403 LS2 FD - LS7 Build for 2020!

[MPbdy]

So, damnit. My rack is blown.  I pulled the boot off to replace it, and tons of oil poured out.  Absolutely sucks.  I ordered a seal kit, and hopefully this won't be too bad of a job. FD steering racks are one of the rarest parts to try and find these days.  I really don't want to have to replace it.

Worked on mounting the I/O expander.  I was feeling really good about this, but then it was 1/4" too tall lol.  I tried really hard to hide it somewhere, but I like how it turned out in the end.  My old man fabbed up a quick bracket to mount it on the firewall.  It'll be by far the easiest to wire up in this spot.






I drew this IAT mount up and my buddy printed it for me a little while back.  I'm super close to pulling the trigger on a 3d printer.  I'm waiting to see if Bambu Labs comes out wiht a larger format printer and then I'll try to learn how to design some interior I think haha.

[MPbdy]

I paid $100 for two 10 ORB fittings and some 3/8” fuel hose today 😩

It really has gotten crazy expensive to be doing this. If it was like this 10 years ago I never could’ve built this car.

[kinger]

That is crazy!  All my lines are non ptfe so I get a little fuel smell. Drives me nuts.  I looked at making new PTFE lined hoses…holy crap i like the smell of fuel now lol.

I have been eyeing up a printer too.  They keep getting better and more functional.   Sick little IAT design!   


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[digitalsolo]

So... why is it angled?

[MPbdy]

So... why is it angled?

So it doesn’t stick out as far into the engine bay and the cable routes better lol

[MPbdy]

That is crazy!  All my lines are non ptfe so I get a little fuel smell. Drives me nuts.  I looked at making new PTFE lined hoses…holy crap i like the smell of fuel now lol.

I have been eyeing up a printer too.  They keep getting better and more functional.   Sick little IAT design!   


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The Bambulabs stuff is crazy good, and works great out of the box. I’d want one a little bigger. Budget wise I’m happy to pay more if they came out with one 50-100% larger, but I’m not going to buy two printers lol.

There’s quite a few brackets and misc things I’d have printed the last couple months.

Long term goals, I’ve messed around learning to draw up some headers, some intake manifold designs, and I’d really want to learn some custom interior design.

[MPbdy]

Got to wrap up a couple fun jobs before tearing apart the steering.

Very happy with how the IAT sensor turned out!








Redid the catch can routing - gave it an exit port that vents into the PCV fresh air port on the throttle body.  Backwards logic, but going to give this a shot before plumbing PCV as stock.  This will let vapors enter the intake tract in front of the throttle body.  There's a flap that shuts off the exit of the filter so long as the can isn't pressurized, so it should hopefully flow enough to keep the fumes sealed.

I didn't grab a good picture, but I routed a 3/8 rubber hose on a quick disconnect fitting so it'll be easier to empty the can.  I did get a good picture of the strut tower bar fitting!!!!  I am surprised, and very happy.  At the least I was going to run the brackets on top of the shock towers, but I'm thrilled it fits.  There's actually a decent gap vs the LS3 intake.  I put some adhesive high density foam under the bar to hopefully dampen the plenum and get rid of the god awful noise that this intake makes.  If this works, I need to find a more attractive way to do this, but the strut brace is in a perfect point to come up with a solution.






And lastly, dropped this POS out of the car.  Will try and rebuild it next time.

[paul_3rdgen]

Time to make that rack into a manual one and get the e power steering on the steering column.  It works well and is adjustable so you can go from full Cadillac cruising to almost off if you want. 


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[MPbdy]

Time to make that rack into a manual one and get the e power steering on the steering column.  It works well and is adjustable so you can go from full Cadillac cruising to almost off if you want. 


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Man, I thought a lot about that even before the rack took a shit, but I read a couple folks are not thrilled with the steering feel.

Do you have one now?

[shainiac]

Here's my unsolicited first-hand opinion on the EPAS. I have the epowersteering.com kit in my FC and like it. It's a decent drop-in solution. They use Saturn Vue/Chevy Traverse (IIRC) EPAS and graft it to the Mazda OEM column.
I believe it's very similar to the Toyota EPAS, since it also has a Koyo ECU. Wiring it up is easy and they include a trim pot to adjust the level of assist.

My car now has a welded torsion spring in the rack and removed the pistons, so it's not an apples to apples comparison. The old setup was OEM S4 rack, Sweet NASCAR GM Type2 pump, and Turn1 restrictor.
The EPAS is definitely a little more numb feeling, but also a little sharper without the springy-ness of the stock PS rack.
My car is purely a street car, so I can't comment if it's fast enough for stuff like drifting or AutoX.
There is definitely a slight delay in quick changes of direction, but not something I've really noticed unless I saw at the wheel at a standstill. I
t also self-centers better than my old rack and hydro PS. It packages pretty well, also.
I have a size 14 4E shoe and don't really notice the columns there.
The range of assist on my car isn't huge, but the level I like is somewhere in that range. Exidous also has the same kit, and he said he prefers it at the minimum.
Oh, and off-off, the steering is MUCH heavier than de-powered stock steering. It's oddly heavy like you have a flat tire.
The adjustability is also surprisingly slow to take changes. If I make a change to the knob (which I rarely do), it takes  a few second before you notice the difference in steering effort.

Only one thing that really annoys me, sometimes if I park the car with the wheel cocked and on the column lock, I think the EPAS recalibrates the strain gauge wrong on power-up. So it thinks I'm adding steering input when not touching the wheel.
A brief power cycle fixes it, but if I don't notice and l start driving, it immediately starts pulling the wheel one direction. But it's at least predictable lol.

[MPbdy]

That sounds hokey as shit with the assist turning the wheel when its miscalibrated haha.

Thanks for the review!  Sounds like a mixed bag.  I honestly was always happy with the steering on my car, and now I'm hoping its even better with the turn1 pump upgrade.  I have the seal kit.  Just need to try and get it done.  I thought the seal kit showed clips, but it only came with orings and seals.  I got the $100 kit off amazon. Atkins is selling an OEM kit for $250 citing they're no longer available...

[Exidous]

If you get the shits with the rack I may consider swapping my EPA's setup out. It's a Chips (actually got it back) modded rack and the same column Alex has. The on center is just a little vague for my tastes but the vaviable assist tied to wheel speed is awesome.

[digitalsolo]

I have an EPAS in my Mustang with the "self adjusting" controller.   I don't like it.  It's too boosted for my taste and I have minimal ability to really adjust it.  I ground a wire to "lower assist" at speed, but it's still too light for me when moving.  I have a manual controller in a box somewhere (the one with the knob) that I think I'm going to swap back on, so that I can turn the boost down.

Other than that, I like it.

[Cobranut]

Here's my unsolicited first-hand opinion on the EPAS. I have the epowersteering.com kit in my FC and like it. It's a decent drop-in solution. They use Saturn Vue/Chevy Traverse (IIRC) EPAS and graft it to the Mazda OEM column.
I believe it's very similar to the Toyota EPAS, since it also has a Koyo ECU. Wiring it up is easy and they include a trim pot to adjust the level of assist.

My car now has a welded torsion spring in the rack and removed the pistons, so it's not an apples to apples comparison. The old setup was OEM S4 rack, Sweet NASCAR GM Type2 pump, and Turn1 restrictor.
The EPAS is definitely a little more numb feeling, but also a little sharper without the springy-ness of the stock PS rack.
My car is purely a street car, so I can't comment if it's fast enough for stuff like drifting or AutoX.
There is definitely a slight delay in quick changes of direction, but not something I've really noticed unless I saw at the wheel at a standstill. I
t also self-centers better than my old rack and hydro PS. It packages pretty well, also.
I have a size 14 4E shoe and don't really notice the columns there.
The range of assist on my car isn't huge, but the level I like is somewhere in that range. Exidous also has the same kit, and he said he prefers it at the minimum.
Oh, and off-off, the steering is MUCH heavier than de-powered stock steering. It's oddly heavy like you have a flat tire.
The adjustability is also surprisingly slow to take changes. If I make a change to the knob (which I rarely do), it takes  a few second before you notice the difference in steering effort.

Only one thing that really annoys me, sometimes if I park the car with the wheel cocked and on the column lock, I think the EPAS recalibrates the strain gauge wrong on power-up. So it thinks I'm adding steering input when not touching the wheel.
A brief power cycle fixes it, but if I don't notice and l start driving, it immediately starts pulling the wheel one direction. But it's at least predictable lol.

Thanks for the review.
I'm considering that kit for my race car.
The only thing that concerns me is the delay in response to adjustments.  I wonder if that would interfere with speed-based variable assist from my ECU?
Then again, the manual adjustment might provide more predictable results on a race car, in which case it's a really minor issue.

[shainiac]

Thanks for the review.
I'm considering that kit for my race car.
The only thing that concerns me is the delay in response to adjustments.  I wonder if that would interfere with speed-based variable assist from my ECU?
Then again, the manual adjustment might provide more predictable results on a race car, in which case it's a really minor issue.

For a race car where you're coming off the front straight into a slow 1st corner, I dunno if it'd react fast enough. But I leave mine in a fixed position and can't really give any first hand experience. I think Exidous has his wired to his ECU. The Epowersteering.com site has a few endorsements from people tracking their cars and several offroad vehicles. I don't regret installing mine, but my main motivation was space for bigger turbos and no more plumbing and potential leaks.

https://epowersteering.com/showcase/