@LI-Rick posted:Thanks Dannny. I was hoping that Bruce’s car was progressing before my car made it onto the frame table.
Saco used to make an offset, center load rack, but I’m not sure if the 1.5 to 1 ratio was slow enough for the street. I think they are now out of business. I’ve also read that Chevy Cavaliers from the mid 1980’s to the early 90’s used a center load manual rack, which a few people have used in Baja bugs. I tried searching for one, but they seem unobtainium, as most of them used a power rack.
Sorry, Ed, but that just won't work(well) with a VW beam. The only style of rack that will work is a center load, that is the tie-rods attach in the center. This reduces bump steer BECAUSE the tie-rods are equal length.
The stock VW has a short left and a long right tie-rod. By having the new rack in the exact same plane as the VW steering box, bump-steer is REDUCED. On-center feel and precision will be increased. A win-win, and it becomes the best steering a VW beam can ever have.
A conventional rack with ball joints on the end of the rack and short tie-rods will have a tremendous amount of bump-steer on a VW beam.
P.S.: the rack you linked looks like a power rack to me with the metal lines.
The link Ed provided is a center load rack. The picture is just not correct. The first picture is a Cavalier center load manual rack. The last 2 pictures are the power rack version, just to show the mounting points for the tie rods.
I believe Fatman’s Fabrication used these racks in the past on some of their front end conversions.
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What is a center load manual rack? Is the pinion actually in the center of this setup? I'm curious, because I have no idea.
The pinion gear/steering shaft can be wherever fits the application. In LHD cars, it's almost always on the left, for a straighter steering shaft. Center-load means the tie-rods are attached in the center of the rack.
Rick, I know of one car that has that Saco rack, and it's near impossible to drive on the street. In fact I'd say that steering that car REALLY sucks, and is more akin to driving a heavy truck with a broken power steering pump.