Learn me: Recirculating Ball -> Rack/Pinion steering

Recently set a tough goal for myself in getting the Courier running/driving by the 24th of this month in time for a car show at work. Last night, my roommates and I shoehorned the engine into the car for the first time "fully" assembled. Turning left is no problem, but I can only turn about halfway right before the starter and the center link meet.

I hadn't planned to have recirculating ball steering forever, but it might be coming to an end sooner than I had hoped. The track width is in the range of ~56". 

Any ideas on manual rack/pinions that might be transferrable? I've thought about the NA Miata rack, but I'm sure I'm missing some other options. I imagine using the Courier outer tie rod end, and having something made up to match the rack to the outer tie rod end. I know I'd have to think about the change in steering geometry, but as long as I'm not inviting danger this doesn't have to be perfect right now.

Here are some pictures..

Edited to add: it's rear steer..

Driver's side:

Passenger side:

Starter interference:

A fair amount of Fox body cars had manual racks if you want to stay on the Ford path.  Otherwise 924 Porsches could be had with a manual rack.  I had though about getting an S2000 electric rack and just not feeding it 12V, not sure if that would actually work or not.  I have a SN95 power steering rack floating round somewhere I can try and get some measurements for you on that later.

I'm guessing lifting the engine 1/2" either would hit the tunnel or the hood or not give enough clearance to totally fix this problem?

EDIT: Nevermind, one pic makes it look minor and one pic makes it look like a hell of a lot more than a half inch. Next question.. do you care about bump steer?

Looks like for the rear steer, i'm more likely looking at the Omni or Rabbit racks - they're both cheap, but would be pushing much bigger tires (and even ball joints) around. I'll have to measure for what distance there is between LCA pivots to see what I need..

In reply to classicJackets :

1st Gen Neon racks too.

924 racks are based around LHD MK1 Rabbit racks and are front steer.

Vigo said:

I'm guessing lifting the engine 1/2" either would hit the tunnel or the hood or not give enough clearance to totally fix this problem?

 

EDIT: Nevermind, one pic makes it look minor and one pic makes it look like a hell of a lot more than a half inch. Next question.. do you care about bump steer?

Likely all three   

I'm not intending for it to be a track car, and I have "planned" for a long time to eventually swap the whole front end configuration around. I don't want it to run me off the road, but if it just doesn't handle like a sports car I'll be okay

Other than turning your project into a oval track racer , can you bring the engine up on it's mounts further and bring the transmission mount down a bit, or does the it hit the bottom of the hood? That's what I'd try first. The driveshaft angle may get a bit wonky, but that will be easier to correct than finding a rack & pinion that would be suitable to your needs, going through the fun of mounting it and correcting the bump steer.

Look at it this way, the rack you'll need to get will be a rear steer rack (very common thankfully) that has the inner tie rod pivot points close to or narrower than the distance between the inner tie rod pivot points you have now. You'll have to install the rack lower than where the center link is now, which may help with bump steer, may not (Measure your bump steer before you take the old system out). There are many articles across the 'net explaining bump steer and how to correct it.  This may involve bending your steering arms (it did for me!)

When I put a 302 Ford in my old W123 Benz, I too had a similar interference issue with the idler arm. So I set about on a journey to install a rack and pinion (and a journey it was!). Long story short, I wish I would have just kept the recirculating ball set-up and worked around it. But I have rack and pinon steering now!

If you are on a tight deadline, I'd see if I could raise the engine to clear the inner tie rod. Just make sure you raise it far enough that when the engine torques over on its mounts it doesn't hit your steering linkage. Otherwise you'll have to lift off the throttle to turn or stop turning!

(I'll copy and paste this and put it in your build thread as well)

Flaming River? IIRC there are some vendors who do custom racks for reasonable money (Flaming river does custom-dimension Omni racks), but I can't remember who's who off the top of my head for other options or whether I ever found any pricing.

Thank you everyone for the suggestions/guidance! As of last night, I added 1/2" spacer blocks to lift the engine up, and I still have some pretty good interference. Cutting/ re-welding the engine mounts would potentially be an option, but I don't have a welder here that's rated over 1/4", and almost any forward movement would take out my space for a radiator. Moving it back would mean notching the firewall and probably switching back to a rear sump oil pan/pickup.  Going straight up would potentially mean clearancing the firewall at the bellhousing mount, definitely would mean raising the tunnel (fine by me, just more work), and running without a hood.. in addition to having sketchy plates lifting the engine (see - moving the engine mounts without a high-power welder.)

Someone on the Courier facebook page recommended a Taurus steering rack so I'm looking at that, but it seems like its about the same dimensions as everything else listed above. Going to look into that a little more, see if I can find a local option or something to put up and check dimensions/mounting locations

De power a 944 power rack and use that. The ratio is better then the manual version in the 944. Also finding manual racks for 944's is a SOB.

dean1484 said:

De power a 944 power rack and use that. The ratio is better then the manual version in the 944. Also finding manual racks for 944's is a SOB.

That's a front-steer rack though, right? 

Am I crazy  to think it would be possible to have a connecting "tube" made to connect the stock Courier outer tie rod end to a Taurus Inner tie rod and still have some adjustability? And not have to worry about whether the tie rod would match with the taper of the steering knuckle?

There’s been a few Saturn ION manual racks (electric power steering between wheel and rack) being adapted into E28’s which are rear steer as well. Not sure if it would work in this but might be worth a look. 

Adam 

Let me see if there are any more lumina racks in my stash, they’re rear steer and probably similar dimensions to a taurus unit

In reply to classicJackets :

Definitely not crazy. You're just making custom adjustable tie rods essentially.  I'd recommend finding some hex stock and having that drilled to your desired inner diameters or have two flats milled into round stock so you can put a wrench on it to apply torque.  Be mindful of left and right hand threads though.