Mk IV Power Steering advice

[Racee75]

I am slowly moving forward with my Mk IV Base kit and need some advice on power Steering Racks. I have a rack from a 97 Mustang that is in need of being replaced. Are there benefits for using the 94-04 steering rack over the pre 94 racks ? Is there any geometry advantage ? I am also using the 97 spindles.

[canuck1]

There is a difference, but it may not be worth the other trade-offs. Have a look at the article in this link for some guidance:

http://www.mustangandfords.com/how-to/drivetrain/m5lp-1207-power-steering-steered-straight/

While the 94-up racks ARE newer and slightly more sophisticated technology, the availability of Fox era racks is still greater and you may find it easier to find the ratio you are looking for. The input shaft connection is also different and somewhat limiting with the 94-up racks. The 'pyramid' shape of the input shaft connection makes it impossible to clock the steering wheel once the alignment is set in order to get it perfectly centered. This can be overcome with slightly unequal adjustments of outer tie rods on each side or drilling an extra hole in the steering wheel so you can mount it straight but the Fox rack is simpler. The Fox rack input shaft is splined, which allows you to remove the coupling, rotate it where you want the wheel centered and then slide it back over the input shaft. That way the tie rod ends can be centered as they ideally should and there is no need to re-mount the steering wheel.

I have an SN-95 era rack in my roadster and it works very well for me. I re-drilled the wheel and mounted it on center but this solution doesn't account for the slight mis-alignment of the tabs that de-activate my self-cancelling turn signal (Russ Thompson). It works fine most times but sometimes fails to cancel when changing lanes to the left.

Sean

[carlewms]

I am sort of sidestepping your question but here is my experience starting with a FFR basic kit.

After deciding to shift to power steering I first tried (3 times) to get the correct turn to turn 3:1 for my street driven focused build. Autozone could not produce the correct rack after three tries.

I got smart and just went to Breeze and sourced his power steering rack which comes with the rack extenders installed, the longer rubber boots and by adding the offset bushings I got the full adjustment I wanted. The reconditioned rack came directly from Unisteer in black powder coat well packaged. Typical outstanding Breeze quality. He also sells all the fittings and hoses for the rack to the pump.

Search my build thread for more specifics if you like ...

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?9583-Carl-s-Mk-4-Roadster-Build

Carl

[Racee75]

Thanks for the feedback. An informative read on the Mustang racks. Carl looked at your build thread too... I was reviewing the manual for the installation of the 94 and up rack and looking at the parts that I have. Do you still need to cut the inner tie rods if you have the 94 and up instal parts ( new inner and outer tie rods) and also use the rack extenders ?

[Mark Reynolds]

If you get the Breeze rack, the extenders are already installed (1" rather than 1.5" on the FFR manual racks - not sure what FFR is using on their present power racks). If using the 1997 spindles you might not have to cut the inner tie rods because the track width is wider. To save yourself some money and headaches I recommend you sell your 1997 spindles on E-bay and purchase some 1994-1995 spindles on e-bay for 2 reasons. First is the wider track width of the 1997 can really cause the wheels to stick out from the fender wells, unless you pay close attention to wheel offset and perhaps get custom wheels. Second is the straight out steering arm of the 1997 spindle can make it hard to get the rack lowered enough to get standard tie rods connected from the bottom and have reasonable bump steer, which then requires a bump-steer kit instead of standard style tie rod ends so you can attach the tie rod ends to the top side of the steering arm, which depending on the kit may require drilling out of the taper on the tie rod connection to accept a bolt.
Hope that helps!