Thanks Stu, Sounds like you have some sort of background in this area. For me not so much... still a little in the dark on this one. Another way around this is to keep the suspension stock and stretch the grill and the hood. something I would have no problem at all doing, but that would cheating myself and my plan.
-- Edited by 30-S6 on Saturday 11th of February 2012 11:01:03 AM
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The best way to get on your feet is to get off your ass.
Well you'll need a rear steer rack or your wheels will go the other direction! Most of the production car based rear rack setups seem to use GM J car racks (cavalier etc) Most of the small Japanese cars will use similar racks. Some of the wierder imports like Daihatsu(sp?) based GM cars had firewall mounted racks with centre mounted steering linkages which might work better with older cars setups that had long inner tie rod links. On my 67 Mustang I adapted a early Taurus/Sable rack. One problem that you might encounter is that with spindles that have longer steering arms you'll lose a bit of turning radius angle. So it is with the Mustang. FWD spindles have very short arms generally, hence more angular change per given rack movement.
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Stu
"some things hurt more, much more, than cars and girls"
I should have mentioned that I was aware that I needed a rear steer rack such as Cavalier ,Omni ,VW rabbit, Saturn Vue .... the problem that I'm having is the spindles would the alignment be so far out that it would be impossible to drive? I've read that the ackerman would be out, but I'm not going to be road racing in the Andies. Also the bump steer? Would it be sever if I mounted the new rack in line with the lower A arm?
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The best way to get on your feet is to get off your ass.
It would be a matter of locating the inner tie rod locations in the "stock" position( figuring out what is stock might be the issue!) If you have the rack too high too low or the inner tie rod points too far out or in bump steer will result. That is why the most kits seem to use a "center link" setup so that the stock tie rods can be mounted where they would on the original center link. If your MII setup is stock dimensions then it would a matter of locating the rack in the same place relative to the spindles albeit on the back side of the front axle. Think the trick is to find a rear mount rack with the same width at the inner tie rod mounting point as the MII, as that is where the pivot point will be that determines the radius of the tie rods movement. It needs to be the same as the spindles arc or the toe will change as you know. There is math to figure all this out but probably a bit of rule of thumb geometry is all that is needed.
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Stu
"some things hurt more, much more, than cars and girls"
yeah, alot of chevy's have a rear steer I'm finding out.... cross breading eh!! go figure? I'll get it sooner or later.. not gonna beat myself up over it. Get enough during the week at work.... Weekends are my time and I'm the boss ... Untill my wife wants somfinn.....
-- Edited by 30-S6 on Saturday 11th of February 2012 10:41:12 PM
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The best way to get on your feet is to get off your ass.
It is not that easy as to mount your rack on the rear and swap the spindles side to side. Solid front axles use the Ackerman Principle but independent suspension uses a Modified Ackerman Principle allowing more stability at high speed. If you do a search for steering principles you will find what you are looking for but then you will have to modify your spindles which is not easy and in a lot of cases not safe. Aftermarket spindles are available from Heidts for sure but there may be some other lower cost suppliers around as well. You can try just swapping the spindles but it usually causes the inner tire to scrub and squeal on turns.
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scrubbing and squealing in the turns? That's what hot rods doo! I see your point, and it makes sence to the laymen, I guess I'll have to rethink my plan of attack!
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i don t really have any clue about building and modifying hot rods but...............if your looking for spindles with tie rod ends and steering linkage at the back my 71 nova has the spindle for a steering linkage at the back
Early Mustangs/Cougar Falcons and Granada/Monarch and Ford intermediate til 71 have rear steer spindles. It would be interesting to compare spindle heights with a MII. There is a bit of crossover with Ford parts in the early 70's so BJ size/taper and Tie rod sizes are the same for many years. My '67 Mustang uses Granada spindles and the Taurus Rack uses inner and outer MII tie rods so it shows how Fords design and parts were a progression from 60's right into the 80's
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Stu
"some things hurt more, much more, than cars and girls"
Ok, I think I found the answer to my question. Flip flopped mustang II do get you down the road but the ackerman would be off. Wilwood sells a mustang II spindle that is reversable, problem solved. Thanks everyone for your input.
-- Edited by 30-S6 on Tuesday 14th of February 2012 07:14:08 PM
-- Edited by 30-S6 on Tuesday 14th of February 2012 07:31:16 PM
-- Edited by 30-S6 on Tuesday 14th of February 2012 07:37:36 PM
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The best way to get on your feet is to get off your ass.