what is torque steer

[danielk]

Hey guys,
I got a related ques. Anyone know if torque steering would affect the rear wheels of MR2's? Considering the engine is setup sideways and all.

[wiso]

nah, there is no effect at all, well especially not in a supercharged one, can't honestly say about one with 200kw at the wheels, but i still doubt it

its the fact that its not driving the steering wheels, they are solidly mounted in straight position, so the torque can't turn them.

[Jorrs]

but theres more to doing an engine conversion than a single factor. i think the idea of what torque steer has been covered plenty in this thread, so the whole idea of the forum is to share information and knowledge. someone that has to ask what torque steer is probably hasnt done much research at all on car handling and the like. so a bit of backround info might be handy.
torque steer is abitch and ive seen alot of guys get into hairy situations from booting an overpowered fwd car.

u see hes asked for wat is torque steer and hes thinking of doin an engine conversion to a celica 162, so we are answering HIS questions

[cycleofabuse]

People say torque steer is bad, but i think it's rather fun. Who wants a car that will just want to drive in a straight line, I like having to make sure I stick to 1 lane. I get a fair bit of torque steer but it doesn't worry me at all. It might just take a little getting use to. It's really no big deal.

[Cam-Rush]

I agree, it makes the car exciting!
lets face it, upping the power by alot in any car is going beyond what the parts and chassis were designed for, RWD or FWD.
As for cornering...i dont think touque steer comes into it much here, beacause youre generally not on full gas in a corner...it happens most on take off or from a low speed, when the wheels scramble for traction when given full power.
ST162s are not overly light, and if you have power steering, and you are ready for it, you wont have a problem.
its not an issue, if you are thinking of doing a conversion, torque steer shouldnt be on your pros and cons list, its not that bad.

look on these forums for "BACKYARDER" if he can get a stripped out AE82 (probably around 800kg) with no power steering (standard AE82 steering), and 550FWHP, and big slicks, to stay on the track under full power during a 10 secong pass...im sure you can keep a heavy 162 with ALOT less power on the tarmac, if you cant, should you be driving at all?

[Andrew162]

While we're on about older Mitsubishi's, I owned a Scorpion once, and I bought some Weber's to get fitted onto it. Took it to Ron Gillard up on the north coast (dude tunes touring cars), and he fitted them up ok and took it for a bit of a spin. Now he told me something that didn't quite make sense... he said that the car was tramlining and that it should be fixed up ASAP. I know it's not a FWD car, but WTF is tramlining anyway? Is it like the same on a RWD car instead, where the back end steps out under too much power?

Soory guys, just one question that I never got answered, and kinda reminded me of this.

[Jt_70R]

My dad has a V6 TR magna, that thing gets torque steer. cushy power steering deffinitely doesnt help. big boxy barge, it sure is smooth tho.

I find in my 162 that torque steer isnt a big issue. if you just hold the wheel straight, you aint getting torque steer.
Power understeer is a completely different issue, and any FWD car will tend to do this is you stomp the gas going around a corner.
Now i have 16s fitted on my 162 i find it very hard to understeer the car, getting quick enough causes the rear to tend to step out first, which i find good as understeer can be used to counteract the pendulum motion.

Rav - i would interpret tramlining as a detrimental effect where the car just wants to go straight on, as if it was on rails. of course if the rails go round the corner, this would be a good thing!

[Jt_70R]

by the way Cam-Rush:

"im sure you can keep a heavy 162 with ALOT less power on the tarmac, if you cant, should you be driving at all?"

Gold!

[RP_St162]

Well i dunno about you fellas, but i like torque steer! It lets ya know that the car is willing to go! Ive been in some torque seering monsters and in my experiences i have found that there is not much torque steer at all under 100fwks, (eg mx6 turbs) But the one pig i did drive was a 170fwkw DET pulsar, now that was a handful!

Well i guess what im trying to say is torque steer is like a stain on your work jeans, you know its there, but it isnt doing anyone harm at all, so its liveable! my 2 c

[Jorrs]

I agree, it makes the car exciting!
lets face it, upping the power by alot in any car is going beyond what the parts and chassis were designed for, RWD or FWD.
As for cornering...i dont think touque steer comes into it much here, beacause youre generally not on full gas in a corner...it happens most on take off or from a low speed, when the wheels scramble for traction when given full power.
ST162s are not overly light, and if you have power steering, and you are ready for it, you wont have a problem.
its not an issue, if you are thinking of doing a conversion, torque steer shouldnt be on your pros and cons list, its not that bad.

look on these forums for "BACKYARDER" if he can get a stripped out AE82 (probably around 800kg) with no power steering (standard AE82 steering), and 550FWHP, and big slicks, to stay on the track under full power during a 10 secong pass...im sure you can keep a heavy 162 with ALOT less power on the tarmac, if you cant, should you be driving at all?

162 = 1200 or so kgs, not exactly heavy though all comparable.

[RWDboy]

... im a RWD boy. but thats ok....

No I'm a RWDboy ... !!!

Yeah torque steer is bad mmmk - but to be honest, it's just about how you drive on the road. If you suck massively, and can't handle a bit of torque steer - then don't do a 3S-GTE conversion to a ST162 - simple as that!

(as previously summarised by someone else earlier in this thread)

[Thomas]

While we're on about older Mitsubishi's, I owned a Scorpion once, and I bought some Weber's to get fitted onto it. Took it to Ron Gillard up on the north coast (dude tunes touring cars), and he fitted them up ok and took it for a bit of a spin. Now he told me something that didn't quite make sense... he said that the car was tramlining and that it should be fixed up ASAP. I know it's not a FWD car, but WTF is tramlining anyway? Is it like the same on a RWD car instead, where the back end steps out under too much power?

Soory guys, just one question that I never got answered, and kinda reminded me of this.

Tramlining is something that the early Mitsubishi steering boxes had a tendency to do after its gotten a bit long in the tooth. It basically meant your car drove like it was driving on tram tracks (ie your front end wanders and darts left to right) even though you weren't. This happened to me a few times, most notably while overtaking in heavy traffic on the Eastern Freeway, but it went away after I bled some air from the power steering system (some lock to lock turns on gravel). HTH.

[Andrew162]

Thanks for that Thomas, but mine had no power steering... it was an 84 model with good ol' fashoined "armstrong" steering.

[Vios-GT_07]

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/197837/cool_parking/

not sure if this is relevant but *meh* just came across this thread and this video at the same time..

that said, u can get torque steer in a RWD car too.. engine spins one way.. and engine is connected to the car via engine mounts, g/box and moving tyres.. if an engine has a fair bit of torque and the chassis is strong, doesn't flex occur somewhere and the car's rear end goes in one direction (normally left) during heavy acceleration? or is this another defintion of something else?

[Mr DOHC]

thats not torque steer as such, as the power doesnt afftect the front wheels, it just torques up the diff and that turns the car, usually they turn right, go to www.streetfire.net and watch some drag vids