Type 65 complete kit steering rack question

[Fbird]

Hi all,
Got some bushings in today so I put on my front coil overs. Very exciting! Then I figured out how many turns my manual steering rack had in the total range of motion from lock to lock and turned the steering shaft until it was in the middle of this range by counting turns. Next I took off the tie rods and located each nut on the threaded rods on the steering rack to 2 1/8 inch to make them even. Following this I threaded on the tie rods. The passenger side rod goes in 1/2 less than the driver side when I put it in all the way until bottoming out. I am not understanding how this will work? I have the tie rods bottoming out and it looks like I need them to go in more to achieve a neutral straight wheel position. The problem is the steering rack rods won’t allow that.

Before I get out the trusty angle grinder I figured I would ask for advice?
Thank you all.

[Logan]

How many turns of the steering rack input shaft did you count "lock-to-lock" ?

Before you get the grinder out, take a step back to analyze the steering rack dimensions. It is entirely possible that the length of the silver threaded tie-rods are not exactly the same length. If so, this could be intentional. I have heard of guys using rack extensions before and sometimes only installing one side, leading me to believe there could be more at play here than simply measuring the distance from the ends.

I have the power steering rack in my Coupe-R, chassis #170, but I'm still waiting on the bumpsteer kit to arrive so I haven't setup the tie-rods to the spindles yet. Now I'm curious how mine measures out...

[Big Blocker]

You centered the rack shaft in the rack housing but is the rack housing centered to the frame. The steering wheel position is the last thing you do after everything else alignment-wise is done, including toe-in/out. There aren't many Roadsters or Coupes that have the steering wheel straight after the rack is centered to the frame (for equal steering angle left and right), most either need to re-position the steering shaft on the splines or have the steering wheel hub re-drilled to make it perfect.


Logan, do you [actually} have a bump-steer issue that has been measured and needs adjusting? All the later revisions of the Coupe that use the newer F5 spindles are pretty much not needing a bump-steer correction - that was an issue with the earlier versions, Gen 1 & 2.

Doc

[Fbird]

How many turns of the steering rack input shaft did you count "lock-to-lock" ?

Before you get the grinder out, take a step back to analyze the steering rack dimensions. It is entirely possible that the length of the silver threaded tie-rods are not exactly the same length. If so, this could be intentional. I have heard of guys using rack extensions before and sometimes only installing one side, leading me to believe there could be more at play here than simply measuring the distance from the ends.

I have the power steering rack in my Coupe-R, chassis #170, but I'm still waiting on the bumpsteer kit to arrive so I haven't setup the tie-rods to the spindles yet. Now I'm curious how mine measures out...

Hi Logan,
It takes 3 1/8 rotations lock to lock. The threaded rods are the same length sticking out of the boot. I think I will dig into this further by removing the boot to see if there is something unequal underneath. Definitely things to look into before I start cutting.

[Fbird]

Hello Big Blocker, I did not center the rack to the frame. I guess I will need to pull off that boot to see what is underneath with regards to how things align with the frame.I thought with new components they would fit. Definitely some more digging is needed on my end. I will follow up with what I find later. Thank you.

[Logan]

Logan, do you [actually} have a bump-steer issue that has been measured and needs adjusting? All the later revisions of the Coupe that use the newer F5 spindles are pretty much not needing a bump-steer correction - that was an issue with the earlier versions, Gen 1 & 2.

Doc

Doc, I'm building a Gen 3 Coupe-R which will be subjected to all sorts of crazy suspension configurations over time testing different autocross, track, and street setups. The bumpsteer kit is to make the alignment process as easy as possible regardless of chassis height or camber/caster curves. Probably overkill, but then such is the way I approach things all the time. I would choose the baddest kitchen blender on the block to make the occasional milkshake, lol.

[Big Blocker]

Quote: "I would choose the baddest kitchen blender on the block to make the occasional milkshake, lol." . . . me too - "Overkill" is my middle name.

Doc

[Big Blocker]

Fbird, Go here for a really good description of centering the rack ---> https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?19175-Steering-Rack-Install-Setup-Procedure.

Doc

[Fbird]

Thank you. I will bookmark and check it out.

[Tuftster]

Check the threads in your tie rod ends. I had to replace one of mine as the threads were machined badly and would not allow the steering rack ends to thread in fully.

[Fbird]

That is exactly what it turned out to be. That and I had one steering rod pointing in on the spindle instead of out. With cleaning out the tie rod threads using a big bolt and wrench I must have gained 3+ inches. All is good now. Thank you all.