The key is the steering arms...If you draw a line thru his they will intersect out infront of the car....if you draw lines thru yours they would intersect back towards the rear-end like they should....it changes the steering arc...
fiftyV8, you asked me in post 14 how the tie rod can work out front. it can only work if ackermans principal is followed and there is room around backplate/disc and wheel for the tie rod end. Best to google ackermans principal, read and understand this simple formula. there have been lots of diagrams on here that show it but that doesn't explain it. LongT's front end above shows how the tie rod out front should be set up. Cheers JW
I think the best way to describe messed up ackerman is to relate it to a motorcycle with gobs of positive trail (similar principal through different circumstances). If you have a bunch of positive trail on a motorcycle, then you'll have a bike that takes to low speed turns like a fish takes to land. A bunch of flop. Though, with ackerman it all deals with the angles of the steering arms in relation to the tail of the car. With a suicide front end, you can bend the shit out of the steering arms out passed the king pins and make the situation as best as it can be, but thanks geometry and space it won't be perfect. Thus, a floppy front end at low speed. It'll turn heavy and be unresponsive at low speeds. But, similar to too much positive trail, is perfectly safe to work at any real driving speed. I might sound like a dummy writing it out this way, but it helps remind me that ackerman and trail both relate the the steering points in relation to something else. Tl;Dr you might look at a few more suicide front ends and re-evaluate your tie rod and steering arm situation. you might space up your engine/trans mount a little to make the car easier to drive.
You need a set of these. Maybe not the chrome ones. http://shop.wintecfabrication.com/product.sc?productId=286&categoryId=2
Just in case you're still looking, a circle track pan will work fine. I've been using one for years. The shallowest I've found is 6.5" deep and has kickouts on both sides. Holds 6 or 7 qts. I think a stock pan is 8", maybe a bit more.
My bad Fred. I miss read the description and deleted my post. I agree, those should help out quite a bit.
The add says 1/2" holes?? Is this where the tie rods go? it will need rod ends instead of tie rods. Tie rods would be better. I really don't know what they mean by 1/2" holes. Just double check if the steering holes are tapered. Ago
The 1/2'' holes are where they bolt to the stub axle, nothing to do with the tie rod end. 1/2'' UNF. JW
Yes it will be better but to get the right acerman it has to go outside far enough to conflict with the brakes.
The holes they refer to are for the tie rod and 1/2". I've used these before with rod ends with NO trouble in thousands of miles.
Just so you know, if the taper of the tie rod stud, or any tapered stud for that matter doesn't match the taper of the hole, its being set up to snap the stud. Tapered holes wear out and this is suspension 101. Maybe it does maybe it doesn't but the conditions are correct for that to be the likely outcome. If those have a 1/2 straight hole they are probably set up to be used with a heim joint and a 1/2 thru bolt.