I read that his morning while , oh never mind, anyway it I almost choked on it.

Jay, you are correct, credibility gets weak fast when your advertisers are writing articles in your publication.

 

Maybe this is a dumb question, but if the Flaming River steering boxes (with needle bearing?) are so much nicer than the original rebuilt boxes, why go to the trouble and expense of rack & pinion?

 

The AC install was questionable too, talk of the big aluminum radiator going in ... but no follow up to show it worked. Also the hands in the picture kept changing from men's to women's :scratch:

 

There is a school of thought that recirculating-ball steering, by nature, cannot be the equal of a well-built R&P....plus it will always be heavier and often more bulky.
That said, a well-built RBS box is certainly preferable to a poorly-engineered R&P.
________
Gennice

 

The Eleanor series clone has a r/p set up and as to who made it I do not know but you can check this out to see who made the parts for it .

 

TTT... and...

Lookin' for more info on this R&P...

http://www.speeddirect.com/index.aspx?nodeID=75

The Steeroids one... it was posted about a little on VMF a couple days ago, just seein' if anyone else had dug up info about it... I know Jpony talked about it a while back... While I'm not ready to switch to anything as of yet, my steering box is startin' to bite the big one (some play in it) and I'd like to have some new and exciting thing in there to make my car more intersting. :P

Well, not really, but I'd like to have a little cooler steering... and i have a power steering pump just sittin' on my serp stuff, I might as well put it to good use! :P

 

So whats the problem with doing a mustang II front end? I was looking into it, and it looks like the way to go. LMK what you guys think.

 

I too have done some research combined with a lot of conversation about R&P systems. My steering is all but dead. The splines on the box are fried to the point that the rag joint slips big time.

Flaming River is out. They have yet figured out the long tube issue. They are said to have a minimum of 20 different mounting brackets. None of which fit correctly. Obviously their support of this product REEKS!!!

Steeriods has good success in the Chev market but just intoduced their Mustang unit. I am concerned about proper fitting and complete R & D.

TCP has a lot of history and most folks seem to be very happy. However, now under the control of Alstrom they are no longer hungry for sales and seem to lost their GASF. Give A $hit Factor. Not to mention at 2K a pop!!! when I tried to talk with them they would NOT talk technical. Give them an order or go away. Kent Ketell and i have talked a lot about TCP. He is VERY pleased with their products. But he delt with Terry, not Alstrom.

Randalls seem to have delt with most issues. He is using a dependable rack with replacement parts available locally. I spoke with Randall and he has assured me the long tube issue is fully delt with. He did say that with only a couple of off brand headers he still needs to put a shim in. Those seem to be the headers that hang low to begin with. As for bump steer, he claims it is not a steering issue but rather a mounting issue of the UCA's. He flat told me that NO steering system would eliminate bump steer if a car has been lowered without changing the upper ball angle. He suggested both Baer and Pro-Motor bump steer kits. The turning radius seems to be equal that of stock steering. From what I can see. Can anyone confirm??

The big issue seems to be steering columns. I heard just today that Flaming River has just introduced a colapsable column. This I hav enot confirmed. But it could sway me big time.

PLEASE - keep this dialog going. I am at a "gotta do something" point!!!!

 

That sounds a little bit strange, hereÂŽs an article about bumpsteer that you might find interesting: http://www.woodwardsteering.com/rpi.htm

 

RE: The Collapsable column from Flaming River... are you refering to the model with the "crumple zone" in case of accidents? That's been around sometime in the universal model, perhaps they will offer the option for the Mustang column now?

 

I've had the TCP Rack and Pinion kit, in additon to the KRC power steering pump, on the 68 for close to a year. I am very happy with the quality of the product; it really does a tremendous job of making the car more driveable at low/very low speed operation. Only "complaint," if you can call it one, is that the KRC unit is noisy at times. Best of luck.

 

My tcp power rack is nice, good quality....yada yada...but sure it is expensive too, but so are Ferraris.
Anyway, I did a-lot of research into this subject and compiled it here...hope you find this small resource at least a-little useful.
http://www.trinitysmustangs.com/rack_and_pinion.htm



ps, my stock ps pump make a-lot of noise too. as soon as it craps out I’m gonna get a krc...then maybe it'll a little better
??

 

I spoke with Flaming river today. They do have a crumple zone column that fits our Mustangs. It is offered with a DD shaft, tilting, only in stainless. Less than 500.00.

The part number is the same as their standard only add the suffix "LC"

Bump steer. What I gathered from the very infomative link, is basically bump steer can be eliminated by placing the rack in front of the tie rods. All the racks I have looked at do that. So it looks like the bump steer issue with a rack is no more than we would experiece with a box type steering system. Right??

 

WhatÂŽs important when dealing with bumpsteer or trying to eliminate it, is what the relation between where the upper and lowerball joints, the inner UCA and LCA pivot points and the outer and inner tie rod ends pivot points are.

So it all depends on how well the whole front end geometry is set up seen from the bumpsteer perspective.

Normally thereÂŽs just 3 of these 6 pivot points that you can do something about on the early Mustang when you adapt a rack & pinion. The UCA inner attachment point is what you move when you do a "Shelby mod" and this will of course effect bumpsteer (If lowered 1" it actually reduces the original bumpsteer to half of what it was).

Different "bumpsteer kits" deals with where the outer tie rod is attached to the steering arm on the spindle and makes that pivot point adjustable.

The third pivot point you can do something about when adapting a rack & pinion is the inner tie rod pivot point or if you buy a rack & pinion kit itÂŽs designed to hopefully put this pivot point as well into the original geometry as possible.

To REALLY know how much bumpsteer you have or will get thereÂŽs only one way the way I see it and that is to measure it, everything else is just guessing.

 

Has there been any analysis of the Flaming River setup at Corner Carvers? I'd be interested to see what that body of experts thought... ignoring header issues, poor support, and other general problems with it.

 

The randall rack will not work with a cobra oil pan. I was in lengthy talks with the owner last April abou this subject. He told me that it would work for all header application. Since I have the Cobra oil pan, I went with the TCP power rack and have been quite happy.

 

everything i saw on it at CC said it stinked because of the end take off design which puts the pivot point of the inner tie rod too far outboard which will actually increase bumpsteer. i don't think there was too much discussion about it, basically a bunch of people looked at it and said it stinked, then the subject was pretty much dropped.

 

i'm not seeing an issue with the column.....what are your concerns with the column?

as for turning radius, not even tcp has stock radius. mine is not the same as before, but it isn't noticable to me. i can't see how this is avoidable. there just doesn't seem to be room between the pinion/rack contact area and the actual drivers side tire/brake. i don't know if that even makes sence to anyone, but this is a limiting factor as far as i can see.

 

Neither do I and also wondering?

<!--QuoteBegin-sg69
as for turning radius, not even tcp has stock radius. mine is not the same as before, but it isn't noticable to me. i can't see how this is avoidable. there just doesn't seem to be room between the pinion/rack contact area and the actual drivers side tire/brake. i don't know if that even makes sence to anyone, but this is a limiting factor as far as i can see.[/quote]

Makes sence when using a center take off rack & pinion. The only way I found to get around that problem was to use a side take off rack & pinion with enough rack travel and modify it the way I did: http://www.vikingmustang.com/NewR&P/004.jpg

 

My original thought with regard to the column was concerns over safety -vs- fitment. If felt that if I could not get a collapsing column I would just go with a FR box. But, I have rethought that one. I SERIOUSLY looked at the columns with crumple zones, both stock and after-market. Looking at the construction I have to believe that an accident that would generate the forces required to crumple a column ... it wouldn't matter. You would be messed up anyway.

=================

So here is my plan... as of now

Randall's rack, KRC pump, Pro-motor bump steer, and an Ididit tilting - telescoping column.

Total cost should be just over 2,300.00.

Is it worth the investment for a street car?? Or would I be just as well to go with a FR steering box??

I am not afraid of the cost. I just don't want to spend money without an equitable improvement.