removing hicas all together.

[NZM.031]

hey guys,

i was looking at some hicas lock bars for my 33 and was wondering, what would happen if i removed every component to do with the hicas?? and didnt put a hicas lock bar in??

just want something to play with over the weekend.

cheers

Linton

[mitchy_]

you will have wobbly rear tyres

the hicas lock bar forms a solid bar between the rear tyres, so they are parallel, and it bolts to the chassis to hold them pointing forward

[|PRESA|]

I heard you can just pull out the HICAS fuse on the R33 and it's all good. As long as you have the rear wheels aligned.

Is that true?

[NZM.031]

the hicas bar bolts on to the diff cradle, not the chassis, the wheels shouldnt wobble as they have massive semi trailing arms holding the wheel in place.

[Waldo]

well what i am doing is..(i have a r32)....swapping the power steering pump with an rb30 one (have to change the pulley though on the front of it).....installing a lock bar...and ripping all the other lines valves computers and all the other stuff....i also just went and got a S14 power steering resovior cos its plastic and doesnt have all the outlets the hicas one does...this way is more expensive but thats the way i want it....nice and neat..

[51jay]

I just pulled the HICAS computer on my race R33 and so far no problems

[Sydneykid]

I just pulled the HICAS computer on my race R33 and so far no problems

What you have is an electric motor connected to a steering rack with no power going to the electric motor (no fuse). So the only thing stopping your rear wheels from steering is the resistance of the electric motor to rotation from the steering rack pushing against it. In addition, since the steering is not moving, all of the loads are being excerted in one spot on the rack, this will cause it to wear faster as it is not sharing the load. Hence you will get a sloppy spot on the rack which will enable the rear wheels to knock around slightly all the time.

Bottom line, not a good idea:cheers:

[51jay]

Thanks SK......I guess I'd better add the locking kit before we take the car out again.

[MsG_ChRiS]

Just a question ???

Can you get a rear cradle without the hicas from another variant of an r33 Line i'm sure i have read of someone doing this modification before ...

If you can would this be a feasible option???

[Waldo]

you probably can but by changing the rear subframe from the hicas to no hicas you wont be losing any more weight than just putting a lock bar on and stripping all the power steering shit outta the car.

[LoneOranger]

guys and girls, i am looking to do a similar thing with my GTSX. does anyone know if an aussie R31 skyline steering rack will bolt in? i just want to remove the whole 4 wheel steer set-up. thanks.

Adam.

[Sydneykid]

guys and girls, i am looking to do a similar thing with my GTSX.  does anyone know if an aussie R31 skyline steering rack will bolt in?  i just want to remove the whole 4 wheel steer set-up.  thanks.

Adam.

Sorry Adam that makes no sense to me. Why do you want to change the front steering rack? It has absolutely nothing to do with HICAS.

[MsG_ChRiS]

how much do you think the conversion to a non hicas variant would be just roughly?

[LoneOranger]

the reason being that my original steering rack has two lines coming out of it, that go to the rear for the two hydraulic rams. as you are probably aware, there is no steering rack in the rear of an HR31 like the 32's. so i figure, if an aussie R31 rack will bolt in then that is the easiest way to get rid of it. just remove all associated hydraulics and fit a new rack and power steering lines. hope that is a little clearer. at the same time reduce dead weight, rather than leave everything in there.

Adam.

[Sydneykid]

the reason being that my original steering rack has two lines coming out of it, that go to the rear for the two hydraulic rams.  as you are probably aware, there is no steering rack in the rear of an HR31 like the 32's.  so i figure, if an aussie R31 rack will bolt in then that is the easiest way to get rid of it.  just remove all associated hydraulics and fit a new rack and power steering lines.  hope that is a little clearer.  at the same time reduce dead weight, rather than leave everything in there.

Adam.

Sorry Adam, there are not "two lines coming out of it, that go to the rear for the two hydraulic rams". Have a closer look and you will find that the front half of the power steering pump supplies pressure to the front steering rack and the rear half of the power steering pump supplies hydraulic pressure to the rear steering rack. There is no hydraulic pressure interconnection between the front and rear steering racks.

Read my previous posts on HICAS, it explains how to disconnect and remove the rear stearing with out changing anything else (other than those items directly associated with the rear steering itself)

[predator]

Loneranger.. the rear setup in a HR31 is totally different to the R32 or newer skylines as you probably know.. its got a weird thing where the whole subframe rotates from side to side. You basically have to lock the rear pistons in place, and probably a few other things. Replacing your front rack is all very fine (although a little pointless?), but its not going to help much with the rear unless you can lock the rear properly.

You might want to look at this.. http://forum.r31skylineclub.com/index.php?...p?topic=19871.0

[LoneOranger]

SK there is definately no rear steering rack. There are two hydraulic rams. The first time i looked under the back of it, i was scratching my head wondering how the hell it worked. As Predator stated, the whole rear crossmember twists on its bushes. The reason i want to change the front rack( if possible), is for a no fuss approach. Get myself an overhauled aussie R31 rack(for less than rebuilding my rack), R and R my rack and then unbolt everything associated with the 4 wheel steer set-up. At the same time, remove the rear crossmember and fit solid nothalane bushes in place of the original rubber ones. This will reduce a fair amount of extra baggage at the same time. So does anyone know if an R31 steering rack will bolt into an HR31? Thanks for the feedback guys.

Adam.

[shonen]

hmm while were on the topic of HICAS.

How exactly do the lock kits work ? and are they safe ?

Just that the thought of "locking" something in place by force when it has a natural tendancy to move doesnt sound right to me. Will it eventually cause some sort of damage to any component ?

[Sydneykid]

hmm while were on the topic of HICAS.

How exactly do the lock kits work ? and are they safe ?

Just that the thought of "locking" something in place by force when it has a natural tendancy to move doesnt sound right to me. Will it eventually cause some sort of damage to any component ?

The Tomei kit has 2 thick high tensile locking rings that bolt onto each end of the rack and stop it from moving. There is no "force" involved here, unless doing up the standard retainers is "force". Not all Skylines come with HICAS, those that don't, have no rear rack, the steering arms bolt to the rear subframe. This is basically the same as the solid rack replacements you can buy. Again there is no "force" involved.

I have removed HICAS from 10 or so Skylines and never had a problem with any of them, one was 5 years and 70,000 k's ago.

[shonen]

Hmm....im convinced

thanks SK.

Time to get me one of them tomei kits....heard they come with some electrical component to stop the hicas light from flashing ?? or is that another kit ?