Rack & Pinion questions
- Thread starter sparx
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what width tire do you plan on running?
I bet your weight and tire selection wont require power steering. It will be a little hard to parralel park but doable.
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At this point, as you can tell from my posts, I have not given tires a lot of thought. The only element I have held to was to go to 15" rims, but have not done any searching on what guys are running as far as the exact sizes.
There is little to no parallel parking here in Tucson, but I did learn how to drive in a 62 Belair, 6 cylinder, 3 on the column, manual brakes and steering. Hey it had a radio and a heater!
I don't need a super wide tire, I am lowing the front 1" as per coils and have the Shelby drop. Going with 4.5 mid eyes in the rear. Also there will be KONI shocks on this one. Using roller perches and have as mentioned rebuilt the upper and have new lower control arms.
Probalby use the same width in rims used back in the day, 6 or 7" not sure what they had.
I like road feel I don't want to lose that.
Also my car was dead when I got it, engine not working so I never had a chance to drive it all all. So I have no idea on how OEM steering felt.
sparx
There is little to no parallel parking here in Tucson, but I did learn how to drive in a 62 Belair, 6 cylinder, 3 on the column, manual brakes and steering. Hey it had a radio and a heater!
I don't need a super wide tire, I am lowing the front 1" as per coils and have the Shelby drop. Going with 4.5 mid eyes in the rear. Also there will be KONI shocks on this one. Using roller perches and have as mentioned rebuilt the upper and have new lower control arms.
Probalby use the same width in rims used back in the day, 6 or 7" not sure what they had.
I like road feel I don't want to lose that.
Also my car was dead when I got it, engine not working so I never had a chance to drive it all all. So I have no idea on how OEM steering felt.
sparx
No you cannot convert to power from the manual rack. You can't put any sort of "in-line" booster which would operate on the input shaft since there's not space to work.
The manual rack is fun on the street, but on the track or autocross course it's a bear.
5280/4 - I don't believe the Steeroids rack is a J-car rack. For one thing, it's got a much faster ratio than the other j-car setups (2.5 turns vs 3 for most other systems). This link has some info / comparisons to other brands: SpeedDirect.com - Steeroids - Compared To The Competition
the steeroids rack looks like a power steering version of the j-car rack. I know at rock auto you can search for the j-car rack. They have a quick ratio version. But anyway the steeroids rack is just an oem style rack and i dont want to run something like that. But you get what you pay for. Its a little cheaper than TCP but much less quality. When i mount my TCP rack in my falcon i will be using a lower cross member.
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Understand on the build quality, but the faster ratio is highly desirable in my opinion. 3 turns lock-to-lock is really slow (especially when you've got a manual rack). Any sort of high-performance, track, or autocross use I'd really consider trying to get a rack with a faster ratio than TCP offers. That said, perhaps disassembling the TCP rack and getting some custom parts made would also alleviate the issue...
as i stated earlier, the pinion in the TCP rack is a 2.09 ratio from woodward. From my understanding any standard woodward pinion will fit and work. So you can easily change the ratio.
For me, i would prefer the limited steering deflection in the TCP rack than the quicker ratio of the steeroids. But in a perfect world i would get a TCP rack with my custom mounting and a inline steering quickener that is easily installed for tighter tracks. I would put it in the intermediate shaft location.
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the TCP rack is much quicker ratio than stock. You barely move the wheel and your car will go that direction. Took me a little while to get used to it to be able to drive straight. Going through windy roads I only gotta turn the wheel half of a turn. this is on a 69 with the power rack, stock front suspension.
Psydwaze
Founding Member
It's a little difficult to offer a direct comparison between rack and pinion and steering box systems. The speed of a rack is described in its rate of travel, whereas a steering box uses a ratio of degrees. The overall system steering ratio (degrees at steering wheel compared to degrees at wheels) can be used but this will vary between vehicle models. So in short, the TCP rack does quicken the overall steering ratio.
I have heard the "too precise" comment before and it is normally attributed to a combination of the pinion gear adjustment being too tight and the rack not being completely broke-in, preventing it from returning to center freely. After the initial break-in period the rack is as comfortable to drive as any vehicle.
Psydwaze
Founding Member
Sparx said:
We do not offer upgrades from manual racks to power anymore. With the additional shipping cost, parts, and labor, you're better off selling the manual rack on Ebay and purchasing a completely new rack. All the installation components are the same so you don't have to remove the mounting brackets from your car. Just undo the clamps, inner tie rods, and lower U-joint to remove the manual rack. The intermediate steering shaft will have to be shortened a bit for the power rack. But, other than that all the brackets are the same, so the new ones can be sold with the manual rack.
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