71-73 engine swap

mudbilly said:

yay for the wide body...............i would love to have rack and pinion.....i hate my steering, but there is nothing readily available to upgrade to.........

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Get your steering box rebuilt. Its a Saginaw, they still use them in Nascar and there are shops that build/rebuild them. I had mine rebuilty by a guy in So-Cal to a 12:1 ratio. It cost me $350 and was a 100% improvement.

pushrod power said:

Get your steering box rebuilt. Its a Saginaw, they still use them in Nascar and there are shops that build/rebuild them. I had mine rebuilty by a guy in So-Cal to a 12:1 ratio. It cost me $350 and was a 100% improvement.

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is that a local shop to you ?? and what is the original ratio on these ?

No, I live in Nor-Cal and shipped it to them. Can't remember what the standard ratio but it's something like 16/18:1 variable. I went with a constant ratio and a smaller wheel. It's not rack and pinion but the steering feel was much better than stock. IIRC the company I used was Lee Engineering.

I'm fully aware of this. The only reason I'm going with rack and pinion is because The modular motor won't clear the steering box. The stock manifolds and or aftermarket headers won't clear on drivers side because of steering box. It was either custom headers or rack and pinion.

Rod and Customs makes a nice R&P MII setup for the 71-73's...their site says it adds over 7" to either side after removing the shock towers!

Rod & Custom Motorsports

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I'll believe it when I see it. There are companys like rod n custom and jim meyer racing that claim in magazines they have kits for 65-73 but,if you acually call them they don't have 71-73. I have heard rumors,aje racing is working on a kit for 71 torinos which is the same 71-73's. 71-73 cars would require wider crossmember,wider sway bar and wider steering rack. not to mention different linkage to connect rack to column. As I found out with Tinman fabrication and now RRS these companys are just assuming this stuff will fit and never acually tried to put it on the car. I bought subframe connectors from tinman for my 71,they advertised 65-73. When I got them they didn't line up perfectly,because 65-73 rear frame rails are identical in width and cross measurments. however,the 71-73 front rails are four inches further apart than 65-70 thus causing them to not fit. They were in total denial of the problem and wouldn't admit to the screw up. Told me i could return them but,I had to pay another $80 to ship them back. a few months later they started offering a special set just for the 71-73's. Its amazing how these places manage to stay in business and not get in trouble for this ****. I have fab up so many things for my car. I've been thinking about selling bolt in mod motor mounts for 71-73's,steering rack conversion and cheap power window setups that don't require specials glass and parts.