56 Merc and 56 Ford steering question

I have seen a rack and pinion kit on a 56 Victoria that supposedly came from FatMan a couple of years ago at a car show. I finally have my 56 Medalist (non-power steering car) torn down so I called FatMan today to order the rack and pinion brackets and the dude on the other end of the phone said that the rack setup I had seen on the Vic would not work on my Merc. Instead suggested a $2300.00 stub. Can anyone confirm that there is a difference between Ford and Merc in '56. Can't lay out those kinds of bucks for this heap.....but it has got to steer better somehow.

 

Ya different. I had a 56 merc 2dr Medalist, was fairly low mileage but drove very well. Check the front end and repair the problems......OLDBEET

 

Thanks OLDBEET, Didn't have anything else around here to compare it to. Ah...it doesn't steer that bad I suppose, was just trying to update this thing a little without spending a pile on a stub. Doing drop spindles and updated brakes so thought I would throw this rack in while I was at it. I just thought that I might have gotten ahold of a salesman today when I called about the brackets.

 

Anyone had experience with putting a 351W into a '56? What manifolds did you use to get around the steering box? I aint a Ford guy....yet anyway.

 

I put a big block 429 in my 56 merc. I got a 1/8" clearance. So I think you'll be ok