The Unisteer Maverick rack & pinion kit has been available for almost 10 years. I am interested in user's opinions, both good and bad. Did 55crownvic ever market his kit? Thanks
There are many people that have used this kit. Most of them are probably not on this message board. Check on Facebook.
I know 55CrownVic personally. He used a rack from a early to mid '80s Chevy Cavalier (and other cars of the same GM platform). He made his own brackets and engineered the steering shaft geomety with the U-joints and all that. He was gonna help me put the same setup on my Maverick but I was on a waiting list for a remanufactured rack (they are not produced new) and after waiting a year, I cancelled my order from Sumitt. None of the local auto parts stores had any either. So based on the extremely limited availability, I decided to scrap the idea. I am somewhat interested in the Unisteer, but it's quite a bit more expensive. You have to use their power steering pump, and a mini starter since the stock starter will not clear the custom belly bar. I also am a bit leary of the quick 2.5 turn steering ratio as it may be twitchy. Stock is 3-3/4 turns, and I find the 3.0 turns on my daily-drivers to be ideal. Quick but not too quick...
I have a unisteer and only had one problem. The tie rod ends were for the large taper disc brake spindles and I have drum brake spindles to work with my Wilwood brakes.
The only issues I have read were from Bryant (user on here) but he runs his car hard. I don't think he named them by brand name but pretty sure is was unisteer. He also ran the home grown version and had issues there too. Like I said though, he runs the car hard, it's autocrossed and he has run the silver state classic with it.
I can't speak to durability or handling. Shortly after I got mine installed, took the car apart for paint. The system was very easy to install. The little I did drive it, it ran off the 5.0l factory ford PS pump with no issues.
