If I'm posting this in the wrong place I apologize. The site is a bit confusing to me. I'm looking for some help. I have a 1970 Maverick that I ripped out all the 6 cyl stuff and suspension. I'm having trouble figuring out the right rack and pinion kit to use, (power). and I am having trouble finding the clutch Z bar to work with the 302. I need to figure out the rack, header clearance and the stock style clutch linkage. Im using the T5 with Franks crossmember. Thanks Frank. Any help from anybody who has been through all of this would be appreciated. I was going to use the Unisteer rack but come to find out its not that great and has geometry issues. Thanks Brian
Back when I first put a V8 in my '70 (1973) the Maverick V8 clutch linkage wasn't available from dealers and there weren't any in local junk yards yet so I used, and am still using, '66 Mustang linkage. All the Mustang supply houses and eBay sells them.
Unisteer is going to be your only choice if you want to keep your factory suspension. Otherwise you could look at a Mustang II type of suspension, take out the shock towers, etc. I would consider going with a hydraulic clutch and not use a z-bar.
Craig, thanks for the advice. As of right now Im going with the Borgeson power steering box and using all the stock steering components. Im putting in the Total control coil over suspension and the RRS 3 link torque arm setup. With a 9 inch rear. I was told unisteer as too many issues and big bumpsteer problem. Plus Borgeson is way cheaper. Plan to use a Flaming river tilt column.
The Borgeson power steering box was going to be my suggestion. Despite their popularity, rack and pinion conversions often create serious geometry problems in cars which didn't originally come with a rack. The stuff from RRS is really nice, and I'm a fan of torque arm suspensions in cars which originally came with leaf springs.
Thanks for the help and suggestions. Borgeson is what I have been told by others as well. It looks like thats what I will be doing. just not sure about the coil over front end kit yet. I like Total Controls kit but big bucks. Thanks Brian
With the T5, forget the Z-bar or the cable type and go hydraulic. I used the Modern Driveline kits and am totally happy with it.
This may not be your thing, but I really liked this garage-built coilover setup. It's plenty sturdy and looks like it would work really well. Unfortunately I didn't take notes of where I found it. Good chance it was someone here on this forum, but it could have been from somewhere else.
Oh, thanks! Btw, I think it could be done with a T-bar on the bottom to get the bottom of the shock probably another 1 1/2" lower. Then the bottom of the spring wouldn't be quite so close to the bottom of the shock. But I'm not sure what the on-center dimension is of the spring saddles.
