Did you email Jon?

I just spoke with Jon, he should be coming in here with some pix, the designers should have something hopefully this week too.

He told me 10 ppl or so emailed him with questions and such sooo looking good.

I am aware of 3 people who said they wanted to pay money directly and gave the credit card information. Please do post in here if you have so I can make an official list of those who paid and will get it

a_ahmed wrote:Did you email Jon?

yeah, didn't hear anything back...

He will respond soon he's just been very busy.

Very Interested, but not committed yet. ( just ran across thread)

a-ahmed --When is the drop dead date on ordering?

honestly the hope here is to have 10 deposits then it will be a no brainer. So far to my knowledge I am aware of 3 definite people other than myself... Jon did mention to me ten people emailing him but we shall see.

Otherwise these can be made singularly but it will be more expensive obviously. Think about it... billet cnc'd one off parts... designing them, etc... its a no brainer.

So basically the sooner people deposit the sooner stuff happens.

Jon is reputable and made rx7 guys happy, there is no doubting him, this is happening, its just that money makes things happen sooner

91rs, one way to put it is, if you're serious about it, do the 50% deposit

I can't wait until Jon responds in here though... but like I said he is busy.

He should be able to answer a few questions as well, I've posed to him the power steering rack option as well and I will let him answer that.
Modified by a_ahmed at 1:34 PM 10/20/2009

Hiya Guys,

Sorry for the response time....Im trying to build a couple of cars, and a new engine room at the moment...and this seems to be taking all my time at the moment!!

Please don't be concerned about my reputation, I am a one man band....but I put in a lot of hours, and everything is well underway!

The guys on the Rx7 forum have all been happy with the product...and I'm sure you will all be happy too! The company that are making the racks also make the racks for Formula Ford, Catherham, Lotus, McLaren to mention but a few. I witnessed the MP4-12C wishbones being made....all from billet

I have had 3 people contact me offering deposits now...but we do need to get to 10 units before I can offer the full group buy option. I have now sold almost 30 units for the Rx7, and not one complaint!!!

So to answer a few questions and the odd concern.

Why should you go with one of these?I have already said about the faster speed. This will not give you any less travel. The travel is identical to the standard rack. Any less than 2.4 and it will become "too skittish"

We can offer 2 options on the travel:The first is a standard rack.The second, aimed towards the drift community, is an extended travel rack offering a further 38mm of travel.

Why go for this over a modified standard rack?The standard rack is designed for using fluid. There are certain stresses that will occur without the fluid, and so putting the internals at risk of failure. The gears and pinions are designed to be smoother than standard operation. Yes it is slightly more expensive than the modified solution. But once you have seen how beautifully made this is you will agree with the other owners that it is worth every penny!

Can it be power assisted?The rack cant be power assisted, but the column can. We are looking at a couple of systems that offer EPS and adapting them to work with our rack. The advantage of this will be that you can control the level of assistance as well as being able to regulate it through speed.

The feedback you get from these racks is remarkable. You will find yourself hitting apexes cleaner and more precisely. And so on the track it is an absolute must. For the road...yes it is slightly heavier, but I think you will find this isn't too much of a hindrance, and you will certainly notice the advantages when on your favourite section of road

Some quotes from the Rx7 forum

*********************************************I'd like to thank Jon at AtomicRex for making this. First, Jon, the unit is beautifully made, and while I won't be driving the car until Saturday, I have turned the steering wheel both without any load and with the motor in it and can tell you that the precision feel of the rack is phenomenal. Its so much smoother turning than any version of the steering rack that I have felt, both powered and manual conversions, whether looped or true manual conversions like Maval. Its a completely different feel. Sure there's a little effort required, but its just so smooth and precise and virtually no play at all. And, because there's 2.4 turns lock-to-lock, its a LOT faster turning.

I will report on the steering feel and effort more over the weekend. I am wondering whether the solid and beautifully machined mounts (third variation, Jon?) will transmit too much road feel for street use. We'll have to see. But, I am sure that its the ultimate track set-up regardless. And, if there is too much feel for me, I'm certain some poly material could be inserted to dampen that anyway.

Summary is that so far this is one of the very best new things to come out that makes a real difference in our cars. The stock steering was one of the real weaknesses of the car that was reported in the press from day one and that we all have noticed. The stock assisted steering is a little dead and slow and has way less feel than you'd want in a car like this and that's why so many people convert to some form of manual, whether looped line or Maval. I had the looped line on my old car and have tried to order Quaife's "Quick Steer Gears", but they never actually made them. This unit provides the best of all worlds with both an incredibly well-made pure manual unit where the precision of the billet aluminum machined parts, especially the rack and gears themselves, are like a Swiss watch and turn much smoother than any conversion of the stock set-up, AND its also got the quicker turn ratio.

Let me comment on price, which is about $1000 unless we organize another group buy. I hear some guys saying that's a lot compared to a simple and free looped line conversion or even the Maval conversion at about $300-400. People readily spend $1500-4000+ for coilovers and $2500-6000 for big brake kits and $2000-4000 for wheels and tires and on and on. This is less money than any of those things and will give you a direct improvement you can feel and that will make way more of a difference to your driving experience than almost anything else you can do to your car. I'd invite anyone in my area over for a drive and will give drives at the Carlisi meet this August to as many people as I can. This is really a great change to the car. I can't say enough.

jkstill... I haven't done any autox with the rack. However, while, as you said, the Maval is better than the looped line, neither compares with the AtomicRex rack. It is better than a Porsche manual rack or any other production manual rack I think because of how well machined it is. The effort might be one half of what it is with the Maval rack and one fourth the effort of a looped line converted rack. There is very little effort required.

If you come to the Carlisi event, you can try mine and see.

Gordon

Damien, et al.,

you're going to LOVE the feedback of this rack on the track.

CMP (Carolina Motorsports Park) is a fairly twisty track, and the feedback this rack provides is sublime.

More info of the trackday and video links here:http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=869475

:-) neil *********************************************

Any further questions....I will try my best to answer them as quickly as possible.

If you aren't getting any success...then please ring.

I will answer those people who have emailed me now

Sounds great, i just pulled up the thread to see the voyage was complete and alot of progress being made. I'm also interested in the end date on this. I would love to put a deposit down right now but the engine build wont allow it just yet. Also, what is the USD price for the grip rack?

Any updates?

Any word on how many people has put a deposit down, or if this steering rack will actually be produced?

Latez.

The rack will certainly be produced, and I will order 10 racks.

4 people have put down their deposits....but I will certainly honour the racks. Would be great if others will follow

As for an update.....the rack is currently been drawn up, and once this has been done, I will stick up PDF's of the drawings. Then it will be a case of waiting for the machining time. Im probably going to get some Rx7 racks made at the same time...so hopefully this will speed up the machining time...gives them a bit of stimulation when they see a bigger order

Hey Jon thanks for coming in here

I sent you an email as well just a minute ago btw.

I can't afford to get in on the group buy right now. But what are the chances of being able to pick one of these up at a later time?

Too bad us Americans get screwed on the Euro/Dollar exchange. I would definitely pay $600-700 for a manual rack, but the $1000 price is hard to swallow.

That being said, I really hope to be able to justify the cost soon. The reduction of clutter, weight, and belts in the engine bay is very attractive. I also really miss the feel of a manual rack on the track...

AtomicRex wrote:The rack will certainly be produced, and I will order 10 racks.

4 people have put down their deposits....but I will certainly honour the racks. Would be great if others will follow

As for an update.....the rack is currently been drawn up, and once this has been done, I will stick up PDF's of the drawings. Then it will be a case of waiting for the machining time. Im probably going to get some Rx7 racks made at the same time...so hopefully this will speed up the machining time...gives them a bit of stimulation when they see a bigger order

Any updates on the drawings?

Latez

-Dave.

Did this manual rack attempt die too? *sigh* and I thought this was actually going to happen.

Latez.

i am interested, but i want to know the exact pricing on each rack begin made and shipping to the usa cause the cost is kinda expensive. it will be great because this will help the s chassis clean up the clutter and free turbo space. please let me know a_ahmed or AtomicRex. thanks, kev

ProjectPanda13 wrote:Did this manual rack attempt die too? *sigh* and I thought this was actually going to happen.

I spoke with Jon a couple days ago, and the racks are being machined.

Sadly, I am considering backing out of this group buy due to unemployment. I am unable to get my deposit back since they are already in the production phase (I discussed this with Jon and I totally understand where he is coming from). He did tell me that if I could find someone to take my place in the group buy that he would be able to refund my deposit. So, if anyone is seriously considering getting in on this, please let me know (use the email in my profile)...thanks.

nissanman04 wrote:
I spoke with Jon a couple days ago, and the racks are being machined.

Sadly, I am considering backing out of this group buy due to unemployment. I am unable to get my deposit back since they are already in the production phase (I discussed this with Jon and I totally understand where he is coming from). He did tell me that if I could find someone to take my place in the group buy that he would be able to refund my deposit. So, if anyone is seriously considering getting in on this, please let me know (use the email in my profile)...thanks.

e-mailed............

.....how did I know that a_ahmed would be the one posting this thread?

this is fraktal. i got in on this and already made a deposit with jon. i also want to back out of this and get my deposit back, so if someone would like my rack then it's up for grabs. anyone please email me if interested, thanks.

astunnedguy (at) hotmail.com

I'm buying fraktal's for everyone's information

This is still being made, I spoke with Jon just this morning and he said he does have CAD/etc...drawings of our rack... he should hopefully post in here.

I've had a rough past few months due to work stress and what have you, busy life, financial stuff too, its a busy and hard hefty time for moi... None the less I thought I'd post in here.

Regards,

I can't wait to see the progress. Hopefully I'll have some money by the time these are produced.

Anyone hear from Jon lately? This is getting kind of ridiculous.

Alright gentlemen, sorry for the slow progress. An update from my end.

First of all I took Mike's spot on the group buy and paid his portion out as he was pulling out as he had some financial problems. So his 'buy from me' is no longer available.

Secondly, the rack CAD drawings have been done as per my s13 hicas sample i've sent to Jon/Atomic Rex.

Thirdly, the problem has been the supplier/engineering company that is doing the rack design in actuality has been giving Jon a hard time. Postponing the machining. However things will move along.

Obviously I am comitted to this project and I want my cnc'd manual rack

Lastly, I need a little bit of help. The rack sample I sent was without bushings or rack mount brackets... since I want a completely solid design with no bushings like the rx7 sample pix I showed... I need to supply Jon rack bushings (which is easy 10 bux for some poly from energy) BUT... I dont know where/how to get rack mount brackets.... I need some help with that. Obviously can't take off of my car as I need the car rolling...

If someone would be kind and provide me LHD (obviously) S13 non molested/non-damaged/non-bent rack mount brackets that would be FANTASTIC.. I'm on the hunt to send to Jon and get this thing moving along and finally hold one in my hands.

Thanks for everyone's patience...

Here are some pix of what I'm talking about:

I tried to google pix of it... but this is the best i could find on driftworks:

More concretely here are the pix of how its mounted to the subframe... I need those metal brackets...

Holy crap, this is taking forever. I wish I never got involved with this.

Sorry, I don't have extra brackets.

Nissan dealership parts department?

What happened with this rack dealio?

Yeah whats going on guys? This seems pretty promising