2015 Project Thread!

i went to NAPA back before our store bought them out. I had been doing a lot of research between power & non power steering rack, then I stumbled upon an article about an SVO steering rack used in a street Mustang and the ratio was quicker than the previous or later non SVO. my old steering rack was like a 1950's black & white movie with the driver steering the car left to right just to keep it straight.
so I opted for the SVO rack, it was a direct replacement, and for in-town slamming around it was great, like I say on the highway, you have to be attentive, but at that time I thought it was the best rack for the buck, and still do.
if you use an SN95 rack on a fox body, you'll need to cut 3/4 of an inch from each inner tie rod or swap the inner tie rods out to the fox inner tie rods. as you know the steering rack joint for an SN95 is triangular, so going with the SN95 rack install would be a rather expensive venture with very little return other than a new rack with a bastardised over-priced steering shaft. the hoses are orientated the same as a fox if you want to go that way. your fox pump should be capable of handling the SN95 rack.
decisions/decisions;decisions*decisions.
i'd keep it simple & cheap and effective, either go with stock mustang rack or SVO. decisions$decisions?decisions#decisions.

Good to know about the SVO rack! I kind of thought maybe that rag joint was to blame for the slop, but if the SVO rack really grabs off center, I'll have to look into that!

trust me on that one, you'll be happy, especially when accelerating and lane changing with low profile tires and a semi-stiff suspension that little box top will feel and look impressive.

Thanks! And it looks like you can get a reman rack for less than $100 on Rock Auto! I really had no idea. I remember new racks costing around $700.

I'm wary about them though because some of them say "Without performance suspension", so my guess is it's showing me all Mustang racks for '86. I'll have to choose carefully.

Just a little info on the rack situation, remember when looking for these racks, it must have no more than 2.5 turns, lock to lock, that 1/2 turn makes world of differrence.


Duralast/Rack & Pinion

• Part Number: 64163
• Warranty: Limited Lifetime
• Application: Ford type (1 piece aluminum housing)
With sport steering (2.25 turns lock to lock)
Duralast/Rack & Pinion

• Part Number: 6439
• Warranty: Limited Lifetime
• Application: Ford type (1 piece aluminum housing)
With sport steering (2.5 turns lock to lock)



Rare Parts - Complete Rack And Pinion Assembly
Line: RAP | Part # 55206
$203.99 Each
Plus Core $75.00
Call for availability (520) 417-1541
Add to Shopping List
AVAILABILITY
Ship to Home: Currently Unavailable
Free Pick Up In-Store: Call Store for Details
• limited lifetime warranty
• Rack And Pinion Unit
• Remanufactured
• Power Steering
• Sport Steering
• 2.5 Turns
• Ford Design
• 1 Piece Aluminum Pinion Housing
• Quantity Per Vehicle: 1


info from internet

06-03-2012, 10:00 PM

Over the years I've replaced many of these. The part number you want is A-1 Cardone #22207 or #22207HDTS.

The stock 84 rack was a TRW 20:1 ratio. In 85 and 86 SVO uses a Ford 15:1. Also the 1 piece or 2 question comes from the design of the rack bushings. The SVO uses the single design.


MikeFleming

06-04-2012, 12:57 AM

I saw these listed as well. One is sport steering 2.25 turns lock to lock and the other is sport steering 2.5 turns lock to lock. What does our 86 SVO have 2.25 or 2.5?
The 84 SVO (only) had the TRW rack. It was 3.0 turns lock-to-lock.

All later SVO's and ALL Fox chassis with the "Handling Package" came with the Ford rack and at 2.5 turns ltl. So any reman Ford handling package 2.5 t-ltl will work.

The 2.25 ltl is for sn95 models.

Cool stuff! I had a guy recommend the very same one to me on another site!

The info over there though says the 2.25 turn rack is for '87-93 V8 cars. That would be what my car had on it when I first put it together. No wonder the one I have now feels so sloppy to me on center. I have a feeling it's a TRW early '80s one. I'm pretty sure the car was down for another reason when I replaced the rack, so that's why I can't recall a direct comparison.

Also, I guess what pump you have makes a difference too. I have no idea what pump I have either because it came with my second hand under-drive pulley set.

Might go out and change the oil on the car and get it ready for storage today. The weather's gotten pretty cold, and I think I could use a break from projects for a while.

I used the standard Lincoln MK VII, pump which is pretty much a standard fits-all pump and the original Fairmont 4.2 liter pump with no change in feel or operation noted, even with the v-belt set-up.
don't pay too much attention to the 2.25 or 2.5 turns lock to lock, I cant state for sure that there is a difference or just misprints.
I just know for certain it will handle like a roller coaster. if you really want some cheap thrills nail it when you accelerate thru the corners, the lateral acceleration will be impressive if you suspension is up for it. lane swapping will be impressive especially with that box top, my coupe did fine till I pulled the bolt threads out of the anti roll bar bushing mounts, had to go to using nuts and washers, I don't think it was made for stupid fun-loving people like me. I cant do that stuff now with the old lady 4.6 suspension I have at the moment, but it is definitely smoother....I still want to have stiffer frt springs maybe...
I think the 4.6 rack is quick ratio, but I haven't counted the lock to lock.

One guy chimed in and said there were some 10 different pumps used on Fox Mustangs, possibly all giving different steering "feel". I guess there were "handling" and "non-handling" suspensions offered on V8 Mustangs too, so being from a V8 car doesn't guarantee it's the best one.

Did you have a rack that was directly from an SVO? You don't see people parting out SVOs too often. From what I've seen SVOs had similar racks to the best V8 packages offered those years, but they could have had different pumps, as well as "T-valves".

The problem with my car could be threefold. I could have some worn out components, u-joints, rag joint, inside the rack itself, etc. I know the tie-rods and ends are good though, as well as the rack bushings. 2nd, it could be a pump/rack mismatch since I don't know what application either came from, it's pretty likely. 3rd, my stupid under-drive pulleys are not spinning the pump at the speed it was designed for. They are going away as soon as I put the A/C back on. I'll probably wait to do anything until I do that, just so I can see if I like it at that point.

I don't know what car it came out of, but the box was new and the rack was sweet. I doo know there are parts out there like rack pinions that you can swap to change you rack lock to lock, but as I was unwilling to undertake that operation; I opted for the rebuilt rack in a box with a warranty.
If you want to alter the pressure of your pump, you may be able to just change the pressure valve. i remember that the Toyota pwr strg pump pressure valve springs could be ground down or stretched for the steering feel.
a part number change does not mean a completely different pump, could be for car, truck, mustang, sport, maybe a difference in the pressure valve, etc, an added/deleted threaded boss etc. my main concern was lock to lock, if I felt the pressure was incorrect, I would have figured it out and responded, but I was thrilled so I left it.
there are some off set rack bushings out there for correction of bump steer. and also some spacers or something for the tie rod ends.
i'm hoping you aren't going "tech head" if you are, you'll need more storage space for "mistake"parts and you'll never be happy-sound familiar?

Haha, I don't have to be a tech head to have mistake parts. Almost everything I put on this car when I first put it together turned out to be a mistake part! hahaha! Every last moving part component except the engine short block itself has been swapped out since 2006.

A guy on the other forum did all the homework already, so I know what steering parts will match. Just like my brakes re-do, I put a lot of stock in having parts meant to work together. Altogether it cost him about $200 total, and he needed some parts that I don't such as tie rod ends and lines. Also, there's an aftermarket valve you can put inline to play with your pressures too. Like I said, I'm going to wait until my pump is spinning at the proper speed before I do anything though.

Those bumpsteer kits confuse me. It looks like a lot of trouble to me to do that whole operation to get all that dialed in. I don't really understand the need for offset rack bushings either. As far as i can tell, my tie rods are at the perfect angle compared to the control arms as it sits now with normal rack bushings. Maybe that's because of the QA1 K-member though, I'm not sure.

i forgot about bumpsteer till the other day when someone else mentioned it, bumpsteer can be confused with tire tread patterns and road works. there was construction on the road he was on and they had roughed-up the surface,,,,,big dummy.
lower pressures give a firmer feel; I hate free spinning power steering like some of the older cars. my sons firebird felt like the steering wasn't hooked up to anything, it just aint right to me, but he liked it.
my set up has hydro-boost, so I/m not even considering playing with the pump pressures as all is well now.
stiil thinking about the three valve engine, bit they are still too expensive, auto/manual I don't care as I have both set-ups for the pedals, even crunched mustangs are too expensive right now.
have a great Thanksgiving!

The 4 valve has been around longer, so you might be able to find one of those. Seems people that have the Lincolns really have no idea the potential there. I know of a guy that took an engine out of a FWD Continental and is swapping the parts on so he'll have a Terminator engine! He's putting it in an LTD wagon too! That's going to be so cool! Also, don't forget the 3 valve engines were used in trucks too!

Guys do make big power with SOHC 4.6s too though. I guess if you swap the '99+ heads onto an early engine, they end up with more power than they did in the '99+ cars. IF you're just looking for a power boost, I mean. I know you like a stock engine. And, if you got a 3-valve yours would be the only F/Z I know of with one!

I'm sure I've probably said all that before though, haha. I know with the original steering & suspension in my car, the steering felt very numb and sloppy. I said it drove like an unloaded truck.

Happy Thanksgiving to you too, by the way!

yes, the head swap is definitely a power builder, I had the parts to do it from a grand marquis, good heads water pump, dipstick etc,etc. it would make 305/310 hp. and will need to be run on premium fuel and must be retuned/remapped. I was all for it my self, my block does not have a provision for a knock sensor,,,,so I called B/S and walked11:1 compression ratio without a knock sensor is not a good mix for a rock head like me. I may have been able to add a knock sensor, but I probably made a bad decision by not doing it. be my luck id hit a water jacket!
i'never even thought of the head swap from the continental, I should check it out. I had considered the MK VIII package.

Could you maybe just swap ECMs to one from the Grand Marquis? It may not be perfect, but it would take less tinkering with when you did go to tune it.

I heard a rumor my car may be in the Feb (why are they so far ahead on months?) issue of Car Craft. I haven't seen it myself though, so I can't verify, haha. A guy posted a congrats on the other forum, and I was just like "Really?!" haha. Anyway, that would be a nice feather in my cap! I'd print it out and include it in my show board!

Good luck with the car craft gig, I used to read that mag when I was a kid, so that mag has been around forever.
I may even buy a copy, unless the pix are on the net!
I really don't know if that would work, but I would definitely use a faster processor than what I have, and I’ may have to do some re-wiring for the ignition coils etc, no problem.
I hear that they can modify the computer base controls, like “turn off” fuel tank pressure, rear O2 sensors, things that are not needed for my engine and alter the mapping for everything else.
With no provision for a knock sensor, that leaves a big gap in detonation control, and with higher compression ratio, that’s not a good recipe for success, I’m sure someone has done it successfully, and I had really wanted to do it myself in the beginning, first I wanted to get this engine running, to see if it was sound after sitting so many years and then do the modifications. You’ll have to change the water pump and pipe to match the new intake and a bunch of other stuff, I had all the parts, but I didn’t jump.
The main reason I wanted to do it was I had all the parts, and a good horsepower gain, then I started to think about running premium fuel and detonation control, I had read a few articles about it, and all sounded good, but when I started to think about it, it sounded like trouble would be brewing ahead.I thought I may be able to add the knock sensor by drilling and tapping, but lost interest.
So I thought about MK VIII engines, then I finally rested comfortably with the 3 valve engine, it runs cool & crisp, around 300 hp on regular fuel and it’s pretty snappy. Just waiting for the price to go down and to have some cash to do it. No hurry.

Yeah, regular fuel would be much better. And you'd just plug everything in and go, not having to worry about if the modifications are going to work.

With the sort of chip/programmer thingy you can get for the EEC IV stuff now allows you to turn things off like Thermactor if you want. I plan to have that done to mine. Should be really cool!

there's a whole new world when it comes to tuning, I must admit until very recently, I was unaware.
I have the Romeo engine in my car, there is also a Windsor engine, the Windsor engine usually goes in the trks.after '98 they put the Windsor engine in the mustang, I also saw a trk that had a Romeo engine, I don't know if it came that way or was a replacment.99 up had the single coil per cylinder.
have you started your winter teardown yet?

Yeah, as far as EEC-IV stuff goes, I only knew about "chips" from back then, where they really had no flexibility unless you wanted to go buy another one.

I seem to recall the Windsor engines being more desirable somehow, but I don't remember why.

No, I really haven't touched my car in some time. I haven't taken the battery out, I haven't taken it off the wheels, nothing. It was kind of defeating to come to know all the things it's going to need before it makes the planned road trip to be tuned in the spring. Plus how I have to do some things I HATE doing like pulling the gas tank. Oh well, who knows. Maybe I'll be inspired to tear into it sometime sooner than later. Last winter was so dang cold, I pretty much left it until early spring. You know what I'd really like to have is some of those dollies where you attach them to the hub, so the wheels don't have to be on. They're all so dang expensive though!

Well, sure enough. A little shameless self promotion pays off, haha.

sorry for the length of a reply, I updated to windows 10 and I believe something has gone wrong.

well done on the article, car craft has been around for a long time.

Thank you! No problem at all on the delay. This is kind of like email. I have no reason to expect a reply every single day.

I can relate to computer problems. I got hit with a nasty computer scam where they were trying to sell me virus protection. I had to go and change all my passwords. That's what I spent my weekend doing, trying to get in front of any potential damage from that. It was not fun! I guess the scam/virus/spam community really made a big push to screw people over the black Friday/cyber Monday weekend. I really can't believe what some people can rationalize doing in their own minds. How do they sleep at night?

Anyway, I guess it's going to be warm for the next week or so, so I might get out and change the oil and put the car on jackstands. Maybe more!

i don't know for sure, maybe something went during the changeover, I'll get my son to look at it this weekend.
we have been experiencing colder weather earlier this year also, it is supposed to be nice this weekend, but I have lot of work to do , so that will be nice.
I need 1 more qt of 5/20 full synthetic, then I can do my oil change also. I would like to the rest of my yard work soon, just a tidy-up.
i haven't picked up a Car Craft magazine for years or any other magazine......but they seemed to have some "do-able" projects". I don't have the cash flow to support a high dollar build like Hot Rod mag has, however I don't begrudge the people that do.
some peoples expectation are higher than others, some people want different things, I really don't know what I want, just change.
hey if you get a copy of the nostalgic/vintage hot rod magazine and look at the old hot rods, see what they did, it was really cool, I used to get that mag and really loved it, when my bud was dying from cancer, I gave him a bunch to dig thru, we used the laugh at the "slicks" they used, and even had some early headers built by a young man know to all today, (cant remember his name at the minute). they have a lot of time capsule cars, barn finds etc. un-molested and still intact.
I could never get my car in a magazine, so I just put a magazine it the car!!!!!!

I like Car Craft's overall attitude and philosophy. Although, it does often mean Chevy, Chevy, Chevy. Unfortunately, they are what's happening in the world of project cars and ameteur drag racing. I don't know what I would do if I was a Chevy guy though. I can really relate to Ford's underdog status.

You don't begrudge people that can do high dollar builds? I do! haha!

I have a hard time getting into vintage hot rods because 99.99999999999% of them have small block Chevies. Just can't get past those prejudices I have, and I don't care enough to try. haha

Well if they have the cash, let them spend it, why should they not have what they can afford. I'd love to have loads of cash, but I don't know what I'd do with it, probably save it for the next unforeseen event...

hey I'm lucky enough to remember when a Pontiac had a Pontiac motor, mopar ran mopar etc, there were a lot of good combo's out there, most parts came from the magazines or local hot rod/speed shops. engine sizes were flat heads, 260,283, 289, 302, 312, 327, 350 (Pontiac/chevy/buick olds) 340, 351 cleveland/windsor, 360,383, 389, 390, 391 hemi, 396, 400 426/7/8/9 etc just to name a few without being boring.

Tires, holley carbs, wheels, brakes, exhausts, wax, oil, radio's and a clean car were the "bling" of the era.

There was a saying that "power is in the 4" meaning the big blocks had the Brute Force and Ignorance" to clean-up at the last few feet of the 1/4 mile. Nobody I knew would have ran a chevy engine in a Pontiac or Oldsmobile or what ever, it just wouldn’t happen. Imagine a 340 powered dart or duster losing to a Chevy engine, the guy would have been banished......
Dodge had a little truck called the little red pick up. Other cars were falcon, nova, cougar, marauder, Mach 1Mustang, 442, GS, GTO, RS/SS, charger, challenger, javelin, were common names. Most had “One Tire Fire rear axles” posi trac was for the rich guys.
Hooker, holley, engle, crane, STP, American racing, edelbrock, wiand , Mickey Thompson header s & tires were common parts venders.

each car/engine combo had an ego/fear level, for instance a 390 mustang beats an LS6 chevelle had bragging rights, like “word on the street is that the Dart is going to blow that camaro into the next county” well if the camaro won, all hell broke loose……

the next time you see a kit car 32 ford with a chevy engine, covered in chrome with power steering etc ask him/her if they read the directions wrong, F O R D.
I love hot rodding, and have grown to question why a lot of things happen, why a Chevy engine, even on the frt cover of JEGS Parts magazine is a Chevelle, what about something else for a change, like a Cougar or Road Runner or GTX?
I can’t remember a Fairmont or Zephyr having fuel injection, not to mention one with an Explorer intake. That still says FORD, but some folk will walk by it in the car show and not even notice, but they will drool at a Chevy engine powered kit car and will probably drive home in a Hyundai.

Hey man; we can follow directions and/or “clone” a hot rod, but that’s not what hot rodding means to me, “I am John, son of Alfred, and I beat my own path, right or wrong, good or bad ….it’s my path”.

I have absolutely no politically correct statements of praise for “bastards” but no problems with “hybrids”. One the other side of the coin, I have no right to criticize other peoples creations when I drive a pile of nailed together freaked out collection of junk parts like a bad acid trip around. (but I do have A/C) Maybe it’s just the way things are going……

Tolerance is probably a good thing to learn. And please forgive me for putting the350 engine in my sons firebird, however; I did that a long time ago before it was a common thing to do, was that trail blazing???? Do I have to accept any responsibility for this trend, hell no!!!! I took an idea and ran with it, I was just copied.

That why I like rat rods, loads of ingenuity, basically anything goes, and it could have any engine transmission combo, even 6 bangers.

I really don't think a lot of money is the key to success, you have to have some imagination and the ability to accept criticism, I have neither; so I'm double screwed.