How to bend PAS pipe? with PICS added

4th January 2012, 13:32

My Powersteering pipe on my mk1 is rubbing the steering arm as mine are at some crazy angles since being lowered a fair bit from standard. I realise mk2 owners have to bend the pipe out the way when they lower them.
How exactly do i bend it? just lever it out the way with a bar? is there a chance i can break it or split it?
thanks

Its on the drivers side, you can see in the pic its rubbing the metal pipe behind. Its quite close to the union though

is there anything stopping me from turning the trackrods upside down?

4th January 2012, 15:14

be gentle and dont kink it basically

4th January 2012, 16:27

thanks, pics now added. I really dont want to pierce this pipe becuase it looks like a pain trying to replace it. Can i just turn the trackrods upside down?

4th January 2012, 18:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by LSOfreak

thanks, pics now added. I really dont want to pierce this pipe becuase it looks like a pain trying to replace it. Can i just turn the trackrods upside down?

no you can't they won't fit in upside down lol, just prise it away gently with a bar or similar thats what ive done with mine and its fine

4th January 2012, 23:34

ok thanks, i guess thats my only shot

5th January 2012, 02:04

I couldn't bend mine but they stopped making a noise themselves. Clearly bent it on its own.

Also you can turn them upside down. I've seen it done just the other day on a thread. Someone who had gaz gold coilies or something. Not sure what gaz you're running. You will obviously have to get the tracking re-aligned though.

Also if you break a pipe they aren't that hard to fit a new one. And gives you the chance to pre bend it. Those specific pipes are self bleeding. Just fit top up pas fluid and then keep going from full lock to full lock and that bleeds it.

5th January 2012, 15:05

thanks. ive got gaz gha coilovers but wouldnt have thought the suspension would make a difference. About flipping the trackrods upside down, i cant see why it wont work except if i remember correctly, my trackrods wont rotate 180degrees

5th January 2012, 16:53

Yeah I don't know why it makes any difference either. Just the way he had written it made it seem as if it did have some relevance.

How do you mean they wont rotate 180 degrees? Also seen some people have bent steering arms so they dont foul. Again you'd need to get the tracking done after.

5th January 2012, 17:46

i mean as in if i disconnect the track rod from the suspension strut, i cant twist the track rod so it faces upside down. So that it can be mounted upside down to the suspension strut. Apparently its tapered so this wont work though so that ideas out the window. I think im just going to have to try and ease that pipe away. ill try again tomorrow and update

5th January 2012, 17:48

i may be wrong but when you turn the rod ends upside down do you not have to swap sides
example: passenger side rod end on the drivers side
because of the way its shaped or something

5th January 2012, 17:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by LSOfreak

i mean as in if i disconnect the track rod from the suspension strut, i cant twist the track rod so it faces upside down. So that it can be mounted upside down to the suspension strut. Apparently its tapered so this wont work though so that ideas out the window. I think im just going to have to try and ease that pipe away. ill try again tomorrow and update

I did wonder about that being the case. When I tried to lever mine all that happened was the steering arm flexed. Hopefully you will have better luck!

5th January 2012, 18:07

Could fit rose jointed steering arms and mount them under the arm on the strut.

5th January 2012, 18:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by carlsmith715

i may be wrong but when you turn the rod ends upside down do you not have to swap sides
example: passenger side rod end on the drivers side
because of the way its shaped or something

i think that could be the case. Im not flipping the rods now, seems like too much work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simon0014

I did wonder about that being the case. When I tried to lever mine all that happened was the steering arm flexed. Hopefully you will have better luck!

thats what happened today!! so annoying i didnt want to put too much force against it. Did your arm rub away at your pipe then? my pipe has been rubbed at a bit and im not sure if its just going to rub more until it leaks

which im not going to wait and find out lol
Did you say your pipe just bent by itself?

Quote:

Originally Posted by westwell_22

Could fit rose jointed steering arms and mount them under the arm on the strut.

thanks, thats a possibilty but it seems like too much effort at this stage

5th January 2012, 19:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by LSOfreak

thats what happened today!! so annoying i didnt want to put too much force against it. Did your arm rub away at your pipe then? my pipe has been rubbed at a bit and im not sure if its just going to rub more until it leaks

which im not going to wait and find out lol
Did you say your pipe just bent by itself?

Yeah so I gave up trying to bend it. Mine is a bit dented but it seems to have stopped making the chiming/clunking noise from it catching so I guess its fine.

Is yours still making the noise of catching? If it keeps rubbing until it leaks (will take a fair while) if you notice it leaking, just unplug the pas from the power supply its a big connector a bit like a lamba connection but bigger. Then just fit some new pipes like I explained earlier but just bend them before you fit them.

5th January 2012, 21:23

mine doesnt make a noise, i noticed it when i had a look. The pipe has one flat side where its rubbed

do you know where the other end of the pipe ends?
how much is your car lowered?

5th January 2012, 21:26

WTF, Track rod ends upside down?! They're tapered so i'd love to know how that works and how safe.

5th January 2012, 22:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by KrisB

WTF, Track rod ends upside down?! They're tapered so i'd love to know how that works and how safe.

possible? yes. cost effective, not a chance. We've done similar on steering gear on off road competition motors, basically it involves forming an oversize taper going the opposite way and then machining an insert to go in the oversize taper to take it back to origanal size. not easy or sort of thing you'd do at home.

5th January 2012, 22:01

yeah i realised today that theyre tapered. Apparently with some cut and welding it can be done though. I wont be going down that route though

seeing as the saxp technical gurus are here, any ideas on moving that pipe out the way?

5th January 2012, 22:05

screwdriver and heave!

5th January 2012, 22:16

Long spanner rested on top of the track rod did it for me.

ABP motorsport used to do a modified PAS pipe, might be worth looking into if you can't get enough clearance?

5th January 2012, 22:23

Used a removable jack handle to bend mine out the way. Just slide it down inbetween the rod and pipe, and use the rod as a lever to lever it away, but be gentle!

5th January 2012, 22:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by LSOfreak

mine doesnt make a noise, i noticed it when i had a look. The pipe has one flat side where its rubbed

do you know where the other end of the pipe ends?
how much is your car lowered?

Yeah mine is flat on that side as well. Mine is only down 40-50mm

haha Aparently mk2 pipes stick out more than mk1s as some people put mk1 pipes on for added clearance.

I'm not sure on the length of them possibly about 10-15cms tops to the right of where they start.

5th January 2012, 22:35

thanks guys

ive never heard of people rubbing against mk1 pipes

fml

5th January 2012, 22:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by LSOfreak

thanks guys

ive never heard of people rubbing against mk1 pipes

fml

Thats because most peoples car aren't half as low as yours

6th January 2012, 13:08

i did it

i jacked it up, put a bit of wood in the gap and slowly let the jack down. The steering arms didnt flex much with the weight of the car on the floor.

Thanks guys

6th January 2012, 13:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by LSOfreak

i did it

i jacked it up, put a bit of wood in the gap and slowly let the jack down. The steering arms didnt flex much with the weight of the car on the floor.

Thanks guys

I might have to come see this soon as I'm putting Gaz GHA's mine and don't want the same problem lol

6th January 2012, 16:55

you might only get this problem with 5inch springs.
The standard 6.5inch gaz springs were fine wound all the way to the bottom. Didnt get any rubbing problems

6th January 2012, 17:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by LSOfreak

i did it

i jacked it up, put a bit of wood in the gap and slowly let the jack down. The steering arms didnt flex much with the weight of the car on the floor.

Thanks guys

Thats a good idea! I will be giving this a go!! Was it a flatish piece of wood or more squarish?

6th January 2012, 17:20

yeah was quite a flat bit of wood, maybe about 0.5cm's thick, and about 4cm wide. The pipe only needed to be moved slightly and i didnt want to push my luck bending it massive amounts lol.

i put a slightly loose cable tie around the pipe, went for a drive and had a look after to see if the steering arms had touched it and moved it, which it didnt

thanks for your help dude

6th January 2012, 17:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by LSOfreak

yeah was quite a flat bit of wood, maybe about 0.5cm's thick, and about 4cm wide. The pipe only needed to be moved slightly and i didnt want to push my luck bending it massive amounts lol.

i put a slightly loose cable tie around the pipe, went for a drive and had a look after to see if the steering arms had touched it and moved it, which it didnt

thanks for your help dude

Sweet cheers for that! I will be definitely be giving that a go when I'm next back home.

No problem glad to be of assistance