In Search of... Rack and Pinion Info

96 DOHC Cobra · Apr 22, 2004

chepsk8 said:
A ways back, we had a few GOOD threads about Rack & Pinion Steering here.

I had ALOT of fun develping that system, and the only drawback was the large turning circle.

How much difference was there in the turning circle?

chepsk8 · Apr 22, 2004

Made it about 1.5 times larger, only no yiceable in parking or slow turns.

skywalker · Apr 22, 2004

chepsk8 said:
Made it about 1.5 times larger, only no yiceable in parking or slow turns.

That's 95% of my turning! lol I'm seriously considering Randall's Rack myself, but it'll have to wait until I return from PLC in august.

jikelly · Apr 23, 2004

Flaming river sells rag joints to connect to the steering column. Hum, I wonder if I could use that and not have to mess with disasembling my column. They might be a good source for info. I wonder if I could talk them into using my car to prototype a Rack for the 71-73 mustangs. Just a thought.

bnickel · Apr 23, 2004

you might look at http://www.darkhorseracing.net/ brion has a tcp rack in his 71 race car maybe he could give you some pointers

burnout289 · Apr 24, 2004

anybody remember this old thread?

http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=128170&page=1&pp=25

jikelly · Apr 24, 2004

Yeah I looked at that one lots of info but all the pics are gone. Chepsk8 I hope I got my email box cleared out enough for you to send me that file let me know if your message gets kicked back and thanks again for all the help.

skywalker · Apr 24, 2004

hey cheap sk8, send your article to me too, gtg312a@prism.gatech.edu

jikelly · May 4, 2004

I finally got around to measuring the steering components on my 73 and I wanted to ask you guys about something.

The crossmember that runs under the oilpan on my mustang is a solid piece and an integral part of my shock towers. That being the case I will not be able to make my own crossmember to mount in its place and am nervous about modifying it.

The center link is located about 2.5 inches away from the crossmember so I was thinking that that might not leave enough room to mount the rack on the crossmember anyway.

bnickel · May 5, 2004

on the darkhorse car the crossmember was completely cut out and he built a new one to mount the rack. i have looked at www.speeddirect.com and the way they are mounting the cavalier rack with tie rods in front of the rack instead of the normal modifications to place them behind the rack and i think that may work for your application pretty well, since the rack would not interfere with the cross member. on the actual cavalier application the rack is mounted on the firewall with tie rods in front. if you have enough clearance between the transmission and the factory crossmember it should work pretty well. i believe the late model monte carlos use the same type of rack as well so that might be another option

jikelly · May 10, 2004

Okay so now that I am free from school I can really devote my time to this project.

I need to know from you guys if you think it is better if I use a rack which has the tie rods attached at its ends or in its center.

I am looking around on the web and I am thinking that the 90 something dodge intrepid rack might be what I'm looking for. I would have to use a center link on that type rack, but they seem to be easy to find, and not very to expensive

ashford · May 10, 2004

if you feel like going crazy on you front end i got a link for you
http://www.stuart.iit.edu/students/2112/restoration/M2frontend.htm

bnickel · May 10, 2004

jikelly, do you have any more info on the dodge intrepid rack you mentioned?

jikelly · May 10, 2004

I have only seen pictures of the intrepid rack. I am probably going to go to the junkyard tomorrow to see if I can find one and take some measurements. Really I should just do a search on the web I bet the specs for that rack are posted somewhere. I guess the important dimensions would be mount locations, overall length of the rack and diameter.

Ronstang · May 10, 2004

The MOST important measurement is overall rack travel.....that is the biggie, get me one that has enough travel for lock to lock steering and I will create the kit to make it a drop in proposition.

jikelly · May 11, 2004

So the rack's lock to lock travel should equal the travel of my steering gearbox?

Ronstang · May 11, 2004

It is not the travel of the steering box but the overall travel of the steering. The asisest way to find that value (I haven't done it in years) is to put the car on jackstands and put a plumbbob on the centerlink. Turn the wheel to one side tit locks and make a mark on the floor where the plumbbob is...then turn the wheel all the way the other direction until lock and mark the floor again. The distance between these two marks is the total travel necessary to keep from losing turning radius. Good luck finding a rack with this amount of travel becuase I don't think it exists.

chepsk8 · May 11, 2004

an idea I considered was the Cavalier style rack, which had a moving block, and clamp the center-link to it. Rear steer, just get the steering column to it, while clearing exhaust & clutch!

jikelly · May 11, 2004

Well I struck out at the yard. They didn't have any intrepids, but I did find a few cavaliers and another car the olds acheiva which also has the center take off rack. After looking for information about it on the web I discovered that the olds racks had problems and might not be worth using. The intrepid is still the one that I'm looking for. I did find an interesting site on the web.

http://www.mavalgear.com/UnisteerPower.html

This company can apperently construct a rack to meet anyones specs. I bet its not cheap but it might be something to look at.

96 DOHC Cobra · May 11, 2004

Ronstang said:
It is not the travel of the steering box but the overall travel of the steering. The asisest way to find that value (I haven't done it in years) is to put the car on jackstands and put a plumbbob on the centerlink. Turn the wheel to one side tit locks and make a mark on the floor where the plumbbob is...then turn the wheel all the way the other direction until lock and mark the floor again. The distance between these two marks is the total travel necessary to keep from losing turning radius. Good luck finding a rack with this amount of travel becuase I don't think it exists.

So how much travel (lock to lock) is considered "good?"

In Search of... Rack and Pinion Info

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