I own a 63 galaxie and was wondering if any one has ever put a rack N pinion in instead of the stock leaky power assist unit? I seen one in a 64 wagon and the guy said it was out of a Chevy Caviler but wonder if that would be strond enough with such a heavy car?
http://www.ndgearheadscruiserproducts.com/id21.htm we have used a couple of their steering boxes on different cars and had very good luck with them. You compromise too many things when you go to a rack on a car that didn't have one. These boxes are virtually a bolt in and you are back up and running.
I used the Cavalier / Sunfire R&P on my '62 Monterey (same chassis as your Galaxie). I fabbed my own tie rods and brackets. The project wasn't too difficult and a whole lot cheaper than rebuilding the orginal power steering or bying the kit. One thing to note, you will lose some turning radius since the Cavalier / Sunfire rack since it has a shorter stroke than the original steering setup. Also, Check out this website for more info. http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/wiki/Swapping_to_rack_and_pinion_steering
Check out WurthItdesigns.com (Wurth It Designs), pretty sure he makes a kit for those cars. If not, he probably has one in the works. Kinda pricey though.....
We put one in a 64 (?) Marauder up at the school a couple years ago. You really should bridge the ends of the rack and move the tie rods inboard so they line up with the lower control arm mounting axis. If not, the rack is way too wide and will result in bad bumpsteer. Not to talk shit, but if you look at the pic FrozenMerc posted above, you'll see that the tie rod arc is MUCH shorter than the lower control arms. That will cause toe-out on both bump and rebound. Also, don't forget you will need to install a bearing and floor mounting flange at the bottom of the column. there was no lower bearing in the stocker.
Late Cavalier racks have the inner pivots only 3" or so apart. They bolt to the wide area between the two bellows, not out at the ends like an M11. I believe that might mean the pivot points need to be moved out to be perfect...not in! I think I read at "Crankshaftcoalition" a while back that a Grenada spindle swap helps with the turn radius thing...could be wrong though.
I would just spend the money on the leaks, there won't be any bump steer problems, or turning radius problems. Plus if you put in a power rack what makes you think its not going to leak. Pat
that is a "center steer" rack and from what i'm told work great because you can custom build the outer tie rod end lengths to fight bumpsteer.
Can't speak for the leaks, but those cars had HORRENDOUS bump steer from the factory. We measured it on the one that we converted. The "before" was 1"(!) of bump in 6" of travel, and no it hadn't been wrecked. That's one reason for the rack conversion.... Not SURE, but I believe the one we used was out of an Aerostar...
Just take the power assist off, and find a manual centerlink. Rack and pinion is for sports cars, and street rods.
Thank you everyone! Another reason i want the rack is to clear room for the MEL Big Block that is going under the hood not much room for exhaust with the bulky stearing! I plan on running a Ididit column so lower bearings wont be a problem.
Flaming river has a power rack set up, They just came out with, I don"t know how good it is, but it might be worth looking at.
WE ARE PUTTING A CENTER STEER RACK IN MY 60 fORD AND I POSTED SOME INFO A WHILE BACK. IF YOU DO A SERCH I THINK YOU WILL FIND A LOT OF INFO ON THIS. HERE IS A LINK TO WHAT I POSTED. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=337424&highlight=bob+juliano
The nice part about the Cavalier rack is that tie rid mounts are in the center. My Tie rods are the exact same length as the stock tie rods, and the center mounts are in the same location. Since the geometry is the same, bump steer will be the same as the stock setup. The first pic doesn't show that real clearly. This one is slightly better.
I just got back from Atlanta last night... picking up a manual-steer set for my '64 Galaxie. I had no interest in re-engineering for a rack or spending $500 to "convert" the center link to manual.
Apologies FrozenMerc, in the original pic, it looked like the tie rods came off the ends of the rack. It does still have bump steer...as I posted earlier, the stockers were terrible (at least the Marauder we converted) when measured. It may not be noticeable when driving, and your setup is definitely better than the way I originally thought it was set up. Having ridden a few miles in hot Galaxies (my neighbor had 6 at one time), I think those things were just so loose by modern standards that people didn't really notice...
No Respect; I don't see the advantage of converting to another way to correct your "stock leaky power assist unit". It can be repaired and give you perfect performance.
He has additional issues to address anyway. Read his quote below... QUOTE=No_Respect] Thank you everyone! Another reason i want the rack is to clear room for the MEL Big Block that is going under the hood not much room for exhaust with the bulky stearing! I plan on running a Ididit column so lower bearings wont be a problem.[/QUOTE]
Thank you guys My car sits and drives real low now (Probably one of the lower cars out their) I have custom made drop spindles that are dropped 3" and cut coils right now the cars frame is less than an Inch off the ground the stock stearing is very sloppy so by going to the rack i plan on upgrading not having the same bumpstear that I experiance
"Less than an inch of ground clearance"......................you've got more problems than sloppy steering....................lets start with sloppy thinking...........and inviting dangerous situations before pulling out of the driveway. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Frank
That is why I am looking for a new chassis to do it right but the car actually drives nice but bottom outs a lot
You should think about something called your scrub line, if you have a tire go down you will be on the frame.
From my experience, it just doesn't work out that way. I have a 67 ford with that ram on the link "power assist" steering. I have about $1200 in it, counting all the power parts and new steering linkage (except the box), and having someone put it in for me. I got about 2yrs out of the control valve before it started leaking, and about 4yrs out of the pump before it started to go out. It's just not worth it on a daily driver. All that money, and 5yrs later, and i'm back to where I started.
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