cygnusx1 Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 Last night I helped Buzz reassemble his front suspension after he dismantled everything for painting the bay. We noticed that the steering rack sits crooked in the front crossmember. Looking from the top, the rack is about 3/8" back on the drivers side. The rack boot on the drivers side actually rubs on the side flange of the crossmember! We checked to make sure that the crossmember was square to the front frame rails referencing the motor mount holes, and it was square. Then we checked to see if the rack mount tabs were level with eachother to determine if they were out of line but they were level with eachoter horizontally. The bushings are properly installed. The crossmember shows no obvious wrikles asides from some waves in the lower web from improper jacking point. It's a 77. The rack also has a little u-bolt strap on it with a single bumper that looks like it stops the rack from rotating under stress. The bumper is about 1/4" off of the nearest surface...it's not really doing anything. Any advice before we get ready to install the motor? New crossmember anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v8dream Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 I was taking measurements on my '73 while designing a new crossmember and saw pretty much exactly what you described. I have not found any indication of accident damage to either the crossmember or the front of my car in general. So, maybe the same brilliant minds who designed in all that bumbsteer had a reason for doing this too? That seems hard to believe, but who knows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjhines Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 I am getting major headway on my new project chassis right now... I have been dealing with exactly the same issues... though not nearly as bad... I was able to drive the car for some time before I tore it down.... The car is vitually rust free(even after tear down). It had numerous alignment problems though... I had been able to adjust it through the use of offest camber bushings... but I intended to build a straight track car with this chassis... So I sent it off to a reputable road race car builder frame shop. They did a fantastic job getting it straight... but I was told that there is still some misalignment in the chassis that the technician swore was built into it... the car shows no signs of ANY major collision repair... He pointed out some odd spot welding and original panel misalignment.... Try a different front crossmember... they can be usually be found locally through Z-clubs... It is not uncommon to find the holes that bolt it to the chassis are elongated one way or another... It would not surprise me if the crossmember rack-mount-tabs are not square... Nissan made improvements in the crossmember design in later years(260 and up?)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 I just measured a 1973 crossmember and the steering rack mounts parallel to where the front LCA mounting hole. Don't measure to the engine mounts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted May 23, 2006 Author Share Posted May 23, 2006 Actually, we referenced the inside of the front frame rails to establish a "centerline" with a framing square and the rack is 3/8" back on the drivers side relative to square. We didnt measure to the engine mounts. We did, as a cross check, look at the engine mount holes relative to centerline and they were pretty close to square. The only gripe is that the boot rubs on the drivers side and tears after a while. The boot on the pass. side has about 1/4" clearance to the c-member. I did see the above photos in an old post when I did a search but it's hard to tell anything without the rack in place. Thanks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodoldjam Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 Thanks for pointing that out i was looking at mine the other day and it looked like one side was bent. I also noticed when i turned the wheel the rack seems to flex the brackets. I think ill just find a decent point of reference on the car and straighten it a little. Then do some welding to strengthen it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v8dream Posted May 24, 2006 Share Posted May 24, 2006 Don't measure to the engine mounts. I had my rack/crossmember assembly on the bench while measuring everything. The rack on my car was not parallel with the crossmember to frame mounting holes, the centerline of the LCAs, or anything else. I have measured it with the original bushings as well as the MSA urethane bushings. One end of the rack housing (the part that actually mounts in the bushings) was about 5mm farther forward than the other. As I said earlier, there is no evidence of damage to the rack or member. It looks like it was manufactured that way, either intentionally or not. EDIT: For grammer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzz Posted May 24, 2006 Share Posted May 24, 2006 Hi: As you Know cygnusx1 is helping me put my car back together after redoing the engine compartment.The steering rack sits crooked on the crossmember.We don't see where it is bent or anything out of alignment.The car was hit in the front at one time before I bought it and repaired. All the damage looked to be in front of the crossmember.I hate to put it together out of wack,It will only wear and rip the rack boot again.Does anyone have a non-bent spare crossmember laying around that they might want to sell? I would like to see if it's the crossmember,Mine dosen't look bent,but maybe!.Cygnusx1 checked his and has about 1" between the boot and the crossmember and his sits straight. MY z is a 77 his is a 76. Thanks Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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