mx5cartalk.com

I had the pleasure of driving someone elses NA6. I always enjoy the opportunity to see how my own car is sorted or needs more sorting out. I guess its a gauge to see if my own modifications have done any difference or weather or not they require more attention.

So I was at this BBQ and this chap had a 1991 NA6. Standard motor, FM braces, Adernalin RE 11's and some wheels with a crazy illegal offset & buddy Club coil overs & some racingseat i didn't fit into al to well. and power steering.

So the key came out & I was offered a drive. I really wanted to feel how the Coil overs were. as I'm a little paranoid with my owns suspension being a little stiff. (read I'm getting old)

Well blow me away. This car just blew me away. I thought the coilovers didn't make a huge difference. Or so it seems over bumps. But this car was sooooo responsive. The car realy handeled better than exeptional. The feedback was fantastick. It was superbly ballanced. ad as soon as the steering wheel was turned. No under steer. no oversteer. it went where its master wanted to go.

I put me back a few years when I drove someone elses NA6 around Mt Panoramah in Bathurst. BlackRSC NA6 which was leter owned by RobE. Whose turbo is now on Amz's NA6. His was the same. I was so blown away byhow it handled.

so Deep thought arrived. In comparison when i go into a corner. I get this slight amount of understeer to begin with which occasionally can be slightli unsettling. which occasionally can be then overcome by slight oversteer in the same corner. but usually easyly conrolled by the throt;e.


So. Why are they soooo different.

the two things Rob's car & Zi's car have in common was

Power steering & allignment by Heasemans suspension. Neither gentleman knew what thier suspension settings were at the time.

well I guess that my direction now. Anyone telling me manual steering is for real men can call me a wuz. I'll just be smiling & think to myself......you have a long journey before you. And I'm off to Heasemans for an allignment to start with.

Your thought will be kindly appreciated......not sure if the Torsen has anything to do with my understeerng in fast corners

Robert's alignment was done by Spinning Wheel STM.

oops


well bugger....that means its the Power steering.

StanTheMan wrote:oops


well bugger....that means its the Power steering.

cheers,
The happy power steering wuss since 1982.

not just any Power steering

NA6 power steering feels differnt to NA8. NB8A PS.is in a different universe.
NB8B is heaps better than the NB8A. NB8C is sweet. But does not seem as sweet as the NA6 power steering.
NC.....I'm Not qualified to give an opinion. Only dríven one for a short stint.

thats of course my opinion which is subjective

The NA power steering rocks! Its nowhere near as strong as the nb steering which is so lifeless imo (both nba and nbb). The NA ps is perfect in strength, I've dríven non ps but with ps you still feel the wheels yet no extra effort is needed when going slow or moving the wheel fast. Just the way it should be.
The nb feels consistent through the whole range and is way too light, its as if the steering wheel is fly-by-wire.

yep......love the NA6 power steering. Its awesome

Did you find the PS to be extremely light? IE you could drive around all day using you pinky?

Just interested to see how our NA6 PS compares to others. Ours has all the feel and control but its extremely light. Absolutley love it though and wouldnt change it.

It was light....but at the same time makes you feel very connected with the front wheels & the road

and thats just the sweet thing about it.

When I first drove mine I thought the power steering wasn't working very well as It was pretty heavy Initially. However I scraped the tyres on the inside gutter the first corner I went around I soon realised that It is the best power steering I have ever dríven with

drive my car again stan,

manualised power rack.

right


Thats an offer I will not refuse.......

i reckon the alignment would have more to do with steering responsiveness / turn in than power steering. just coz the 2 cars you liked were aligned at different places, doesn't mean their alignments therefore vary greatly. they could be quite similar for all we know.

I also drove the car 5mins before Stan did, and my feelings were the same. Even after 100m and one corner I could tell how much better this car was from other (and my own) NA6s.

The offset is massive and I was expecting tramlining, I was expecting it to be relatively bumpy, but instead I got none of that.

Puts my car to shame.

(Stan and I have almost identical set ups and it was interesting that both our reactions were identical)

Fatty. You are probably right. I guess the first thing to do is go to heaseman or spinning wheel to get a allignment. I've been preaching that for years . but have never actually done it.

The P.S. Steering rack has a slightly faster ratio. which also must add to the sensation.

offset of the wheels..... should make a difference but Robs car had the NA6 or NA8 wheels on his with koni adjustable. Cant clearly recall the springs rob had on the car at the time. Bilstein? Eibach? ......i don't think it was King Springs, but I could be wrong.

But the point is Robs & Zi's car had that \"wow blow me away how good does this handle\" but very different set ups.

when i lost my mind & started firing questions about his alignment. He didn't recall what sort of allignment he has & he also suggested that its slightly out anyway because he hit something at Wakefield ractrack. So the plot thickens.

I guess the thing to do would be to give the car to Zi & tell him.....make it handle like yours........but I can't afford that.


on a side note he's got a 6speed & torsen type 2 lined up to be installed


other than that speaking of cars handling like apples & oranges......Nath's car & mine are very similar set ups.......but feel comletly different to drive as well. but obviously our cars are a lot more similar than Zi's


so yea alignment first......then save up for a decade to install power steering or just the PS rack in manual mode. But the usual story is.......the paint job on patchy is not quite done yet.