Steering rack conversion?

[Guest Anonymous]

I have seen Nick's on his M2...any others? Contemplating one for my race car and would like to see some others for ideas.

TIA

Anthony

[Guest Anonymous]

I did a search using google and pulled on some stuff I missed using the site search. Still interested in seeing more. DHS any luck with your project?

Anthony

[NickVyse]

bit of opinion here (mainly mine!)

http://www.02forum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=514&hilit=steering+AND+rack

The best advice I can give you is to copy the exact position of the drag link on a stock set-up. If you imagined the drag link was the rack from pivot point to pivot point then this is exactly how it should be mounted. If you shorten the steering arms (which you should) then it should be moved forward by exactly the same amount. Although having said that the steering arms are slightly curved and shortening them by 5cms probably moves the mounting point of the track rod end outboard by about a 1cm, which should be added to the width of the rack.

Just my thoughts and not necessarily correct!

[john_a]

Just spit-balling here, pure speculation on my part..

But has anyone perfomred this conversion and NOT kept the 2002 style strut housings? You will need to perform major surgery on the 02 steering arms, after which you might wonder why you even kept the struts they're attached to. The lower ball joint attachment and upper strut mounts could be far easier to accomadate on selected non-02 struts, it's mainly the knuckle and steering arm portion that defines the 02 setup. And if you are going away from using the stock steering arm geometry (as you will with a box to rack steering conversion) then why not seek out a strut that already uses a more appropriate steering arm? Might end up with different front hubs & brakes, but that could be an advantage as well, right?

Not that I have any idea what donor cars have suitable struts, but it might be worth looking around before cutting & welding the stock steering arms.

I'd also like to see what alternate steering boxes can be retrofitted, as I'd rather weld up a new box mount on the subframe than modify the strg arm.