Who else has removed the STEEROIDS system?

[Mark Stahl]

I replaced my steeriods system a while back with the stock steering goodies. It was ok for a while but just made the car feel to darty. Just curious if anyone tried the system and took it off soon after? Not trying to bad mouth the product but it just was not for me. Mark. (Sixty4)

 

[67HEAVEN]

I am very interested in this thread.

Let's hear it people.

 

[stepinwolf]

Mine was also a little " darty " as you say, but it turned out to be due to incorrect alignment. Once I went back to another shop and had it done correctly, it no longer exhibited any darting, or wandering. I can attest that it is a lot smother to drive, and no longer needs the " constant " steering input normally seen with the old steering box to keep it on the straight and narrow. Anyone interested in going for a test drive in my own car are welcome to come over anytime and do so.

Not wanting to get into any back and forth responses, but if a car does not drive much better with a R + P, correctly installed, then the old steering box, I think there might be other issues to address then the steering components.

Just my humble opinion

Stepinwolf

 

[Viet Nam Vett]

and no longer needs the " constant " steering input normally seen with the old steering box to keep it on the straight and narrow.

Since I've had my Steering Box Rebuilt...by (Bill Bradley) and Properly Centered during Alignment....and replaced all of the steering components during my 502 upgrade.. I have no problems with the steering.

My steering works fine.. No wandering ..darting ..or does it need an excessive amount of correction. I am running Radials. I just point the Vette where I want it to go and that's it.. Very little wheel movment required to keep her straight. In Fact.. It's a Pleasure to drive.

What Bill Explained to me and also forwarded me a tech sheet on ..is Proper Centering of the Steering Box during alignment. It must be centered on the High Point of the steering gear. If not damage to the box and erratic steering can result.

I beleive there is a paper or tech sheet out their on this subject. Those of you not Familiar with this should check and make sure you Box Not The steering wheel is Centered.. Your Tie Rods should be equal lenth on both sides from the steering rod connection as well as the pitman Arm being centered which relates to the gear centering on the high point inside the steering box.

 

[paul67]

I had the darting problem with my former 1979. In fact it was downright scary. One of the problems was the steering box. It was somewhat loose and believe it or not, the original grease had dried up and turned to a hard waxy substance. I took care of the lubrication problem and tightened up the box.

I had the suspension components checked out and all was well. A local franchise shop did an alignment. There was some improvement but not enough for me. So......? A friend in the Club suggested I speak with a local hole-in-the-wall repair shop that had been in business many years and campaigned oval track Chevies quite successfully. These guys were good and spotted a problem with the alignment right away. They had a few tricks that I did not understand clearly but basically they "tuned" the car to gymkhana specs and to the tires (BFG T/A radials). They noted that many shops go by alignment specs in old shop manuals or on-line manuals. Those specs often were valid with the tires of the day but do not take into consideration modern tire design. They may have been BSing me but to this day that car tracks flawlessly.

 

[BarryK]

they may not have been BS'ing you Paul
i think JohnZ recommends different alighnment settings for modern radial tires rather than what is the "spec' for the original bias ply tires

 

[Wilkinshc]

I replaced my steeriods system a while back with the stock steering goodies. It was ok for a while but just made the car feel to darty. Just curious if anyone tried the system and took it off soon after? Not trying to bad mouth the product but it just was not for me. Mark. (Sixty4)

Mark,

I have to agree with Stepinwolf. It was more likely the alignment was off. The shop might have setup the alignment for sport driving which will make it feel darty. Vbp's site shows info as follows (notice comments at the end about advance street settings) :


http://www.vbandp.com/instructions/htmlinstruct/align.htm



Chuck

 

[paul67]

There are some more alignment options here.

http://www.stingray.nu/tips/alignment.htm

 

[Mark Stahl]

Ok, I may not become the most popular person around here after this. I also had the car aligned several times(two well respected alignment shops). I had all the proper tire pressures. The power steering pump was brand new. I just could not get the dartyness out of the car. Perhaps there is a way to slow down the steering response but after all the farting around it took to install, I just went back to the way the general set it up. Hey it may just be me. If someone has it installed and loves it great. I was real curious who uninstalled it to go back to stock. Perhaps after this post we can cover the VBP Front suspension set up. Yeah that's going as well. I am not trying to offend here just giving my views on some mods I have done.

 

[henny496]

R@P

Hello Mark
If your R@P is not in the exact location it should be, your car will dart upon suspension movement
You can get the front end aligned, but once the suspension moves up and down, you can change your toe-in/ out if the R@P is in the incorrect position
To check this properly you would want to check the front suspension with a bump steer gauge, or ask Steeroids for a more detailed explanation
I am not familiar with the Steeroids set up, but I have made my own front suspension before and I incorporated a custom R@P unit( drag car)
I measured everything very accurately and put the rack in the exact spot to be in sync with the suspension movement
A friend of mine was so impressed that my first ever pass in the car went smoothly, he adapted a R@P unit into his car. Unfortunantely he did not have it in the right spot and told me it was the scariest moment he has ever had in a race car and is still to this day, very nervous of a R@P system,
Most cars today have R@P, so your may problem is in it's location , rather than the unit itself
The unit may have to be moved up or down to be in the correct position for good geometry. Just having the car aligned without suspension travel, will result in the same dartiness once the tire goes up/down if it is the incorrect position
take care
Tom

 

[paul67]

Henny,
What is R@P?

 

[67HEAVEN]

Henny,
What is R@P?

Rack and Pinion

 

[paul67]

Thanks Bob.

 

[Hib Halverson]

The reason that conversion results in a car that feels "darty" is possibly a ride steer issue. I've only seen pictures of the Steeroids installation but it appears to have tie rods which are far longer than the lower control arms. This would create a problem with ride steer (some also call this "bump steer" or "toe steer"). If the difference in length is large, the resulting ride steer will be significant.

 

[bossvette]

I have a Mustang 2 system on my Yellow Truck and to avoid "Bump steer" the kit came with a 4" extention for the rack so the Tie rods are the proper legnth for the control arms.

 

[stepinwolf]

The reason that conversion results in a car that feels "darty" is possibly a ride steer issue. I've only seen pictures of the Steeroids installation but it appears to have tie rods which are far longer than the lower control arms. This would create a problem with ride steer (some also call this "bump steer" or "toe steer"). If the difference in length is large, the resulting ride steer will be significant.

Hib,

I replaced the rods with a set, and the length was exactly 13.75". I did not lengthen, or shorten the rods, just replaced the originals with better quality rods that I purchased from VBP.

Stepinwolf

 

[67HEAVEN]

I intended to install a Steeroids system this winter. However, this conversation is sufficient to halt me in my tracks until I perform some tests and measurements to establish what my current situation really is.

As I explained several times before, Heaven wants to follow truck ruts on the roads, and does not handle potholes well (in terms of steering recovery). I attributed much of it to very wide front tires, lower than normal ride height, and the lack of power steering.

I think it's time to find out "what is", before I start bolting more new parts on the car. So, it's time to measure actual ride-height, actual wheel offset, and Bump-Steer*. Can anyone recommend a good Bump-Steer gauge that they have personally used?

I may still go with the Steeroids system, but I want to know where things stand with the lowered ride height, VB&P suspension system and wide tires.

Mark. Thanks for starting this thread.

(* One of the great things about the VB&P suspension is the ability to detach the front spring in five minutes.......unlike the time required to remove a coil spring. )