Reply to "Vague steering, need help!"

CRXMAN,
If you push down on the nose & the steering wheel does not move, this does not mean you do not have bump steer.
Bump steer occurs with wheel travel & the steering wheel fixed in one location.
That is, the steering wheel may not move at all but the wheels still toe in or out.

So........with your test you should have someone holding the steering wheel firm to stop it moving & when pushing down on the nose watch to see if the front wheels steer.........and they certainly will because all standard Panteras have bump steer.

When you steer left or right, one side of the nose should rise, this is caused by Caster. This is normal & correct.
So if you steer left, the left nose should rise.

Increasing Caster will not make your steering appear like you have "Power Steering".
It will do exactly the opposite & make the steering heavier.
More Caster causes the jacking effect on one front corner as explained above, steer left & the left nose will rise.
This is actually caused by the left wheel sweeping on a downward arc when steering left.
The wheel pushing down raises that corner.
This in turn requires extra effort by the driver as he is exerting more force to actually lift one corner of the nose.

This does two things which are positive.
It transfers weight & thus traction to the opposite side rear wheel which increases its traction & helps the car "turn in" through the corner.
It also creates self centering steering so the driver does not have to keep correcting, it keeps the car tracking straight.

The negative side, (and there is always a compromise with engineering) is it makes the steering heavier.

regards,
Tony