69/70 Mustang Taurus Rack Installation?

wickedmach1 · Dec 19, 2005

Has anyone completed the Taurus rack and pinion conversion of their 69/70 Mustang? I am looking to complete the modification and need some help. I have the rack but have a few questions about how to make the rack support and a what other parts are needed to make it all work. Please let me know if you can help or know of someone who can. Thanks.

ForceFed70 · Dec 19, 2005

Hmmmm... that's a new one to me. Sorry.

chepsk8 · Dec 19, 2005

I did it, and it's not the easiest. It was featured in 1999 in Mustang Illustrated Magazine. I have the article scanned if you want it. Lot's of custom Fabbing, including mounting the rack mount, steering linkgage, evil-bad bump-steer, and the turning circle almost doubled. Also needs the Granada spindles to adapt to the Mustang II outer tie rod ends needed to mate to the 1981 Granada inner tie rod ends.

PM me if you are serious.

rbohm · Dec 19, 2005

yeah, i have that article, i think i even have it on my computer too. lot of work in that swap. too bad you didnt keep the stock spindles though.

wickedmach1 · Dec 19, 2005

chepsk8, It doesn't sound like you support this mod too much. Should I save some money and buy a TCP unit? I want the rack to fit and perform well. I need some input from guys like you who have done the mod and can tell me the pro's and con's and if you would do it again.

Any favorites from the companies out there who sell the rack? Randalls, RRS, TCP???

rbohm · Dec 20, 2005

wickedmach1 said:
chepsk8, It doesn't sound like you support this mod too much. Should I save some money and buy a TCP unit? I want the rack to fit and perform well. I need some input from guys like you who have done the mod and can tell me the pro's and con's and if you would do it again.

Any favorites from the companies out there who sell the rack? Randalls, RRS, TCP???

consider the fact that he actually built the system, as well as having driven it. there are others who have said the same things dan said about the swap. part of the problem i think is that the system is not well matched. the granada spindles change the stock mustang geometry, creating bumpsteer issues, and actually slowing the steering ratio down. combine that with the taurus rack which is designed for a front drive/rear steer car that has a completely different steering geometry, including the steering rods, and you have major problems just waiting to popup and bite you. since the time that dan did his conversion, i have looked into swapping a rack and pinion steering unit into my 66, and have come to the conclusion that it can be done, BUT you have to duplicate the steering geometry from the early stangs for the system to work properly.

dont get me wrong, dan did a fabulous job doing the swap, an dhas given me some good ideas for my swap, when it happens, and he has also shown the problems that popup, and can be avoided with some extra thinking, and work.

LMan · Dec 20, 2005

wickedmach1 said:
chepsk8, It doesn't sound like you support this mod too much. Should I save some money and buy a TCP unit?

Bud, if you can say the TCP option will save you money, that should tell you right off that you are on the wrong track :Teh-Win:

chepsk8 · Dec 20, 2005

RB,

The issue with the OTR's was the diamater of the tapered end, it was too large for the stock 69 Mustang spindles. I was also doing the Granada disc upgrade, so it was a perfect fit.

The swap had other limitations too, such as only stock exhaust manifolds would fit, reduced ground clearance, BAD bump steer (almost cured with a BAER-Tracker kit). BUT, the car was a sweetheart on the highway! If I were to do it again, a narrower rack would be used, no question.

By doing alot myself, and junkyard parts, I probably only spent roughly $400

rbohm · Dec 20, 2005

chepsk8 said:
RB,

The issue with the OTR's was the diamater of the tapered end, it was too large for the stock 69 Mustang spindles. I was also doing the Granada disc upgrade, so it was a perfect fit.

The swap had other limitations too, such as only stock exhaust manifolds would fit, reduced ground clearance, BAD bump steer (almost cured with a BAER-Tracker kit). BUT, the car was a sweetheart on the highway! If I were to do it again, a narrower rack would be used, no question.

By doing alot myself, and junkyard parts, I probably only spent roughly $400

yeah, i figured that was the reason you used the granada spindles. and overall i felt the conversion was well done.

chepsk8 · Dec 20, 2005

Thanks for the kudos!

I guess one reason I did it was that I had access to a free rack, and the steering in Chepie was shot, so something had to be done. Being a person who likes these challenges, thinks outside the box, and am willing to try different things, I decided simply "why not? If it doesn't woprk, I'll fix the stock steering" As it turned out it worked, with limitations, and was still working five years later when I sold the car to Pat.

The whole trick to these steering comversions is to find a rack that is:
1. strong enough to support the V-8 weight, and have the strength for the car.
2. have the correct distance from inner end to inner end to avoid bump-steer.
3. Come from a rear-steer car
4. Be adaptable to the Mustang frame.
5. Be adaptable to the steering shaft & PS pump.

Then, you have to figure out inner & outer ends! I must have spent hours finding the parts that would mate correctly and give me the right lengths!

The GM J-Car rack would have been my second choice, V-6 small Ford my 3rd.

And yes, I'm still being creative, I made my own hydraulic clutch for the Cobra based on the Fox Pedals. Still doing things my way! Now where's that Sinatra song when I need it......

rbohm · Dec 21, 2005

by the way dan i came across an interesting idea for the next time you decide to do an r&p swap on an early car. essentially you build, or even use the stock drag link, and bend it around to where you can bolt the ends to the ends of the steering rack, and the use the stock tie rod ends and tie rod adjusters to maintain proper steering geometry. hope the picture helps.

bnickel · Dec 21, 2005

rbohm said:
by the way dan i came across an interesting idea for the next time you decide to do an r&p swap on an early car. essentially you build, or even use the stock drag link, and bend it around to where you can bolt the ends to the ends of the steering rack, and the use the stock tie rod ends and tie rod adjusters to maintain proper steering geometry. hope the picture helps.

actually that is a custom made center link. it is made by one the members on the forum here named Hakan. here is his website www.vikingmustang.com

Håkan · Dec 21, 2005

rbohm said:
by the way dan i came across an interesting idea for the next time you decide to do an r&p swap on an early car. essentially you build, or even use the stock drag link, and bend it around to where you can bolt the ends to the ends of the steering rack, and the use the stock tie rod ends and tie rod adjusters to maintain proper steering geometry. hope the picture helps.

What you are showing is the first fully functional prototype I made a couple of years ago. It has been tested and used on a ´69 Mach1 here in Sweden for a while, but we are now replacing it for a design based on a center take off rack & pinion. There´s a couple of reasons why I wouldn´t recommend using a design where you are connecting the ends of a side take off rack & pinion.

First of all I couldn´t use the original drag link as it was too short and it´s very time consuming to make that custom drag/center link.

Second, it´s very hard to get the tie rods to clear the new center link.

Third, as there´s some play in the rack & pinion gear, this play makes it possible to move the center link a little bit up and down, it´s of course possible to add some kind of support for the center link and we tried that too. Unfortunately without any results that we were satisfied with.

rbohm · Dec 21, 2005

Håkan said:
What you are showing is the first fully functional prototype I made a couple of years ago. It has been tested and used on a ´69 Mach1 here in Sweden for a while, but we are now replacing it for a design based on a center take off rack & pinion. There´s a couple of reasons why I wouldn´t recommend using a design where you are connecting the ends of a side take off rack & pinion.

First of all I couldn´t use the original drag link as it was too short and it´s very time consuming to make that custom drag/center link.

Second, it´s very hard to get the tie rods to clear the new center link.

Third, as there´s some play in the rack & pinion gear, this play makes it possible to move the center link a little bit up and down, it´s of course possible to add some kind of support for the center link and we tried that too. Unfortunately without any results that we were satisfied with.

yea, i liked the design cause it solved alot of geometry problems at one time, but obviously you found some other problems. i also have pictures using the center take off rack, and it seems pretty good too, but i liked your original design better.

unrealmach1 · Dec 23, 2005

So would anyone suggest the Taurus mod be done to a car. I looked at Chepsk8's page and found several others that had done the same conversion. I was really interested in doing the conversion on my 69 Mach1. I have started collecting the steel, '86 Taurus rack, and Mustang II inner and outer tie rods. I have a Master Power front brake conversion from a couple years ago that came assembled with new spindle, which I thought were 70 mustang front disc spindle and I have a Flaming River tilt cloumn. Right now I have about $100 buck into the Taurus conversion is it worth going any further? The TCP kit is too expensive and the Flaming River is only manual steering. ANyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,
Olen

rbohm · Dec 23, 2005

at this point i would say no, unless you are willing to put up with a larger turning radius, and working on eliminating bumpsteer. you might consider an early escort steering rack though as it is narrower than the taurus rack, an dmay not have the turning radius problem the taurus rack has.

unrealmach1 · Dec 23, 2005

Thanks for the escort rack info. I've never hear about that before. A larger turning radius doesn't bother me that much. Double the turning radius bothers me. I have looked at a lot of the kit out now and they all have larger turning radius than the stock steering. The bump-steer is a concern also. I am not expert on this so maybe I should worry about the turning radius more. Thanks for the info.

chepsk8 · Dec 23, 2005

I noted my observations above, but will comment that once I put in the BAER-Tracker kit, it improved dramatically. The Other issue is the routing of the steering shaft get in the way of exhaust & clutch.
I have a picture of the mount I made, but no dimensions.

Psydwaze · Dec 23, 2005

Finding a 'correct' OEM rack for a classic Mustang is... I don't want to say impossible but I'll say it hasn't been built yet. The majority of mass produced racks are end-take-off designs for newer cars. Generally newer vehicles will have shorter steering arms and therefore require less rack travel. This is where the significant increase in turning radius comes from. The only way to increase travel of the end-take-off racks is to make them longer which moves the inner tie rod pivots to far outboard. This problem is exaggerated on the 67-70 cars because the inner pivots were actually 3-1/2" closer together. Any rack narrow enough to give minimal bump steer will be a couple of inches short on travel and is generally not a stout enough unit to use safely with our heavier engines and wider tires. The other issue as mentioned previously is header clearance. The pinion and consequently steering linkage must be positioned inboard of the inner tie rod and on narrow, minimal bump steer, low travel units this becomes a real problem.

unrealmach1 · Dec 23, 2005

Chepsk8,

Did you use a tracker kit for a Mustang II?

69/70 Mustang Taurus Rack Installation?

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That's why they call it "dope"

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