aggressive pulling under acceleration and deceleration

[jaybrennan]

Hi guys. So I have abit of a problem with the old nova. I will tell you abit abit about the car firstly. It has the 2lt redtop converstion running with twin webbers and pushing out 174bhp (currently) ;) it has gaz coilovers all around with calibra turbo brakes......Now the problem. When I hit the accelterator the car will violently tug me to the right and then drive straight with no pulling untill I release the accelerator to which it will violently tug me back to the left. This can be quite a sketchy experiance when driving down the morotrway. Any ideas on what could be the cause to this problem. Also when releasing the clutch in first gear from stand still the front wheels shake ALOT (which causes the whole car to vibrate and rattle) up until the clutch is full released yet every other gear change is fine. It will not happen if the car is in motion above about 3mph. look forward to hearing your verdicts on these very annoying problems. cheers jay.

[Pulsar_stu]

The pulling could be down to a few things. If the anti roll bar bushes are old or knackerd it will do that! If the drop links are knackerd also.
It could be down to driveshafts aswell. I'm not that clued up on big engined novas but my mate had one running over 300bhp and had to get equal length drive shafts to stop the torque steer.
He took me out in it without and it would throw the car violently across the road!
Has it always been like this since the conversion? Or has it just started happening.

[phunkynova]

Tracking ?

[jaybrennan]

Yes it has been like this sinse the conversion. All the bushes seem to be in good working order. I was thinking it coud be the engine mounts but they also seem ok.

[Stuart]

That will be torque steer. Could be made worse by a flexing lower slam panel (where the tie bars bolt to)
How have you tested the bushes? Are they original rubber ones?

[jaybrennan]

Would it still be tourqe steer even if I am only touching the accelerator? (Meaning not driving it hard) I tested the bushes with a large bar to see how much play they had. They are the original rubbers yes.

[Novasport]

Ball joint? I had this on my SR years ago. Replaced the ball joint and it was cured.

[jaybrennan]

Ball joint? I had this on my SR years ago. Replaced the ball joint and it was cured.

This will be on my list. Process of elimination.

[jeremy fisher]

I had a similar problem recently, pulled to right on acceleration, then to left when I let off, but drove fine in between. I checked all my bolts and found the passenger side ball joint bolts weren't quite as tight as they should have been. Ended up replacing the ball joint inc new bolts and much better now.

[Kev Turbo]

Tracking, Get it checked!

[jaybrennan]

Tracking, Get it checked!

Would anybody have any idea of what the tracking should be set to? As its been lowered so am I right in saying that the manufacturers setting will no longer be correct?

[Mieran]

Check the ball joints, if theyre ok then check to see if the bolts are tight

[Novasport]

This resolved yet?

[joff-turbo-nova]

Ball joint? I had this on my SR years ago. Replaced the ball joint and it was cured.

This would get my vote too, having a similar experience to this prior to the ball joint failing completely and putting me into a ditch.

Use GM ones as the cheaper makes don't seem to last long on modified Nova's.

Joff

[Novasport]

Have you seen the price of genuine ones, they are bloody extortionate even at trade price!

[blue_peg_16v]

Yes but after having 2 cheap new ones both fail within 2 weeks of fitting I'd never get anything other than genuine

[Rob H]

Where is the best place for genuine parts?

[Balley]

My money is on the tracking, the toe angle changes drastically when lowering or raising the front suspension, thus giving similar results.

[simonm]

You want to make sure your lower front cross member is still solid to the chassis I had this a few years back also and turned out under acceleration the lower member was moving it had split the welds some one had done poorly. Have you fitted the strengthening plates from the chassis legs to the cross member because with a 2ltr it'll rip it apart if not. While the car is parked with hand brake on try push each wheel forward by hand see is there any movement if not try moving it in gear while some one watches for movement. It's worth a try

[Mieran]

I've always ran QH, Febi or first line and never had problems

[Iain]

QH balljoints and rod ends have been fine for me with track use also

[Benn]

Having just changed to polly bushes on my front end, this has helped alot with pulling the steering around when putting the power down.