I heard that the tierod ends on my steering rack are not long enough to bolt into the spindle, but what if I took the tierod ends off the '01 along with the spindles? will they work then?
Fox and SN95 tie rod ends have different threads, so they are not interchangable. I asked Matt90GT about that also when I was doing my conversion. I have a stock 87 style rack and 87 tie rods, but I am using 95 spindles. Mine work fine. I don't know for sure, but you might be able to use the newer rack and tie rods?
Get the spindles you know will work, rather than taking the chance. I know we talked about wider track width, but I'd take the sure bet over a possible width gain (and like you said, it is minimal).
They bolt right in, but you have to use spacers or a stack of 3 or 4 washers under the lower ball joint nut to tighten it down. You'll see when you get there.
Thats no problem, I just didn't want to get them and end up waiting even longer for more parts that I need...I'm alreayd behind shedule, I thought I would have had mostly everything by now
Yes those are the years needed to maintain stock track width. The 96+ will widen out the front stance by about 1/4" on either side.
And yes they will bolt right up. You'll have some wicked toe in when you connect the tie rods and you'll have to adjust them by eye so you can hobble to the nearest alignment place but other than that they work fine.