steering coupler

[drtdgg]

Hi guys, has anyone done a group 4 style coupler conversion on a capri? My rubber one has fallen apart and apparantly the poly ones dont like heat (its v8 powered and the headers are close) so i was looking at the escort uni joints but im pretty sure they wont fit straight on.
Cheers, Taylor

[Stewb28i]

Most of the suspension hardware on the Capri is escort derived originally so I'd expect the fittings to be largely common even if the respective positions are slightly different.

Can't honestly remember if the pas setup is different to the non pas ones....clearly the crossmember & rack mounting method is different as is the location of the crossmember - I'm thinking that the pas lower column may not have the rubber doughnut but it's been so long since I looked in detail that I can't remember!

Stew.

[damajin]

I looked into this too but decided against it in the end. The Group 4 setup with a pair of UJ's instead of the rubber bushing has a VERY harsh feel when driving and you'll get a lot of vibration up through to the steering wheel. I guess it depends what you plan to use the car for.

I forked out for the "Brand New" CCI steering joint in the end which wasn't cheap and the quality was shocking! It had been really badly sprayed black including all over the rubber bushing (not at all like the one in their picture) and the splines had been chowdered where the cross drill holes were. With no option on using the old one as the rubber was completely shot, I just made do with the CCI one by cleaning up the splines by hand with needle files then cleaning off and repainting it properly.

If you're worried about heat from the headers when using a rubber or Poly bushing, you could try reversing the coupling so the UJ is at the top where it will sit closer to the exhaust ports on the head. I don't know if the standard coupling is reversible in this way but it might be worth a try to see if it would keep the heat away from the rubber.

[Peter-S]

Not exactly the same but Craig did this:

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=35522&hilit=nasp+capri&start=40

Could ask him how it felt.

[drtdgg]

thanks for the replies guys, Im happy to put up with the harshness, its not exactly a nice supple ride now and with 440hp up front I would rather know that it cant let go while doing 120+mph down the drag strip.
Unfortunately our laws here dont allow us to weld any part of the steering so it has to be a machine to fit and bolt on job. I will go and have a look through my mates pile of ford parts and see if I can come up with an easy way of doing it
Taylor