T1R Equal steering and tight belt ??

[redlinezak]

I have just got hold of a second hand ex works t1r which is basically standard except for alu c hubs and my recently fitted solid front diff (racing on unbelievably tight carpet track. Running it up and down the road after i rebuilt it i have found that i have much more steering one way that the other (cant remember which exactly) and although i could adjust the transmitter to compansate i want more steering to the side that is worse? Everything is equal (camber casor steering throw etc) i just wondered if this is a trait with the solid fron diff. Any help much appreciated. Also i dont seem to be able to get the front belt loose enough even with tha adjusters set to full loose, i have soaked it in wd40 but made no noticable difference. I have an evo 2 and belt adjustment is fine on that (very free transmission)

Thanks in advance

[Matt Brewerton]

I can't see what would be causing the steering to be unequal. I would very much doubt it is anything to do with the spool as I have run one with no trouble like this. Could just be that the servo and steering all needs diconncting and setting back to standard.
Another strange problem with the front belt too. Best to check the teeth on the pulleys as sometimes you get crap stuck in them which can cause the belts to run tight. If this does not work then maybe it could be worth trying your evo 2 belt on your t1r to see if that makes any difference.
Sorry couldn't be of any more help
Matt

[university_dave]

Don't forget that the adjustments for the belts is wrong in the manual and should be the other way around.

[redlinezak]

thanks for replys have cleaned pulleys and belt teeth so no crap in there and yes i figured out the hard way about the manual being wrong. Ran car for first time yesterday since i rebuilt it and belt seems a little looser (car ahad been sat around for a while prior) still no idea on the steering tho but when i used it yesterday was not as noticable running on a proper surface rather than my road. It was on ly under or off power that the steering differed if you just slowly did a circle it was equal yet try it faster and not as much grip one way (maybe i should have said that earlier lol)

[MikeS]

If it is only apparant on-power, it sounds like tweak, have you checked it?

[redlinezak]

yep its not tweaked and also camber etc set up on hudy system

[MikeS]

Nathan, I think you will need to be a little more explicit about when it does do this and when it doesn't. How does the car respond under power accelerating from rest in a straight line, and how does it react when braking?

If it goes in a perfectly straight line in both cases then it is pointing to a "control" issue, servo and or TX, left/right balance or servo throws, or even servo saver action, or correct linkage fitment?

If it doesn't then it is probably related to something mechanical or an uneven balance in the car.

Firstly, since you have alloy castor blocks, first thing I would check is that one is not bent. It only needs one to be out a small amount (assuming they have the same castor!). A tip to check this easily: set up your camber the same side to side in the straight ahead position first (use set-up wheels if you have them, or make sure your road wheels are not buckled), then swing the lock over and measure the camber angle that the wheel now adopts, left and right, if it isn't the same again (it will have increased) then look more closely at these.

Make sure all the bulkheads are firmly mounted, no loose screws!
Check all the diff and wheel bearings for free movement.
Make sure there is no slack in the steering linkage that is more on one side than the other.
This is also assuming that your suspension movement is free both sides, and front and rear, and that you don't have a sticky shock, or even lack of oil in one shock, and that the spring rates are the same! I remember at Worksop someone coming to me about a TC3 that just would not go in a straight line under power, it turned out to be his shock springs, same colour, different strength, he had accidentally mixed up 2 makes of springs of the same colour.......easy to do, just not easy to spot!

Even though you say you have checked it! If your geometry is all exactly the same, side to side, your shocks the same extended length, oil/pistons the same (believe me I have also seen this done accidentally), your droop, your wheels, your tyres (I take it they are they new, if not change them! If they are, swap them around to see if this affects the steering) your inserts are the same, then your weight distribution, is it balance left/right when suspended on the centreline!

I could go on, but basically they are all build issues.....not meaning to sound patronising, but I take it you are an experienced car builder, so the above should not be in question, but might be worth re-checking if it is as bad as you say, it has got to be something like one of the above, but this remote diagnostics is pretty impossible to do effectively.

Good luck..........

[redlinezak]

thanks mike i appreciate all the points. Just a few points to see if it helps. The car wasnt built by me it was built by an xray team driver i just stripped it and cleaned bearings etc when i got it (im far from experienced but my evo 2 seems pretty good which i did build) When i made the post i had just put it back together and was running it up n down the road to get tracking staight. It had indoor foams on when i was testing it (quite old n worn so i will try new ones) It turned equally when just going in a tight cirle under just enough power to move it but when accelerating hard had more understeerone way (or more oversteer the other depending on which way you look at it) Would push wide one way and donut the other. This was all before i had actually driven the car properly but on monday i raced it at my local very very tight indoor carpet track where admittedly as long as the car goes stops and turns there is not a lot to be gained from having a well set up car the track is just too small but the promblems certainly didnt seem as noticable their. But it is a very stop start track. Under braking (when not in a straight line) it tended to swop ends easier one way than the other but again that was just tested outside. Iwill give it a try tommorrow at my other indoor track (much bigger with proper racing lines etc and see how it gets on but i will also try checking the stuff that you mentioned.

Thanks again

Nathan

[MikeS]

That's okay Nathan, one last thing - your road doesn't happen to have a camber, or crest, in the centre does it - if it does, this will definately cause your car to have different left/right steering characteristics. Just a thought.

[redlinezak]

yes it does (took me ages to figure out why i couldnt get the damn cars to go straight) but i tried the t1r both ways and results were consistent