Rack and pinion

And that was over a year ago. I guess they gave up. So much for making one work.

 

I am going with a stang II and am glad to get rid of the shock towers. But with what I am doing (bigblock) the shocktowers have to go. My question is this, why are some of you reluctant to lose your shock towers?
Dan
ps I am going with a fully caged, front to rear car so I will not lose any structural stability, is that what you are concerned with losing?

 

If I'm sticking with the 302 block, I just dont see the need to go through the expense and work to loose the shock towers. Seems to me there should be a way to get racks made for us at around $1000. Thats less than half of what the Must II kit costs. For any other motor, I'd definately go the M II route.

 

Dan,


I just like the stock appearing configuration. I am a skilled metal fabricator and niether option will IMO give me any issues that can't be solved. Just did a 57 chevy Rack and pinion set up recently and few others all have been homemade and turned out great using inexpensive options. The most expensive was the 57 at about 500.00 bucks. Used a Chevy Celebrity rack in that one.

 

Hey 1badmav, you never did answer my question on whether your planning on fabricating a rear steer or front steer set up. I always wondered if you switched the spindels from side to side, if that would work and help towards making a front steer rack work.

 

Rear steer. I have entertained the idea of frt but that would mean removing shock towers. i thought the same thing about swapping spindles side to side.

 

Okay, some basic information for the Rack and Pinion installation.

Frame rails are 26.5 inches apart
Pivot point for lower control arm inner ends are 16.5 inches apart
Outer tie rod holes in spindles are approx 44.5 inches apart.

The custom order form for a Flaming River rack asks for two dimmensions.
The overall length of the rack not including outer tie rod ends.
The distance between the pivot points on the rack itself. This would be the point where the outer rod pivots up and down in relation to the stationary rack itself.

I have been unable to find any good reference books that describe the relationship between the pivot points on the rack and the pivot points on the inner end of the lower control arms. I also do not know the length of the outer tie rod ends that would need to be used to make up to Maverick / Comet front disc brake spindles.

When I called Flaming River, they quoted me a cost of $450 for the rack itself if I can fingure out the correct dimmensions to have them make it for me. The bracket to mount it would be relatively simple to build. I could purchase the same steering column, etc. that they use for the Mustang kits minus the actual bracket to mount the rack in the car.

Any engineers out there want to take a stab at what the correct dimmensions should be for a rack based on the above partial information?

 

There's what I'm talking about. Brackets are the easiest part. If our columns have a bushing at the bottom, you wont need a aftermarket one. Probably only have to get the shaft machined to accept the knuckle joint. I think I'll pose this question to Mustang and Fords and see if their experts can answer it.

 

Guys; I saw in either Mustang and Fords or Car Craft that someone is making a bolt in rack and pinion setup for classic Mustangs. Will something like this fit Mavs? Seems like it should.

 

No, unfortunately not. The distance between the inner pivot points of the lower control arms is different which would lead to possible steering geometry problems according to the Flaming River people. There is about 1.5 inches difference between our cars and a 67 - 70 Mustang.

 

Dan,
My plans for my drag Mav were to MII the front end and go with a 460. However, I decided that I don't want to do just local bracket racing. The Fun Ford Weekend group and the NMRA/Pro Fastest Street Car Racing Assn. have racing classes that a Maverick can qaulify for but you MUST retain the stock suspension. Modifications like cutting the towers is acceptable. Though the 429/460 and the 351W are period correct, you can only modify under the hood to make an engine fit. By having to retain the stock suspension, that eliminates the use of a 460. 408 stroker, here I come.:bananaman

That's my excuse for cutting the towers and I'm sticking to it.

 

Ok so Matt brought this thread to my attention (sorry I've been busy at home here lately ) As for the colum that is pretty simple, all you need is a colum from a pinto,bobcat,or mustang II. I swear that is the easiest part. as alot of you know the colums in our cars collaps in the case of a front on impact,so all ya need to do is graft the lower half of the bobcat stearing shaft into the upper half of the mav shaft.....they just pull apart when you have the colum apart and slide back together. on mine I pulled the colum shift tube out and then just sliped the bearing from the bottom of the mII colum tube right into the bottom of my mav colum tube so it supports the shaft (slid right in and was held in place by a screw) and by changing the lower half of the shaft it gave me the u-joint on the bottom of the colum It was easy. I believe the mII rack would work for the rear stear with a little fab work. And Dan I swear to you that this winter I will build a proto type MII crossmember to Fit our cars like we had talked about.....right now I have a few trannys I have to get built and then pour some new concrete into my shop. and hope that some where in the frenzie I have the time(and money) to get mine fixed and to the track before the snow fly's (I need a base line) but right now I'm just a tranny whore but hey what ever pays for my toy's right

 

Front steer racks would be a challenge to make work in a rear steer car. When you turn the wheel clockwise to make a right turn, a front steer rack will extend to the right side of the rack. This would cause a left turn on a rear steer spindle.

To make this work you would have to mount the rack upside down, which would put the steering column on the right (passenger) side of the car. Or you could build some kind of gear converter that would cause a clockwise input to be converted to a counter clockwise input to the rack.

It will probably be much simpler to modify an existing rear steer rack to work with the Maverick / Comet steering geometry.

 

From what I read the TCP racks for Mustangs actually have the ends where the tie rods would normally be bolted to the car frame and the center tube has the tie rods that go to the spindles. In other words the ends are stationary and the center moves side to side. That's how they fit them into narrow framed vehicles like Mustangs.

 

The TCP rack does have solidly mounted ends with the moving part in the center. Unfourtunately, TCP is not interested in modifying their racks to fit a Maverick/Comet. "Not enough volume to justify the engineering expenses."


There is an alternative.

www.randallsrack.com

He uses a modified GM "J" car rack and custom center linkage that our stock inner/outer tierod assembly attaches to. He has kits for 65-70 Mustangs, has modified his kits to work on a 63 or 64 Ranchero. He called me back this morning and seemed quite interested in building the needed brackets and center linkage to work with my '70 Maverick.

The kit includes the rack, center linkage, bracket that the rack bolts to, hoses, brackets to install a GM power steering pump and correct pulley, etc. It seems like quite a complete kit.

I plan to purchase his kit as soon as he has it ready for the Maverick.

And at $1495, the price is still about $800 cheaper than the TCP rack. That seems like a lot of money until you compare it to replacing all the OEM steering parts with new or rebuilt parts. You will have spent about 2/3 the money but will have a 40 year old steering design with lots less precise steering.