Hi Guys just posting this as seems I can back on here a bit more frequently, anyway I posted this on Rods and Sods while not being able to get on here, sorry it looks a bit long winded. Anyway I thought might be useful to someone on here as well. I will keep it updated now. Hopefully if Forum keeps working)
I have a classic mini steering rack on my beam axle rack and pinion conversion. I need more lock, i have removed the plastic c clip already, but still not enough lock. Any ideas.
Cheers. G
nobody
Premium Member
Joined Apr 20, 2009
7,809 Posts
narrow the body of the rack
blackpopracing
Administrator
Joined Apr 20, 2009
11,461 Posts
Yep, what Wayne said.
Badgrizzly
Premium Member
1949 AC saloon
Joined Oct 11, 2012
193 Posts
Discussion starter
?#4?8d ago (Edited)
Probably dumb question, but how does narrowing body of rack help with increasing steering rack stroke? Gis a clue. I have a spare rack and willing try it, but not sure how that works.
Cheers. G
blackpopracing
Administrator
Joined Apr 20, 2009
11,461 Posts
Narrowing the outer casing allows the inner rack to travel further = more lock.
If you inner rack has travel of say 6" at present it can only move 3" each side. Narrow the outer casing say 1/2" each end will now give you 3 1/2" of travel, so giving you more lock.
Badgrizzly
Premium Member
1949 AC saloon
Joined Oct 11, 2012
193 Posts
Cheers, that make some sense now. I assume there enough teeth on inner rack.
G
mygasser
Premium Member
Joined Dec 4, 2009
18,112 Posts
or leave the rack and just shorten the steering arms on the axle, that'll turn the spindle more for the same travel at the rack. it's what drifters do to get tons of steering lock. if the arms are butch enough you could just redrill them nearer to the kingpin and use a taper reamer to match the track rod end. easier to cut them down. weld a 'splint' across the welded join for additional strength.
neil.
blackpopracing
Administrator
Joined Apr 20, 2009
11,461 Posts
Personally I'd go the rack outer tube option first, it's not a stressed item and even if you did it badly it wont give steering failure.
Neils way requires good/top welding skills and 'might' suffer cracks at the weld joint which might not be great under cornering 
mygasser
Premium Member
Joined Dec 4, 2009
18,112 Posts
blackpopracing said:
Personally I'd go the rack outer tube option first, it's not a stressed item and even if you did it badly it wont give steering failure.
Neils way requires good/top welding skills and 'might' suffer cracks at the weld joint which might not be great under cornering
that's why i suggested the 'splint' which would go pretty much end to end of the arm. they're cast steel not iron so fine to weld. gary know a couple (at least) of people who could weld the arms for him.
neil.
brading
Premium Member
Joined Sep 25, 2011
3,836 Posts
You could always make new shorter steering arms along these lines. To use your present steering joints you could a welded on tapered bosses rather than the holes for Spherical rose joints.
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Badgrizzly
Premium Member
1949 AC saloon
Cheers guys.
The cut and weld arms option is a no go as they run close the the calipers and if shortened the ball joint would foul the caliper.
I have been talking to a friend his brother sprints a mini with a 16v something engine and those fellas use a metro rack, theses are about 3 inches wider overall but have around 1 inch more rack stroke. The width is not a problem as i was using rack extenders anyway. I will just need to adjust my mountings a bit, also as the pinion is about 3 inches further to the right my steering shaft will move over and give me space for fitting close headers at a later date (fingers crossed). So just ordered one to play with.
Onward and upward.
Cheers
Gary
Badgrizzly
?#12?a moment ago
New
So been down garage today and done a measure up for cutting the mini rack, this will mean the pinion moving closer to the middle of my mountings and making the steering run closer to the engine (future exhaust run). I did order a Metro rack which should be with me tomorrow so over next few days gonna do a test cut and shut on the spare mini rack to see how that goes before looking at doing the metro rack if need to move the pinion inwards, but will see when I measure up if I need to.
Cheers Guys for help.
G
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