Aspire Steering Rack Swap

[moz]

Picking up an aspire PS rack in the morning. Installing shortly after.
How complicated is it to swap inner tie rods?

[FestYboy]

if you do it outside the car, it's easy, remove the boots and then just takes a LARGE pair of pliers or a large wrench and a vice or some way of securing the housing.

if it's installed before you do the tie rods, you'll need a tool specific to the job.

[moz]

Got it on the back of the truck right now. Driving home to start tinkering

[moz]

I got the mazda 121 rack off. Compared to the wb festiva (aspire) one and they're identical.
The aspire rack had 10mm (3/8") more travel, hence the better turning circle.

Here they are for comparison


The only problem I struck was that the inner tie rods on my 121 was obviously manufactured to (higher) japanese standard and has a finer thread which doesnt match the aspire ones.



Can you guys confirm the the kia built festiva tie rods have a matching thread to the aspire ones?

FYI- the aspire tie rods are 15mm (1/2") too long on either side. If the kia built festi tie rods dont match, Im kinda tempted to do a cut'n'shut of the aspire items. Theres enough thread there to maintain safety. I just dont know how much play you need to set toe.

[jawbraeka]

Does the rack sit comfortably on its own, without having to change the tie rods over?

sent from the depths of hell.

[moz]

Yeah. But if you don't change the tie rods you'll have major toe angle problems

[jawbraeka]

Right.. I'll wait for further instructions on this.

sent from the depths of hell.

[moz]

Fit aspire PS rack.
Fit your old Festiva tie rods.
Drive away.

Maybe wait til I can confirm the threads match

[jawbraeka]

That's my plan.

sent from the depths of hell.

[moz]

Guys. Can someone tell me what size and pitch thread the USA Festiva tie rods have on the steering column side?

Do yours fit in the aspire rack?

[Bert]

Murphy's Law huh. Just when you figure everything is going great something has obviously been overlooked. Two entirely different thread pitches for inner tie rods! Adaptation is hopefully not some version of rare beast that was made in 1987 and only sold in Nepal.

[moz]

The Australian Festiva has m16x 1.5mm pitch. I think this may be a match for the aspire, even though the aspire looks like 1.75mm pitch to me

[moz]

Murphy's Law huh. Just when you figure everything is going great something has obviously been overlooked. Two entirely different thread pitches for inner tie rods! Adaptation is hopefully not some version of rare beast that was made in 1987 and only sold in Nepal.

Lol!!!
It was bound to happen to me. But at least now I know.
My tie rods are 1.25mm pitch. But they are JDM.
The Korean (post 1991 in Australia) stuff should fit (I hope).

I'll update as soon as I know

[jawbraeka]

Cool.. Awaiting orders.

sent from the depths of hell.

[moz]

Just an update for those interested.

I ordered Festiva steering arms/inner tie rods.
I can confirm that thread pitch matches the aspire pitch. Bolted everything back together and removed all the hydraulic lines.

Comparing the amount of full 360 deg turns it takes lock-lock is as follows:

festiva/121: 3.8 turns lock to lock

Aspire: 3.1 turns lock to lock

the aspire rack does have a bit more travel lock to lock so it would probably be right on 3 turns lock to lock compared to the same travel on the festiva. This also gives a better turning circle for those tight u turns

excuse the poor quality of the photo. my phone camera isnt what it used to be.