Last week was a mad thrash to button up a couple small items and get the AC charged so I could get to autocross over the weekend. I was able to get everything done, then my O2 sensor failed. Fortunately, I was able to find one at a local auto parts, but of course the connector was wrong. Since the wires were the same color, I decided to just try to cut the wrong connector off and splice the correct one on. Luckily, it worked. My local SCCA is currently trying new venues and the one they are trying this month is 90 miles from my house. I figured 20-30 miles of test driving would be good break in for a 180 mile trip with some autocross in between, right? The car ran flawlessly on the way to the track. Coolant temp held steady at 190 degrees the whole way with the AC on. I was super excited to try out this course since it was a combination of normal parking lot autocross and the second half was on a section of road course with some long sweeping turns. My first run started great, until I hit the slalom. The combination of pressure and flow regulators I put in the pump did not work. I pretty much lost all steering assist with fast sawing of the wheel. I was very disappointed and frustrated. All the hustling to make it to that day and I couldn't even run. I packed my **** and drove home defeated. The good news (or not good news) is the heat index was 110 when I was driving home and coolant temp never got over 190 with the AC on. I took a different route home which was all interstate and cruised at 72-75MPH with no problem.
So here's what I put in the pump and maybe some gurus can offer some advice. I used the 800-850psi pressure reducer in the pump, the one Sublime sells. and I also used the Turn one 2.5gpm flow regulator. I realize this is the combo of parts he recommends for a steering box, but I used the same pump from the steering box on the rack and it worked fine. I figured matching that would be good. Obviously I was wrong. Once I got home and the car cooled off, I took the pressure regulator out and it had 2 shims totaling .060'. I took those out and tried it. sitting still sawing the wheel feels better. This was with the engine idling. Perhaps I just didn't have enough pressure? I'll find an empty parking lot and pretend I'm doing a slalom to see if it fixed it. I sure hope it will be this easy. I've found some mixed information online regarding what pressure a T-bird/M2 rack needs. I've seen 800 and I've seen 1200. Sublime's video on the pressure regulator mentions a Corrolla pump is around 1000. Maybe I need to get one of those to try it.
Oh well, I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually. Since everyone likes pictures, here' you go.
One more thing. The regulars at auto cross that know my car stopped in there tracks when they saw the hood open and were like, "That's new!"
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