Project EP3 Civic Si: Fixing the @$#%! Steering for Good with SHG Motor Works!

Project EP3 Civic Si: Fixing the @$#%! Steering for Good with SHG Motor Works!

by Mike Kojima

 

In our last edition of Project EP3 Civic Si, we thought we had fixed our car's bump steer and wandering steering with a roll center correction kit and a bump steer kit from Hardrace.

Our car had serious steering issues since day one.  When we first got our EP3, no one wanted to drive it because the car would wander around on the freeway and everyone was afraid of getting pulled over for drunk driving.

So, we installed a bunch of suspension stuff and finished it with the Hardrace geometry correcting parts in the front suspension. With the car finally handling well, which is no small task with an EP3, we were finally having fun driving it hard. All was good for a couple of weeks, but then the wandering steering returned with a vengeance. 

The spirited driving and the increased stress caused by the big Nitto NT05 tires were putting an extra load on the steering rack and causing it to twist. The EP3, along with the DC5 RSX and EM2 Civic, all have a really weird steering rack that has the tie rods attached to a sliding bracket that goes back and forth in the middle of the steering rack. 

This bracket requires really long, out of plane tie rods which result with these cars having notorious bump steer issues. The bracket also acts as a lever arm for the tie rods to twist the rack and it moves vertically when it does.  When the car hits bumps or in response to heavy tire induced side load, the rack twists, the tie rod ends move and the toe changes with no steering wheel input- ta da bump steer. What makes this worse is when the rack twists, both front tires are effected by the toe change, making things even worse.

When moving our car's steering wheel back and forth and looking at the rack, the vertical play was very obvious after a few weeks of driving with our new suspension. We would have to fix this to cure the issue. When complaining about this issue on our Facebook page, we were contracted by SHG Motor Works who told us they had the cure!

 

Installing the cure was going to take some work. We would have to remove the steering rack. First, George Kilada removes the intake tubes to get access to the rack itself. 
 

Next, George removes the long tie rods from the steering rack slider bracket. 
 

George removes the steering rack slider bracket from the rack itself. After doing this once, we now think it's easier to just remove the rack from the car and remove these parts on the bench.  At this time, we were trying to install the part in the car which is super hard without cutting the rubber anti dust boot. 
 

Here is the slider bracket; the slider itself is under the rubber boot directly attached to the rack. 

 

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9 comments

  1. Hi Team,

    This is Kushal from Mauritius and i need your help guys.

    Great explanation, i will be doing it on my Honda soon but something is really bothering me.

    I have already removed the steering unit from the car and it was removed while the steering was in center position.

    My query is that how will i be able to move the slider to the end side to get it out so as i can grab it?

    Thanks in advance for your reply.

    Regards,
    Kushal.

    Reply

  2. If you already have the unit out of the car all you would have to do is move the dust boot. Take off the band clamp then move the boot enough to go past the slider to do this install.

    Reply

  5. Good morning Mike. This series is so helpful thank you. What’s your opinion on the steering rack raiser kits that raise the tie rods? They are supposed to raise the angle of the tie rods for lowered cars.

    Reply

    1. I think the rack height adjuster is probably a better solution but it was not available when I did this many years ago. You do have to be careful of tie rod clearance to the body though and the best solution is probably an adjustable riser with the tie rods.

      Reply

  6. I recently did this work on my 02 EP3 along with tie rods and other work. I had to take the steering column off from the steering rack to take it out the car. The car now unfortunately has an effortless turn to the left but a stiffer turn to the right. The steering also does not center itself when turning left but it will when turning right. Any help or insight as to what could have gone wrong would be a great help.

    Reply

    1. Update on the EP3, it turns out it was my torque sensor. It’s the little black box around that pinion gear. I took my Rack out through the drivers side wheel well and took that torque sensor off thinking it would help me remove it. BIG MISTAKE as removing it requires the torque sensor to be recalibrated. Honda DOES NOT SERVICE RACKS so asking them to do it would lead you nowhere….Although I’m sure it’s possible if you have a scan tool to read the torque values. So I ended up grabbing a used rack locally and installed the SHG slider with the ford grease and properly removed the old rack and installed the new rack through the top of the engine. It’s tough but it can wiggle out.

      Reply

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