S2 Track Rods

[chrisS2esprit]

Hello all,

I had my S2 Esprit tracked at local garage useing the Lotus settings of 3-5mm toe-in on the front and 4mm toe-in at the rear. However, the steering does not feel right and i discovered the track rod lock nuts are fully wound in leaving no adjustment. I had it checked by another garage who found the front to be toeing out by 4mm and the rear toeing out by 3mm. I am assumeing the rack is correct and the wrong track rods may be fitted ( the car has been off the road since 1989 ). Does anyone know the length of a standard S2 track rod? mine are 90mm long. Any info would be very much appreciated.

Chris

[trackmagic]

Chris,

On my S3 it is 1-2mm toe-in front (overall) and 1-1.5mm toe-in (each side) rear. The front specs you have would be a lot of toe-in, giving it a real heavy feel in steering. If it is toe-out you would find the car quite darty, requiring lots of concentration on your part to stay in your lane.

Best,

Jeff

[chrisS2esprit]

Thanks for that Jeff, the car does feel darty but since there is no more adjustment on the front i cannot get it to be toed-in. When i got the the car back from the first garage i was not told of the lack of adjustment and just assumed it was correct until i saw the lock nuts fully wound in.

Chris

[andydclements]

As you have two conflicting results (assuming first garage siad it was corrct when it left them), check it roughly yourself.

Get two pieces of wood (nice straight bits) and secure to the wheels at centre heightwith 3-4 feeet lenght protruding past the front of each wheel. Measure the distance between them at the front of the tyre, measure the distance between them at the point 15 inches further forward. That difference is your toe (in if the forward measurement is less).

Assuming the second garage are right and it is toe out, it could be TREs or the rack, beacue if it's a rack that looks the same externally it could come from the same manufacturer but destined for a different car. Try measuring from end of Track control arm to end of track control arm, and maybe somebody can advise the length of it on their car.

[chrisS2esprit]

Just an update on my lack of tracking adjustment, I saw Pete from PNM yesterday at the Worcester parts fair and he advised me to loosen the steering rack and raise it up which in effect should give some room for adjustment. I have done this but not yet had it checked to see if I any more threads are available on the the rack to get it tracked. Although i have raised the rack approximately half to three quarters of an inch, is there a fixed height for the rack? The rack height can be varied by quite a bit ( about an inch and a half ) and I dont know if there is a 'correct' dimension for the position of the rack.

Chris

Edited October 11, 2009 by chrisS2esprit