Unisteer Rack & Pinion

LMan said:

"photos not found"

Click to expand...

me too.

this darn machine.
give me something mechanical any day.

it won't work.
and it says my pic's are too big to upload here.

Unisteer installation instruction manual

I got my Rack yesterday.

I've made a PDF version of the "Unisteer installation manual" in case I'd misplace the paper version that was in the box.

The Unisteer manual covers alot of questions asked in this thread, and the pictures are very "illustrative". Manual covers 65-66 & 67-70 kits.

If someone would like a copy of the manual in PDF; please send me an email, and I'll be happy to reply the manual.

Please observe that the size of the PDF-file is approx. 9,5MB.

Merry Christmas to all of you.

Ok, the steering column rework came next.
Using a 4 in cutoff wheel in the hand held worked great.
but here are a few tips that the instructions did not cover,
after you cut the column cover there is an inner sleeve that needs to be cut as well. it MUST be cut shorter than the outter cover because the new end roller bearing must be pressed into the outer cover.
Use a round file to bevel the lip and the shaft end. And use sandpaper on the shaft to clean it will make installation much easier.

Now pin the U-joint making sure the end does not stick past into the opening or you Will have binding in the joint. reinstall column to start the mock up for shaft measuring.
This will be a long trial and trim to make the u-joint as close to straight as possable.
After at least 6 times in and out it became apperent that there was no way to make a smooth connection from U-joint to U-joint because of the header tube clearence.
Now this is where having a porta-power tool came in handy,
I used it to spread the header tubes to allow room so the shaft did not catch on the tubes.

Once clearence was made, it allowed the shaft to be slid in and measured with ease, I only had to trim off about 1/4in and make the screw landing to lock the joint down.
Now you can install the H-joint and adjust it to hold the shaft at the proper angle.
Centering the rack to make phasing the U-joints is very important.
IF you don't have the joints at least 45 degrees out,
You Will have binding when turning left or right.
a very easily over looked part of the install.

I installed the tie rod ends and set the toe by eye for now, it will be fully alined later.

With a couple of mile test drive done, it is not too hard to steer.
If I had a standard steering wheel ( has a small Grant wheel now)
the effort to turn is not the bad at a standing stop.
Road feel is greatly improved and there is no lag like the stock power unit had.
Steers quite well when moving, not much more effot than the stock unit,
maybe less with a larger steering wheel.

Bottom line...........
The unit does work.
Now it does take some thinking and planning to install and could be frusterating to some. Not a task that all should take on if you don't have the right tools.
But it does work and even removing the power steering pump gave it a little quicker throttle responce so there is a extra plus.

PB

Just got back from a test drive with the new rack installed. All I can say is wow. The car drives so much better. 3 turns lock to lock is unbelievable. It turns at low speed easier then it did before and at highway speeds it is now a pleasure to drive. The ratio is fast enough so you barely turn the wheel at speed and the car moves. It was worth all the effort. Have a great Holiday.

P.S. I have pic's of complete install if someone can show me how to post them so they are not so small you can't see the details.


Come on! :SNSign:

PB

Put them on photobucket.com then call them up on your thread/post.

it won't work.
and it says my pic's are too big to upload here.

Click to expand...

Your camera probably takes picts at high resolution. You'll need some imaging editing software to shrink the images down a bit.

Try this software:

http://www.download.com/Pixia/3000-2192_4-10515468.html?tag=lst-0-3

open your photo

got to image>make resized duplicate

screen shot
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l212/dbfarr/help1copy.jpg

a dialogue box will pop up

screen shot
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l212/dbfarr/help2.jpg

enter 500 for the width

hit "ok"

your new resized photo will show up

screen shot
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l212/dbfarr/help3.jpg

go to file>save as

a dialogue box will pop up

give the photo a name

*** CRITICAL : in the drop down menu, make sure you change the file type to jpeg: of course I didn't think of this when I made the screenshot.

screen shot
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l212/dbfarr/help4.jpg
Upload the photo you just made to photobucket.

They should be small enough in pixel and disc size to upload.

Hopefully this helps.

My guess is, your camera's resolution is so high that the actual size of the photo is not supported by photobucket

I think this is the link no?
http://s145.photobucket.com/albums/r237/mach1rider/

I just searched for mach1rider from the search box.

Nice to hear one installed and working. Still nobody with a 69/70 I don't guess?

The header issue is going to bite me I'm pretty sure. Guess I need to drop a block/head/tranny in and get ready. I think my Cobra pan might be an issue too??

Edit: Oh, forgot to say if you're using WinXP you should be able to just RIGHT click on the image and use RESIZE PICTURE option. Use 800x600 or 640x480 and they should work.

-Stephen

What headers did the both of you use? Thanks.

I have FlowTech long tube headers on.
and only needed to open the tube space slightly.

Now if this works, I typed in the address bar.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r237/mach1rider/

and I see all 11 pic's that I have posted there without logging on.

The 69-70 should be the same as my 68, from what I could tell.

I just couldn't bring myself to chop into the Mach right now.

But the price for the rack system was too good to pass,
585.65 delivered to my door.

PB

Mine is back ordered with the rest of them I guess.

First ship date of 12/04, then 12/08, now 12/09?? <shrugs>

I think you're missing a 'dot' up there.. this still works:

http://s145.photobucket.com/albums/r237/mach1rider/

Thanks for the pics!
-Stephen

What angles did you end up with on the u-joints?

Delayed!!!

Sorry for the delay on the Rack. I have been unable to get any time off from work due to the holidays. On the bright side, I will have 2 weeks starting next week to get it installed. I should have a detailed update at that point.

John

68efisuper said:

What angles did you end up with on the u-joints?

Click to expand...

The rack joint has about 28* angle and there is 12-14* on the colume joint that is first on the shaft,
the secound half of the joint (67-70) has a 3-4* angle to it But,
When I pull the engine out I think I can shorten the colume shaft slightly to remove it.

So far it's only problem is, It has caused me to plan a coil drop and rear suspension upgrade.

Good news and bad news...

I finally got started on the rack install.

Good news for the 65-66 owners... It clears the oil pan without issue. Over 3/8" clearance.

The bad news is that tube number 5 is completely in the wrong position to run the steering shaft. The shaft needs to run between tubes 5 and 6 and there is no space on my Hooker Comps to run the tube. The photos that I have seen of Comps before have a space between them like the ones in the manual, but my set does not have any space between 5 and 6. Looks like I will have to buy a new set of headers to get the rack to install. At this point, I am not willing to do that.


Here is a photo of my header and what the instructions show.

Check your headers before ordering. Good luck to others...

i think Pabear just wenr through that on his install and he used a port a power to seperate the tubes enough for the shaft. also i think the difference is that one of those sets of headers is hooker comp headers and the other set is of hooker super comps, there is a big difference between the 2

Yes, there was a slight gap between the tubes to start.
But working slow and moving it down the tubes I spread them enough to make room+ for the shaft without denting or cracking the coating and no leaks eather.



PB

This is one of the reasons Im happy Im building a turbocharged straight 6 200. No exhaust tubes to contend with on the steering shaft side.

Has anyone else gotten this rack installed though and can give us some more real world feedback on steering effort and road feel?