MR2 SW20 RHD Power Steering Quick Steer Pinion.

[Marty J]

The company is in a different country to where I am and I don't want to be running up phone bills, as I am unemployed.

Rest assured I don't give up and will be in touch with them soon enough to complain if they don't send me a sample soon.

[Marty J]

Just keep hassling them every day.
I work for a fairly large company that deals with small manufacturing business’ and even we have to call daily to get things delivered anywhere near on time. If you ring often enough then it eventually becomes easier for them to just do the job than keep making up excuses.

Wingers

I mentioned my concerns to the CEO of the company today and told him that people are not happy with the hold ups. He told me that he will email a design of the parts to be produced and send a "soft" version of the upgraded parts to me next week.

My thanks go to each one of you who are probably a bit anxious but have not lost faith in the product waiting for production. If I had known it was going to take this long for production I would have mentioned it before any deposits were taken.

[Wingers]

How did the soft parts look?

Wingers

[Marty J]

Soft parts so far, but no yet finished. Still getting excuses but still putting the pressure on to get them manufactured.

[SFLee]

so is that mean i got more time before i need to send the parts over

[Marty J]

I don't want anybody to send parts to me until the upgraded pinions have been manufactured.

If you send your pinion to me, your MR2 will be off the road until you receive the upgrade and we have seen how unreliable the manufacturer has been with the estimates.

[Wingers]

still nothing?

[Marty J]

I sent a email this morning telling them that it's dragging on too long and needs to be sorted. Sorry I don't have any other news for you. It's not the kind of start I wanted for my first group buy.

[Marty J]

UPDATE

To cut a long story short, the soft sample should be sent off to me tomorrow.

[Marty J]

UPDATE

Good news, I received the soft sample less than a hour ago. Providing the weather stays good I will install it today and report back tomorrow.

Below are photos of the upgraded power steering pinion soft sample.

[Marty J]

I tried the soft sample in my power steering rack, but not on my car. The new part fits, turns and has reduced the number of turns lock to lock with no problems.

However I have noticed three things that need to be addressed. With one of them I had a feeling that fluid may leak as the manufacturer has turned the helical part right down to the thread on the end. There should be a smooth section in between the helical and the thread that goes into a bearing.

[lmt]

looks good.

[lmt]

updates?

[Marty J]

I will give you an update in the next few days. I'm not trying to delay this, but I do want it made right first time.

[Marty J]

UPDATE

I am 99% sure that there are two types of power steering pinion on our SW20 MR2.

I have taken measurements from two revision two pinions and one revision three pinions. I have no reason to believe that revision one is any different to revision two and revision three, four and five are the same as each other.

I must admit that I am relying on some internet sites for information and doing a cross reference with them.

I will be in contact with the manufacturer on Monday as he is not there on Fridays.

I am glad that I noticed this before production started as there would have been a few annoyed MR2 owners out there.

Thank you for your patience.

Marty.

[lmt]

any updates?

[Marty J]

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I had to move to a new house in short notice and then wait for a phone line to be installed. So my life has been hectic this past few weeks and now the baby is over due.

I have been in touch with the manufacturer about there being differences between pinions. In the past I asked about the MR2 power steering pinions and never got an answer on any forum. So this did set us back, but not by much.

I will be sending the other revision pinion for measurements and the soft sample to the manufacturer.

I have sent emails to people that have placed an order asking which revision MR2 they have as this is important that I know how many to produce for each revision. If anybody thinks they did not receive that email, then please let me know here as soon as possible.

Providing there are no more hiccups then I estimate that the pinions should be ready for October.

[Marty J]

A copy of this is on mr2.ie and mr2australia.com

Anybody in the group buy please read it carefully and give your answer on this forum.

I need to find out which revision MR2 everybody in the group buy has. If you are not sure of the revision, the year of the car will do. Please post your answer here. I will make a list on the forum of all the customers and the revisions they have.

There is a overlap regarding revisions for 1993. Revision 2 stopped around the month of September. I'm afraid you will need to find out for yourself if you have a 1993 MR2 and are not sure which revision. The car could have been modified by a previous owner, so don't assume just by something like the type of rear lights that are on the MR2.

For those who have bought a spare power steering rack for this project, you will need to know which revision it came from. If you do not know then you will need to take measurements of the pinion. Please send me a pm for more info.

If you do happen to get it wrong, then all is not lost. It will mean that you will have to purchase new bearings which are different in size. This means that if you change the bearings you could use a revision 2 in a revision 4, but it is more expense.

If I have not received an answer from any customer by the start of October then I will send them a pinion for revision 1 & 2, as I am sure most of us we would agree that we have waited long enough.

Thanks to the people who have replied to the email I sent a while back.
Can I ask all of you who are in the group buy to reply on this forum as to which pinion you require. This is so there is no misunderstanding on both sides.

For revision 1 and 2 = 1989 - 1993 = pinion A.

For revision 3,4 and 5 = 1993 - 1999 = pinion B

Thank you.

[lmt]

pinion A here.

[Marty J]

I am currently experiencing a technical problem sending my emails. If anybody needs to ask me a question regarding the group buy, please use the pm for now, thanks.