PaulR Posted March 26, 2002 Share Posted March 26, 2002 Oh Yeah, and to help turn those big tires that I just added, I added power steering. I plan to go into more detail at some later point, but here are a couple of pictures to give you an idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest VertexZ Posted March 26, 2002 Share Posted March 26, 2002 what sort of car are the rack/tie rods etc out of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulR Posted March 26, 2002 Author Share Posted March 26, 2002 Originally posted by VertexZ:what sort of car are the rack/tie rods etc out of? The rack and tie-rods are out of an '84 Thunderbird. I used 1/2 inch, high-misaligngment rod-ends to connect to the steering arms. BTW, since I was adding the power assist, I decided to use the shorter steering arms to give a quicker steering ratio. I made steel couplers with both a 9/16 and 5/8 tapped hole and threaded the tie rod (9/16) and the rod end(5/8) into it. As you can see in the last picture, the tie-rod is parallel to the A-arm, which is what you need to eliminate bump steer. The power assist works great! Even with the wide tires (245-45-17) and the quick ratio steering arms, parking lot manuevers are a breeze I am using a Chevy pump mounted in the stock location. Oh, one last thing. Special thanks to Alsil and BlueovalZ. They had both done similar conversions in Ford powered Z's. Mine is Chevy powered, and there were some additional clearance issues with the harmonic balancer, but they provided a lot of the basis for my conversion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalz Posted March 26, 2002 Share Posted March 26, 2002 Very nice, clean, and apparently well done. I have a comment to add to your post. After installing this rack on my car, I found that high speed driving dictated the use of a longer steering arm vs the shortened ones I was using. I found the steering to be too light and too quick for the higher speeds with the short arms, making the car feel "darty". This was extremely helpful for the lower speed slaloms, but un-nerving at high speeds. The use of the OEM longer arm slowed things down a bit, making the turn-in much smoother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alsil Posted March 27, 2002 Share Posted March 27, 2002 Yes, I saw that same thing. I have the shorter arms and it is a bit sensitive. I have gotten used to it, but next time I will put in the longer arms. The one thing that worried me about the steering rack was placing the mounting eyes below the crossmember. my crossmember is so low that I can't slide my floor jack under it unless I pull up on the bumper a bit, and yours are below the crossmember. I put mine even because I worried about clearence issues. Probably not a real problem, but I was concerned about it. It probably would have been easier for me to install the rack if I had done it the way you did it, though. The conversion looks really clean. Very good job. Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalz Posted March 27, 2002 Share Posted March 27, 2002 The issue of the mounting eyes under the crossmember bothered me too (when I had to do it with mine too), but it was the only way I could clear the headers with the steering shaft. I veiw it as a protection for the oil pan though, because these tabs lie just a bit below the bottom of the pan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulR Posted March 27, 2002 Author Share Posted March 27, 2002 RE: Short steering arms. Yes, I've noticed its more sensitive to input, but its not too bad, even at highway speeds. (It might be a problem at the track, though) Another thing is that initially, I was tending to cut the corners at intersections a bit short. Just takes a little time to adjust to the smaller input needed... probably made worse by the fact that I've been driving a pick-up truck during the time I was working on the Z and it has about 4 turns lock-to-lock. RE: Mounts Below the Crossmember. I had to mount it below in order to get the rack to clear the harmonic damper. Not only that, but I had to tilt it, putting the back sides of the mounts lower that the fronts, in order to get the steering shaft to clear the motor mount. I think these issues may be unique to the JTR Chevy installation and not an issue for the Ford engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalz Posted March 27, 2002 Share Posted March 27, 2002 Well, I no longer feel like the red-headed step child anymore with my Ford conversion problems. Mine would not clear the harmonic balancer either without lowering the rack (about 1/4" clearance as it is now). Plus, I also had to tilt the pinion bearing snout downward so that it would allow clearance of the header tubes. I guess we really are facing the same issues here. Here is a photo of mine showing the ~20 degree incline I had to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danno74Z Posted March 29, 2002 Share Posted March 29, 2002 Paul, I'm in the process of working on the my Z's front-end (rebuilding) and studying your pictures above, I noticed your tie rod ends with the spacers to eliminate bump steer - I like this!! Very helpful on lowered cars especially . "I made steel couplers with both a 9/16 and 5/8 tapped hole and threaded the tie rod (9/16) and the rod end(5/8) into it. As you can see in the last picture, the tie-rod is parallel to the A-arm, which is what you need to eliminate bump steer." Who makes the rod end you are using? I see you can fine-tune the adjustment by the use of the threaded bolt. Was this part of a kit that you retrofitted for your application? Can you add any additional information about this "eliminate bump steer part" that would be great. Thanks, Danno74Z PS Are there any HybridZ entrepreneurs making a similar part? Hint...Hint.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulR Posted March 29, 2002 Author Share Posted March 29, 2002 Danno, another Hybrid Z'er correctly noted that the tie rod angle is measured from pivot point-to-pivot point. A line drawn from the outer pivot point to the inner pivot point, shows that on my set-up, the tie-rod is, in effect, NOT parallel to the A-arm! To correct this I need to put a spacer between the rod-end and the steering arm. The main reason I created the adapter was because I couldn't find a rod-end that had a 9/16 female thread. The adapter, in effect, creates that from a 5/8 male rod-end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulR Posted March 29, 2002 Author Share Posted March 29, 2002 Originally posted by Danno74Z:Paul, Who makes the rod end you are using? I see you can fine-tune the adjustment by the use of the threaded bolt. Was this part of a kit that you retrofitted for your application? Thanks, Danno74Z The Rod-End is from F. K. Rod Ends (http://www.fkrodends.com) It is their p/n HRSMX8T high-strength, high-misalignment. No kit, all custom fabricated. Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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