Rack And Pinion Steering Conversions
Nothing makes a classic car feel like an old tank more than ancient suspension and handling characteristics. Jump out of a stock '60s musclecar and into a late-model performance car, and one of the first things you notice is the steering. New cars have nice, tight, responsive steering, whereas most early cars had slow steering boxes that were anything but responsive, and the power-assisted setups were often over-boosted to the point of killing any semblance of road feel. Those docile setups just don't play well when combined with today's assortment of bolt-on handling hardware. But once again, the aftermarket has a fix.
With the rise in interest of Pro Touring-type cars, it's no surprise that several companies have developed plug-and-play rack-and-pinion conversion kits for early musclecars. Many are claimed to be direct bolt-on installations requiring no welding or excessive butchery, which is great, should you decide to change systems later, and there are kits for nearly all popular makes and models. Few people want to re-invent their front suspensions just to update the steering, so we only looked at rack-and-pinion kits that can be bolted in to otherwise stock musclecars and only mentioned companies that build their own kits.
But rather than just listen to the manufacturers tell us how easy their conversions are, we decided to see for ourselves and installed one in a mildly modified '65 Mustang. What we found out about the installation intricacies and how it actually works follows, as does a guide to the rack-and-pinion kits on the market.
Applications for multiple makes
Steeroids
888/731-1381
www.speeddirect.com
We chose a Steeroids kit to test on our Mustang. It offers a quick 2.5 turns lock-to-lock and is claimed to have better bumpsteer adjustment capability than the other guys and to work well with the stock power-steering pump. If the full kit with the replacement column is purchased, Steeroids estimates about three to four hours of installation time with standard handtools. We'll see about that.
Bolt-in applications:
'67-'69 Camaro
'68-'72 Chevelle
'68-'74 Nova
'63-'82 Corvette
'64 1/2-'70 Mustang
Approximate cost (power kit for early Mustang, with
column): $1,500.00
Flaming River
800/648-8022
www.flamingriver.com
Thanks to its wide array of steering-related parts, including the company's own columns and steering wheels, Flaming River has quickly become the most recognized name for street-rod and musclecar systems. Flaming River's stand-out benefit is that you can buy an entirely new steering system from wheel to tie-rod end built by one manufacturer.
Bolt-in applications:
'67-'69 Camaro
'68-'72 Chevelle
'62-'67 Nova
'63-'82 Corvette
'55-'57 Chevrolet
'64 1/2-'70 Mustang
'55-'57 Thunderbird
Approximate cost (power kit for early Mustang, with column): $1,890.00
Unisteer
800/338-9020
www.unisteer.com
Unisteer is the 800-pound gorilla you probably didn't know about. Huge in the street-rod market, Unisteer has bolt-in kits for musclecars as well, but the real benefit for those with wild plans in the future is that Unisteer also takes orders for custom rack-and-pinion kits built to your specifications. For Mopar guys, Unisteer offers the only direct bolt-in B/E-Body rack-and-pinion kit we could locate.
Bolt-in applications:
'67-'74 Camaro'62-'67 Nova
'55-'57 Chevrolet
'64 1/2-'70 Mustang
B/E-Body Mopars
'28-'34 Ford (bolt-in if currently using Vega-style box on a straight axle.)
Approximate cost (manual kit for early Mustang, no column): $875.00
Chevrolets
Eckler's Classic ChevyParts
800/284-4096
www.classicchevy.com
Eckler's says its kit was the first on the market for Tri-Five Chevys, and the company has been fine-tuning and upgrading it for the last 10 years. However, there are still a few prerequisites, such as running a short-style water pump and a harmonic balancer that accepts bolt-on pulleys. New exhaust may also be required, unless you're using Chevy manifolds with a 45-degree rear dump or Eckler's own headers.
Bolt-in applications:
'55-'57 Chevrolet
Approximate cost (power kit for '55-'57 Chevrolet, with column): $999.99
Dutchman Motorsports
503/257-6604
www.dutchmanms.com
Though you probably know the company for axles, Dutchman has been slowly but steadily expanding its line to include suspension and steering parts. Currently Dutchman only offers a bolt-in kit for '55-'57 Chevys. No frame or crossmember mods are required for the kits, and they use a very common '82-'92 GM midsize, rear-steer power rack. Dutchman claims its CNC-machined billet steering arms minimize bumpsteer and maintain the stock turning radius better than other Tri-Five kits on the market, and they can be used with stock A-arms, stock or dropped spindles, and shorter coils springs.
Bolt-in applications:
'55-'57 Chevrolet
Approximate cost (power kit for '55-'57 Chevrolet, no column): $925.00
Mustangs and Other Fords
RRS
866/805-1878
www.rrs-online.com
Based in Australia, RRS probably has the most extensive model-specific listing of kits for the Ford family. Rather than using the same kit for similar chassis, RRS prides itself on developing a specific kit for each application on an actual vehicle. For example, the Fairlane chassis line has six different part numbers for the three chassis changes Ford made between 1962 and 1971 (three manual and three power-rack part numbers). Plus, all RRS racks have built-in bumpsteer correction that allows the tie rod to be moved into correct alignment if the ride height has been altered. Despite their exotic look, the racks themselves are not proprietary and should be rebuildable by any good steering shop.
Bolt-in applications:
'64 1/2-'70 Mustang
'62-'69 Fairlane
'60-'70 Falcon
'68-'71 Torino
'60-'71 Ranchero
'69-'77 Maverick
'67-'70 Cougar
'60-'66 Comet
'68-'71 Montego
'62-'65 Meteor
'60-87 Australian Falcon
'62-'87 Australian Fairlane
'71-'77 Comet
Approximate cost (power kit for early Mustang, no column): $2,095.00
Total Control Products
800/722-2269
www.totalcontrolproducts.com
Relying on its connection with Chris Alston's Chassisworks, Total Control Products (TCP) subscribes to the philosophy that off-the-shelf parts just don't cut it and says it's quality of construction that makes its kit different. The Alston steering rack is built with three turns lock-to-lock and exactly duplicates the factory 638-inch travel. The major installation difference between TCP's kit and others is that on an early Mustang, the factory tubular crossmember is removed and the rack itself becomes a load-bearing structure.
Bolt-in applications:
'64 1/2-'70 Mustang
'60-'65 Falcon
'60-'65 Ranchero
'67-'70 Cougar
'60-'65 Comet
Approximate cost (power kit for early Mustang, with column): $2,500.00 and up
Randalls Rack
877/500-7225
www.randallsrack.com
Randall's Rack kit also requires the removal of the factory tubular crossmember but replaces it with a fabricated crossmember that the rack bolts on to. The new crossmember is designed to strengthen the chassis and also protect the rack. Stock tie-rod ends and the stock steering column are retained.
Bolt-in applications:
'64 1/2-'70 Mustangs
'67-'70 Cougars
Approximate cost (power kit for early Mustang, no column): $1,395.00
Wurth-It Designs
970/434-7123
www.wurthitdesigns.com
These guys cater to all the Fords usually ignored by the major manufacturers, including '57-'64 Galaxies, Fairlanes, Customs, Rancheros, and Ranch Wagons, as well as '55-'63 T-birds and even a few Mercury applications. It's a small, family-run company that we discovered during an Internet search, but we never could get ahold of anyone. When we wrote this, the Web site said a family emergency had the company temporarily shut down and behind on orders. Since it's the only company we could locate catering to these cars, we left it in here. Maybe it'll be back open by the time this issue gets to you.
Bolt-in applications:
'57-64 fullsize and intermediate
Fords and Mercurys
'55-'63 T-birds
Real-World Install
All the companies listed above claim their kits are easy, bolt-in designs that require no significant modifications or welding and shouldn't take a great deal of time to install. We wanted to find out if that was true, so we picked one, a Steeroids power rack-and-pinion kit, and installed it in a '65 Mustang. The car is mostly stock and has all stock steering but has a Total Control Products coilover front suspension. We're not going to show a bolt-by-bolt installation, but rather highlight what you need to be aware of, at least about the Steeroids kit. One of the knocks we've heard against some of the rack-and-pinion kits is that they negatively alter bumpsteer, especially on lowered cars. So once everything was installed, we measured ours to see what we were in for.
The rack included in this kit has 2.5 turns lock-to-lock, so it should be plenty quick on the street. As advertised, it didn't require any drilling or cutting, with the exception of the steering column if you opt to use the stock one and modify it according to the included instructions. For simplicity's sake and the added benefit of tilt adjustment, we used the optional ididit column. The instructions say the whole kit should take three to four hours to install, but we spent about ten hours on it. Now that we've done it once, we could probably do it again in four hours.
What About BumpSteer?
There is a reported fly in the ointment of rack-and-pinion bliss. In discussing these conversions with a number of suspension experts, we heard a lot of grumblings that some of them alter the car's bumpsteer in a negative manner. But what is bumpsteer?
As the front suspension moves up (compresses) and down (extends), the lower control arm moves in an arc around its pivot point on the chassis. The tie rod, connected to the lower control arm through the steering arms, also moves in an arc. If these two arcs are different, the wheel will turn slightly either in or out as the suspension moves through its travel. The result is a change in toe-in, which makes the car dart one way or another with no driver input. In extreme cases, it can be very dangerous.
The two main things that affect bumpsteer are the angles and the lengths of the tie-rod ends and lower control arms. Ideally, they should be the same length and perfectly parallel to each other, but that's not always practical. Most factory suspensions are pretty good in regard to bumpsteer (since it's a safety and therefore a liability item for the OEs). Because an aftermarket rack-and-pinion swap obviously changes the location and length of the tie rods, there is a good chance that it will adversely affect bumpsteer if not adjusted properly, especially on lowered cars. We've never seen an actual test of bumpsteer on a converted car, so after the install of our Steeroids kit, we checked it.

Photo Gallery: Rack And Pinion Steering Conversions - Hot Rod Magazine



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