Hey guys, I need to replace my steering rack and shaft on my 87 gt. I was thinking of going to a Flaming river manual rack but not sure if it will be too hard for daily driving. Anyone have one of their racks? Would it be easier or harder with a quicker ratio rack(20:1 to 15:1).
Fox Manual Steering Rack For Daily
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As long as you are moving, the extra effort for steering will be something you can live with... Until you have a tight parking space to get into or injure your hand or arm. It would be interesting to see if you turn suddenly green and grow bulging muscles when confronted with such problems...
For a street driven car, manual steering won't save you that much weight or HP. It will just make the car more unpleasant to drive a slow speeds, parking or heavy traffic.. If it is a stripped out race car, have at it.
The lower the numerical ratio, the few number of turns of the steering wheel from full left lock to full right lock.. However fewer turns lock to lock means the effort to turn increases. Bring on that big green guy with the bulging muscles and torn clothing...
Along with the manual rack, you will need a new idler pulley to replace the Power Steering pump. I suspect that the A/C has been removed too. In that case, you have other problems as well. Maybe you have figured out some magical means of using a shorter belt with a routing method that I have never seem before... Not too likely on that one...
For a street driven car, manual steering won't save you that much weight or HP. It will just make the car more unpleasant to drive a slow speeds, parking or heavy traffic.. If it is a stripped out race car, have at it.
The lower the numerical ratio, the few number of turns of the steering wheel from full left lock to full right lock.. However fewer turns lock to lock means the effort to turn increases. Bring on that big green guy with the bulging muscles and torn clothing...
Along with the manual rack, you will need a new idler pulley to replace the Power Steering pump. I suspect that the A/C has been removed too. In that case, you have other problems as well. Maybe you have figured out some magical means of using a shorter belt with a routing method that I have never seem before... Not too likely on that one...
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My last Fox had one. Like said moving down the street wasn't really an issue. Parking sucked, especially if you didn't line it up perfectly the first time and you had to back up and muscle the steering wheel back around.
I had a man rack on the last car. I had it there for about 12k miles driven daily quite frequently. Firstly, flaming river isn't your only choice for one. ( unless you just like shiny). The mustang in its earlier years came base w/ o pwr steering, rock auto probably sells the rack reman'd. But again, it'll be black painted stock replacement stuff, not polished aluminum.
Unless you're going around corners though, the " sport rack" steering ratio is gonna be a real btch when steering into the Walmart parking space for new underwear. Especially if you have any tire wider than a 215.
Unless you're going around corners though, the " sport rack" steering ratio is gonna be a real btch when steering into the Walmart parking space for new underwear. Especially if you have any tire wider than a 215.
If you need to replace your current rack, going manual won't save you much money. By the time you buy the rack, the steering adapter, and an idler pulley and belt, your cost is going to exceed what you would have spent just replacing the rack as-is.
Plus daily driving a manual rack car on the street is tough! You don't save a whole lot of weight and HP by going manual. It's great for road racing where you don't need the power assist, but at low speeds you really do
Plus daily driving a manual rack car on the street is tough! You don't save a whole lot of weight and HP by going manual. It's great for road racing where you don't need the power assist, but at low speeds you really do
i have the flaming river setup on my fox. i would definately do it again. the one thing i would do different when buying my parts though is i would just buy the rack and tierod ends from flaming river and then i would get the steering shaft from maximum motorsports. If I remember right the cost is pretty close but the flaming river steering shaft is kind of ghetto the way you need to put it together. the maximum one is all welded up nice with a telescoping shaft.
If i am being completely honest when i first drove the car after the switch I thought i had made a mistake. But after about 500 or 1000 miles I feel like it got much easier to turn. I also don't drive in the city and parking is almost never a problem with me. I put about 4000 miles on the car a year so it isn't a daily, but i only drive 12-15000 a year anyways so it is a good chunk of my driving. now when I switch between my regular car and stang I can barely tell a difference. I think it has alot to do with timing also, as long as you wait for the car to roll for a split second before turning the wheel your good.
If i am being completely honest when i first drove the car after the switch I thought i had made a mistake. But after about 500 or 1000 miles I feel like it got much easier to turn. I also don't drive in the city and parking is almost never a problem with me. I put about 4000 miles on the car a year so it isn't a daily, but i only drive 12-15000 a year anyways so it is a good chunk of my driving. now when I switch between my regular car and stang I can barely tell a difference. I think it has alot to do with timing also, as long as you wait for the car to roll for a split second before turning the wheel your good.
What width are your front tires? I have a complete FR manual rack I'm thinking about installing on my car but I have 255 tires up front and I don't see myself going any narrower than 245 up front ever.
I have 225 up front which is not too big but I have to park in my college parking lot every day. Starting to think it might not be the best for my car. Any recommendations for a power steering rack. Before i was looking at a manual rack i was already planning to get the maximum Motorsports shaft.
I have 225's up front. parking lots really are not a problem. I can pull in and out of spaces with no problem. parallel parking is a whole different story. if you have to do that on a regular basis that could be kind of a pain. It isn't easy at all to cut into the spot and if you have the super tight spots that some bigger cities have then you could be in a bit of trouble.
Shakerhood
Dirt-Old 20+Year Member
Go with an 03-04 Steering Rack, I did the upgrade last year and have been extremely happy with it.
Is this the cobra rack or regular. I hear of people putting the cobra racks in their fox. Is it the same as the other models?
I went with the wide ratio manual rack. It is like 4 or 4.5 turns lock to lock. Not to bad at all. Even though it is a racecar, and you have to hold the transbrake button down with one hand while steering with the other hand while backing up, it is very doable.
http://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/aaz-22-2000/overview/year/2003/make/ford/model/mustang
Was looking through the forums and found the cobra rack at summit racing, think I am gonna go with that as I have only heard good things and put it with the MM shaft. Thanks for all the help guys!
Was looking through the forums and found the cobra rack at summit racing, think I am gonna go with that as I have only heard good things and put it with the MM shaft. Thanks for all the help guys!
Shakerhood
Dirt-Old 20+Year Member
This is a good read:
Power Steering - Steered Straight - 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords Magazine
The 03-04 Cobra Rack has a much improved steering feel over Stock and you get rid of that vague on center feeling.
superchamp5.0
Member
- Sep 23, 2015
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Remove your power steering pump and drive the car a couple of months with the power steering rack and no pump after the couple months install the Manual rack you will think you have power steering again 
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