Out of all the rack kits, does anyone make one right?

I keep looking at the GM boxes as an alternative to R&P. Anyone ever seen one on a classic mustang? You can get about any pitman arm for them and get rid of the numb slave power assist.

problem with the saginaw (GM) power gearboxes is that there isn't enough room for them between the shock tower and firewall.

bnickel said:

problem with the saginaw (GM) power gearboxes is that there isn't enough room for them between the shock tower and firewall.

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I was actually looking at the tri-5 box. It looks like the same bolt pattern in a borgeson ad in street rodder magazine. I'm sure someone has tried it and if it worked it would be a popular swap. Bnickel, I saw in a post elsewhere that you are sticking with 15's on your car. What brand, size tire are you using? I want 15's too, but tire size seems limited. M/T is coming out with some good looking radials in 15", http://mickeythompsontires.com/street.html , but not 'til sept.

well it will eventually have 15x8's all around with 295/50-15's out back and i'm hoping i can squeeze a 275/50-15 up front but i'll have to wait and see on that one. right now it has 15x8 275/50-15 out back and 15x7 235/60-15 up front, the front tires are a little taller than the rear because of the inch of rim width. i like to have some sidewall so it has a bit better ride. i know a 275/40-17 will fit up front but to fit a 275/50-15 up front i'll have do some playing around with rim width and backspace first. if i can't fit those up front i'll stay with the 235/60-15 front and 295/50-15 rear. i may also have to go wider on the rear for the 295/50 like maybe to a 9 or 9.5" wheel

A fixed Steeroids??

Håkan,

Is this basically a Steeroids-like design with a few things to minimize flex? It looks like you have a more solid connection to the frame and that slider bar is there to add stiffness, I imagine? It also seems like there's no compromise to the steering travel. Here are photos of the Steeroids. They mount in the same place. Would you care to comment on what is similar and different to their design? (I have Steeroids installed)



and here's a link to a few final install photos on my ride:

http://homepage.mac.com/jbauder/steeroidsuniqueweb/steeroidsuniqueweb.html


Thanks,
Joe

Håkan said:

It was a modified power r&p from a Mazda 929 that I used on a ´69 Mach1 and a modified manual SAAB r&p that I used on a ´65 convertible. Both were made with a custom centerlink that made it possible to re-use the original tie rods and to minimize bumpsteer. Unfortunately I came to the conclusion that it would be too expensive to mass produce them with this complicated design.

But I have just made a new design using a Opel Vectra (European GM car) center take off rack & pinion and it´s undergoing tests on a ´68 convertible right now. We have sorted out some initial problems that were all related to the hydraulics and it seems to work very good now. The owner of the ´68 says the steering is as good as on his Audi TT.

The Opel r&p have 2,75 turns from lock to lock and more than 6" of rack travel and there´s no increase in turning radius. We kept the inner tie rod ends in the original position, but if/when I decide that this design will go into production I will optimize bumpsteer. I didn´t do any mods to the Opel r&p except for an adapter for the steering U-joint and re-routing the hydraulic lines on it. Later models of this particular Opel r&p have a 3/4" Double-D input shaft and won´t need any adapter.

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70vert said:

Håkan,

Is this basically a Steeroids-like design with a few things to minimize flex? It looks like you have a more solid connection to the frame and that slider bar is there to add stiffness, I imagine? It also seems like there's no compromise to the steering travel. Here are photos of the Steeroids. They mount in the same place. Would you care to comment on what is similar and different to their design? (I have Steeroids installed)

and here's a link to a few final install photos on my ride:

http://homepage.mac.com/jbauder/steeroidsuniqueweb/steeroidsuniqueweb.html


Thanks,
Joe

Click to expand...

Hard to say as I´ve never seen any of the American kits IRL. I have seen a GM J-car r&p though in MustangSteve´s garage in Carrollton, Texas when I was there last summer, but that´s about it.

Here´s some additional info about my prototype design that might make it different:

The brackets I´ve made to attach the Opel r&p to the framerails uses 6 bolts on the driver´s side and 3 bolts on the passenger side. The material I used in the brackets is 4 mm (3/16") steel. We tested a more simple bracket on the driver´s side to begin with, but it was flexing and I added some gussets and 2 more bolts to make it solid.

I used the same 4 mm (3/16") steel material to make the new centerlink or the piece that connects the tie rods to the r&p. In all holes there´s turned inserts welded making it possible to re-use the original inner tie rod ends and the 2 original M12 (~1/2") fine threaded bolts on the Opel r&p. There´s also reinforcements welded to the backside of the piece connecting the inner tie rod ends to the r&p.

I re-used the original tie rods with inner and outer tie rod ends.

When I started to make this new prototype I didn´t know who was going to test it, so I made it possible to use it on either a ´65/´66 or a ´67 - ´70 Mustang and when I saw how far it was between the 2 bolts in the center of the r&p and the inner tie rod end hole on the passenger side if used on a ´65/´66 Mustang I made that slide bar to support that end of the piece connecting the the inner tie rod ends to the r&p.

I´ve also found that there´s poly bushings available instead of the original rubber bushing that I took from the Opel to attach the r&p to my brackets and we might try them out to make the whole thing even more solid.

Maybe I also should mention that the ´68 Mustang we are testing this prototype on have a front and rear suspension that is as good as you make it using the original but reinforced A-arms, poly bushings, Koni shocks, HD springs, fine tuned alignment, swaybars, Baer front brakes, 17" wheels etc. It´s powered by a Paxton supercharged 347 and also has a Cobra T5 transmission, Recaro seats and so on.