ones. As long as you can cut the shaft and make good measurements, you won’t have a problem. It looks scary but isn’t too bad. Some setups require welding the quickner to the rack, some don’t.

It worked wonders in our RallyCross car - and we were trying to achieve the same thing of less steering input to get the vehicle turned faster

Corner balance the car and adjust your toe out more. Toe in for high speed stability, toe out for quicker steering response.

robstah wrote:Corner balance the car and adjust your toe out more. Toe in for high speed stability, toe out for quicker steering response.

I'm not talking about sluggish response, I'm talking about rack ratio.

Put a smaller steering wheel on.