the DRO is finished, and my spacer is completed!

now, gonna make some new brackets for the 8.8 on the mill, BUT! i will have it assembled this weekend, and hopefully on the car just in time for winter so that i can roll it around.

As an aside, has anyone seen anyone convert these cars to rack and pinion steering? Not that i'm planning on doing it, because i would like to get the car on the road.

I am however looking into a serpentine setup, because of how much of a pain in the arse it's going to be to fit an alternator around the steering, that and finding a little M45 or M62 eaton would be nice..... though i DO have a millennia S blower in good shape rolling around the back of the wagon right now (Couldn't resist 82$ at pick'n'pull, that i just so happened to have some store credit i needed to use up).

Then again, that can wait for a 16v motor and some $$$... and a lathe...



I wish i would have realized earlier what use an accurate tool to drill holes/surface things was in the shop!

Hi Eric,

I've done a bunch of research on the rack and pinion options for this car and it isn't good news. The distance between the lower control arm pivots is too short of any standard rack. There are other options, but they all require a lot of fabrication. I was hot on the track of a final design, when a few financial issues related to my house have stalled things out for the time being. Maybe next year.

Craig

yeah, seeing the racks they use for stock car racing is what got me thinking, they're very short centre-to-centre, and can be had for very cheap second-hand.

think: http://cgi.ebay.ca/Wilwood-Tru-Trac-Rac ... 3f04532812

or

http://www.pitstopusa.com/SearchResult. ... oryID=1382

Do you have any dimensions worked out Craig? I'm more interested from a theoretical standpoint, but if i get really bored and lonely this winter and run into some funds, i might get around to playing with the idea.

That being said, short racks are available for the ford cortina type rally cars as well in nice ratios.

The eventual goal of this wagon is for autocross duty, and some quicker steering WOULD be nice, though, there are many ways to go about it.

I have them somewhere - centre to centre is something like 14.5" and the shortest rack I could get is 16" which = too much bump steer. I have the rest figured out (including a Sweet pump which I have downstairs - thanks to Ian for that idea). If a short enough rack can be found, then I've worked out a way to get it mounted without hacking and chopping stuff. I found a manufacture that could probably do the trick for a price.

one other option is pick a rack with a steel tube down the middle that has replacable inner tie rods. It would be entirely possible to shorten that and re-thread the inner rod.

That may work - my idea was to desing something that is pretty much bolt in so that Dale and Matt can offer it to the 122/1800/140 world. The trick is getting something as short as we need - something like this:

Hmm, I've seen a few systems like that as well.

That would be ideal, utilizing the stock mounts for the steering box and the like.

Has anyone looked to see if the spindle arms could be reversed? There are some very easy to shorten rear-steer racks out there.

The steering arms are bolted on and could therefore be flipped around, but where would you mount the rack easily? Then you'd also run into the brake caliper etc. Front steer is simpler in a retro-fit application. If I was going to go that far, I'd just build a new cross-member and ditch the old one...

it certainly wouldn't be easy, but it would be more compact. The big factor would be oil pan clearance in that location.

could always mount it way far back, like they do in a lot of FWD cars.

the saab 900 rack is mighty narrow as well, and of a decently quick ratio, but alas is rear-steer.

Total benchracing here though.

Hmmph, i do wonder...

aaargh!

just put the wheel bearings in, they're an interference fit, but almost none of one. Something happened whilst shortening it i guess. I can press in the bearings using firm hand pressure, little bit harder to pull them out. Anyone know of any fix for something like this?

Pics? I'm assuming rear end.

i'll throw some up this weekend,

yeah, the axle bearings. there's no discernable play up and down, but they are barely an interference fit for certain.

I've also gotta make a device to get the torque right on the darn pinion gear, needs somewhere in the range of 140-500ftlbs, but that'll just be a couple of pins in a piece of angle or square stock.

Measure the fit...mic the bearing and be sure it is right. All I can think of is having it welded up (not a job for MIG by the way - sorry) and have them machined. We use to do this all the time. No big deal. When I tightened my pinion, I created such a monster. I use to just give them a couple of good raps with the impact but I don't hack like that anymore. I ended up using some socket caps that were longer than needed for the pinion and a crow bar. You'll get the idea.

just used the mics and i get about a 0.0013" (0.0010-.0016) interference. they definitely have no play, but are awful easy to press in/out with light pressure.

So you've got 1 thou of clearance...which is very close to an interference fit (not calculated but sounds right) - there is no way that you'd be able to push them together. Even at about 0.005" it would take some care to assemble by hand. Are you sure you didn't measure 10 - 13 thou (0.010 - 0.013").

Did you compare the bearing race measurements to what they are suppose to be?