I have a 53 Chevy 210, I might possibly go look at a rebuilt 54 front end with disc brakes and rack and pinion. I'm not sure if the guy knows what the rack and pinion is off of, he told me that a guy had the front end on a frame he was customizing and the guy gave up on the project. He wants like $250 for it.... I have heard/read good and bad things about the rack and pinion on stock chevy front ends...how hard would it be to get this bolted up to my car and get right, steering column and all? Would power steering need to come into play? Thanks!
Adapting a rack and pinion to a front suspension, properly, requires more than just fabricating mounts. The geometry of the steering linkage is ismportant to prevent 'bump steer' issues. And then there is the suitability of the rack itself...is it strong enough for the weight of and other characteristics of the vehicle to which it is being adapted. As you probably know, the '54 parts will bolt right up to your '53. The stock steering column will have to either be cut off and adapted with a lower bearing and u-joint or replaced with a later model or aftermarket column. Ray
Unless I knew positively what the rack came out of, I would probably take a p*** on it. To add to what Hnstray said, just think of the fun you will have if you have a mechanical failure and need parts for it. Say on a road trip in a small town auto parts store with a limited supply on hand. Us parts guys cannot ALWAYS perform miracles.
I had a 54 210 that I was planning on doing the same thing too..But after getting the dog house off and taking some prelim measurements and getting some angles down realized that, like hnstray said, the geometry was looking a like it might be a problem with the stock suspension. I opted to go with a new mustang II front end from JW rod garage...Little more expensive but I knew exactly what the rack and pinion came from and the angles were already worked out for me. With that option you can either choose manual or power steering. i went with manual cuz i didnt want to deal with the power steering pump, But there was enough room to fit one in there if you so choose. I was much happier with it and the ride was amazing in the 54 210. Went the same rout with my 55 chevy truck...Replaced the Ibeam with a mustang II and power steering.
250 sound like a great deal the disk brake set-up is worth that, You have alot of options, if it is the stock front crodd member on his setup you could just bolt it to your frame. If its a Mustang II crossmember its proboly welded. As for the Power steering part, they make manual racks so you could keep it manual. adapting your colume is easy too, you will need a 3/4 DD to DD steering joint and a spline to DD steering joint and some DD shaft a bearing for your colume and a braket to hold your colume to the floor or firewall, I just did mine last week and am very please with it. If he hacked up the stock cross member or just bolted a rack to the front of it you may want to redesign his work. for for 250 its a good deal either way.
Also, you can Have auto zone or nape run the part number on the rack and they can tell you what it came off of. the number is stamped on it in the front by the steering input.
J53 here on the hamb did an article about this topic. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=424231 http://www.how-to-build-hotrods.com/rack-and-pinion.html
If it's the one I seen on craigslist last might here in Austin it's a nova front sub frame, not a bad price for someone wanting to put a cheap better front end under something
I found out that it has a power rack on it, he said it the original 54 front end and the rack is bolted to the front end. Which means I would need a pump and a way to bracket it up to the motor. Mrconcidid: I agree, the front end is worth is just for the discs. I guess if I didn't want to deal with rack and pinion I could always take it off and bolt up the old tie rods off my 53...right?
disc conversion makes it worth it, but that rack will give you trouble. your tie rod length matters no matter what people say they can do, you can't change physics.
That rack looks like a Cavilier (sp?) rack, look up the numbers to be sure. If the numbers prove out to be a Cavilier rack, originally, the center connections connect directly to the rack with bolts through the tie rod linkage. It appears someone added a center link to the rack/tie rod ***embly. If your complete tie rods are similar in length to the ones pictured, I doubt the car would have any more bump steer then the car originally had. That center link is a fabricated part. It can be shortened or lengthened to work correctly with your tie rod lengths. I believe the Cavilier racks were available as a power or manual version. Gene
Thats looks like a good soild stock front end 53/54, I dont like the way the rack is mounted, I may be wrong but in the pics it looks like its mounted to the lower A arms?, it should have been mounted to the frame or at least the crossmember itself. Its hard to tell. I would mount it and relocate the rack to the frame add a new cross brace between the frame rails and attach the rack to it. making sure the tierods are in the correct orintation for/aft of the spindel mounts. You maybe able to hook your old steering back up, I can tell for sure from the pics.
Mrconcdid: Your right, with everything that I have read related to racks (pros/cons) I may just not even fool with the rack and just hook up my old steering. At this point I want some I can drive and not have to mess with alot on the front end. As for the discs what kind of master cylinder setup do I go with? I'm gonna keep drums in the back..
Thats tricky, if its still under the floor ( factory ) search for a thred I read on here about upgrading master cylinder. I dont remember what they used. Mine is mounted on the fire wall now and I am using one from a S-10. Any (GM) disk/drum donor will work as long as it will fit check the mounting holes ( distance between ) the stocker and see what your choices are.There is a aftermarket kit with a small booster that fits under the floor but its pricey!
Yeah, I really don't mind the look of it going through the firewall as long as it doesn't interefere with anything... I've seen the kit they sell from Waltons that bolts right up, but I heard it's pricey...What did you use as a pedal ***embly? The S-10 one as well? Are you all disc? Proportioning Valve?
I have seen the waltons kit, its very nice and easy to install, I would use it if I hadnt already smoothed my firewall. Im using a modified s-10 brake pedal ***embly and booster set up.
Im disk/drum and using the s-10 proportioning valve and rear axel read my build thred it might help you out
Does anyone have a pic/idea of how they mounted a power steering pump to a 235 motor? Belt recommendations?
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