Another Hicas Lock Bar Thread

[Birds]

So I've done some searching around here for information on HICAS lock bars. That's all well and good, I know what they do and how to install them and why I want one. My issue is the steering problems that some people have reported after installing them. I couldn't get a straight answer from the threads I read, but it seems like 50% go in without a hitch and the other 50% have steering f*** ups. The Tomei lock kit seems to be a good failsafe idea, but if I can junk the rack and save some weight then my preference is the latter.

Who has installed a lock bar on an R33? Did it result in steering issues for you or was it clear cut installation with no major problems? If the former, have you resolved the issues and did you have to modify the electrics to get it working?

Cheers.

[geraus]

i've installed a hicas lockbar to many times to remember on r34's and r33's , If you cant get it in, What you do is , connect the left & right first then bolt up the 2 bolts on top and your in... makes a bit of a diffrence as i do alot of drifting.

hope this helps man.

[some_cs_student]

Who has installed a lock bar on an R33? Did it result in steering issues for you or was it clear cut installation with no major problems? If the former, have you resolved the issues and did you have to modify the electrics to get it working?

You need a wheel alignment afterwards but never had any steering issues, maybe some of these people disconnected the HICAS ECU?

I believe there is a good tutorial on the install.

[Birds]

What did you do for installation cs_student? Just chuck on bar and wheel allignment, no fiddling with any electrics?

i've installed a hicas lockbar to many times to remember on r34's and r33's , If you cant get it in, What you do is , connect the left & right first then bolt up the 2 bolts on top and your in... makes a bit of a diffrence as i do alot of drifting.

hope this helps man.

Thanks man, it's not so much the installation I'm concerned with (although given you're in Melbourne and a HICAS lock bar pro, perhaps I can commission you to help install with some sort of compensation for your services ), moreso the issues people report having after installation. They've reported really heavy steering etc. as if the ECU is cracking the shits because HICAS isn't functioning properly because of the lock bar.

So should HICAS electrics be left connected or disconnected?

Which bars do you recommend geraus?

[Munkyb0y]

i installed mine recently

leave everything connected as is, apart from the plugs on the hicas rack, which you obviously unplug and cable tie away safely.

if you're not experiencing steering issues now, you wont have any after the lock bar goes in.

the super light low speed steering will most likely be lost, and you'll have a firmer weight. this is only noticeable at very low speeds, and it certainly isnt a case of no power steering or 'heavy' steering.

get the rear (toe) aligned after install.

if your car is lowered and you have rear camber issues, you may as well fit a couple of adjustable rear camber arms at the same time and get the lot aligned in one go. thats what i did.

[Birds]

Well I do have a steering vibration at the moment but I'm not sure the bar will affect or be affected by that. Thanks for the report. I'm whacking polyurethane throughout including camber adjustable bushes so I'll have it done all at the same time. So are there any brands better than others or are they all much the same? It's a pretty basic looking item.

[alr33x]

birds is goin drifting ?

i doubt the vibration will change with the lock bar im guessing the vibration wil be something to do with the front end more so

[Munkyb0y]

Well I do have a steering vibration at the moment but I'm not sure the bar will affect or be affected by that. Thanks for the report. I'm whacking polyurethane throughout including camber adjustable bushes so I'll have it done all at the same time. So are there any brands better than others or are they all much the same? It's a pretty basic looking item.

when you finally have one in your hands, you'll notice its just a piece of pipe with threaded ends and a couple of tabs. so no, i dont think you can go wrong. any ebay lock bar will be the same shit really. looks more like plumbing than a suspension component. lol

vibration could be a lot of things. if you're lucky it might be one of the bushes you're changing, or even a toe issue that you'll resolve with this install. otherwise, who knows? gearbox mount? tailshaft issue? unbalanced wheels? etc etc etc.

edit: i just noticed you said 'steering vibration'. ie. front end. get a wheel alignment/balance. see if that fixes it.

Edited May 12, 2010 by Munkyb0y

[geraus]

yep leave all electronics on, on the dash the HICAS in orange will be light on, i left mine on, did nothing.

[some_cs_student]

What did you do for installation cs_student? Just chuck on bar and wheel allignment, no fiddling with any electrics?

<cut>

So should HICAS electrics be left connected or disconnected?

Please refer to this tutorial HICAS removal bar fitting for R33

You should know to search

I removed the globe from the dash as the light been permanently on after install can get annoying

[Birds]

birds is goin drifting ?

i doubt the vibration will change with the lock bar im guessing the vibration wil be something to do with the front end more so

As if man, I'm too straight to be going sideways...nay this is for DECA type stuff and to save weight

when you finally have one in your hands, you'll notice its just a piece of pipe with threaded ends and a couple of tabs. so no, i dont think you can go wrong. any ebay lock bar will be the same shit really. looks more like plumbing than a suspension component. lol

vibration could be a lot of things. if you're lucky it might be one of the bushes you're changing, or even a toe issue that you'll resolve with this install. otherwise, who knows? gearbox mount? tailshaft issue? unbalanced wheels? etc etc etc.

edit: i just noticed you said 'steering vibration'. ie. front end. get a wheel alignment/balance. see if that fixes it.

Yer the steering vibration has been an ongoing pain in the ass. I've had allignment + wheel balance + change wheel bearings to no avail. I've concluded it's either a bush, the wheels weren't balanced correctly, or the wheels aren't sitting exacto on the hub (aftermarket wheels can do this sometimes). Will be getting Centreline to work their magic on it so hopefully they come up with something because it's driving me nuts. Interestingly, the effects of the vibration are lessened on wet roads leading me to think it's wheel related.

yep leave all electronics on, on the dash the HICAS in orange will be light on, i left mine on, did nothing.

Cheers, shouldn't bother me too much as I've already become accustomed to my immobiliser + boost gauge lights.

Please refer to this tutorial HICAS removal bar fitting for R33

You should know to search

I removed the globe from the dash as the light been permanently on after install can get annoying

Yer yer, I was just asking while I had my thread open! Installation seems fairly straight forward...

Thanks guys.

[geraus]

So have you installed yet?

[Birds]

No, I've still gotta buy the thing lol.

[PM-R33]

You want have any dramas with it man. It is very straight forward and the people that have steering issues either a) Don't get a wheel allignment or b) Disconnect the HICAS ECU in the boot.

[Trozzle]

I'm going to quote a reply of myself to add my 2c to this. People will always say that nothing bad can happen and that people with steering issues afterwards f**ked up something else. WRONG. Just because most people don't have problems, does not mean EVERYONE will be the same.

I'd also recommend the ISC one, cheaper and does the job. Just recently purchased one and had it fitted with a multitiude of other things (like ISC coilovers) and all went well, bar something....

The steering issues I'm experiencing are NOT caused directly by the lock bar itself so in no way reflect the hardware. My power steering gets noticably heavier shortly after starting the car (requires driving it though, usually after about 400-500m down the road). The power steering is still functioning as you can stop the car and turn the wheel when stationary, but it's as though it though the car had reached a certain speed, say like when you're on the highway, and dumbs down power steering response (lots of cars do that these days, but I have NO IDEA if the R33 does). The one time I've taken not of speed when it got heavy, I was travelling just a tad over 40kph.

It does not go back to normal until you turn the car off then back on again.

This could be cause by many things, for example my steering rack was dropped for new rack mounts etc at the same time, so it could be that something isn't plugged in correctly there. It could be the ECU going into "oh shit" mode since as far as it knows the HICAS has all but destroyed itself due to sensors not responding with working signals etc...

Either way, even when the steering is heavier, the car handles much better than before. I am 99% sure that there is no damage being caused to the power steering as a result of this anomoly, and therefore don't have too much concern with having it sorted out. If anything, I like having more feedback through the steering wheel when cornering...lets me know what's going on re: understeer etc.

I have NOT disconnected the HICAS ECU, though I have considered trying it to see if it fixes the problem. Can you reset the HICAS ECU? I'll try disconnecting, driving (if possible) then reconnecting it to see what happens. Either way, the above is my situation. SOMETHING as a result of the work done is causing it, and the only things I can think of is a plug for a sensor on the steering rack someone mentioned, and something to do with HICAS being all but f**ked according to the ECU.

[Munkyb0y]

Yer the steering vibration has been an ongoing pain in the ass. I've had allignment + wheel balance + change wheel bearings to no avail. I've concluded it's either a bush, the wheels weren't balanced correctly, or the wheels aren't sitting exacto on the hub (aftermarket wheels can do this sometimes). Will be getting Centreline to work their magic on it so hopefully they come up with something because it's driving me nuts. Interestingly, the effects of the vibration are lessened on wet roads leading me to think it's wheel related.

you know it could be the tyres themselves. i had steering wheel vibration at between 100-130kph. it shit me for ages. checked balance and alignment, was ok. then my shitty nankangs (they came with the car) finally wore down, so i changed them and bam... vibration gone.

[alr33x]

try hub rings birds? if the vibration is since hte new rims they could fix it..

[PM-R33]

I'm going to quote a reply of myself to add my 2c to this. People will always say that nothing bad can happen and that people with steering issues afterwards f**ked up something else. WRONG. Just because most people don't have problems, does not mean EVERYONE will be the same.

I have NOT disconnected the HICAS ECU, though I have considered trying it to see if it fixes the problem. Can you reset the HICAS ECU? I'll try disconnecting, driving (if possible) then reconnecting it to see what happens. Either way, the above is my situation. SOMETHING as a result of the work done is causing it, and the only things I can think of is a plug for a sensor on the steering rack someone mentioned, and something to do with HICAS being all but f**ked according to the ECU.

Righteo this problem is fixable depending on what made your car start doing this. If you have normal steering until you get up to a bit of speed or after a small amount of time and then you get a HICAS error which causes the loss of power steering, it usually means your HICAS ECU is not getting a signal from something (usually a speed signal) or at one stage it didn't get a signal and it is in it's memory.

99% of the time a fix for this is a simple ECU reset. Disconnect your battery for a while and reconnect it. You will find it will go back to normal.

If not there is a constant fault somewhere, then you need to find it, fix it and then do the ECU reset.

Edited May 13, 2010 by PM-R33

[Trozzle]

Will do PM-R33, had also considered that. But yes in answering Birds' question a little better, there aren't any problems directly related to fitting a HICAS lock bar. Hell, technically mine isn't even a problem, it's working as intended in the sense that it's functioning by dicking me around, lol.

[Birds]

you know it could be the tyres themselves. i had steering wheel vibration at between 100-130kph. it shit me for ages. checked balance and alignment, was ok. then my shitty nankangs (they came with the car) finally wore down, so i changed them and bam... vibration gone.

Problem is I had this vibration before the new wheels and tyres. Don't wanna rule them out, given both my standard wheels/tyres and these wheels/tyres could coincidentally have had the same problem. Vibrations are such a pain in the ass because they resonate from almost anywhere in the car. I feel it most in the steering wheel and the pedal box - could even be an engine mount with those symptoms. Atleast if it was a whine I'd know what to look for.

try hub rings birds? if the vibration is since hte new rims they could fix it..

Yer that's what Centreline suggested. My D1Rs came with hub rings, whether the fitters used them or not is another thing. I'm hoping these gurus will fix my issues he certainly sounded like he knew what he was talking about. If they can't find it no one can lol.