Front Steering?

Cruzing Flea Bay and saw this 63 ...I was intregued by the front steering rack. Some photos show the set up. looks like manual rack Cant quite tell the make or see the mounting. Perhaps I'll e-mail for more photos. :stirpot:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chev...5bbQQitemZ390145942971QQptZUSQ5fCarsQ5fTrucks

Looks like a pinto rack but what worries me more is, he just swapped the steering arms, sure that can be done but the ackerman is completely the wrong way around like that, the tires will scrub like mad. It will be dangerous to drive it like that.

The arms need to be moved outboard about the same as they are off originally inboard from the steering axis/longitudinal plane.

TT, I don't unnersand what you said there, he swapped the steering knuckles around r/l.....and so something happened to the ackerman...why???

the knuckle would be in the same position relative to ball joints centerline...NO??

:bonkers:

Yes, because the original location has the arms behind the steering axis the tie rod position is inboard of the steering axis so it's i line with the diff center (IRS center actually) and the steering axis (or thereabouts), more the arm to the front of the car (also flips them upside down, that's why his adjustable tie rod end for bumpsteer adjustment is on the top) and the position for the tie rod needs to be outboard of the steering axis. Maybe this pic will clear it up:



extend the dotted line to the front steering arms see where they end up?

Here's another pic



The way that is set up on the C2 that thing is a death trap. The only reason it may very well drive without it scrubbing too bad is because of the skinnies on the front. Slap a 275 tire on there and you have issues.

TT ........It looks like a death trap ..............even without looking at the steering config. :gurney:


(Ackerman) We old guys used to called it "Toe Out" on turns.

OK, so flipping the knuckles around points the steering angle to the outside of the car on EACH side....fine....why should it matter??

long as the what I understand as ackerman stays the same with the inner tire having more 'steering input' then the outer...or does it stay the same??

is it a result of the caster??

something escaping me, as long as the wheels are turned the same linear distance by the rack/tie rods, why would it make any difference if it's done from the front or the rear?? they both turn the same....the knuckles the same length....

why does it matter if it points to the center of the rear...??

sorry to be so thick headed, but long as each wheel manages to turn the appropriate degrees deflection, I can't see the rest as mattering...

:hissyfit:

Looks like that car would fall apart before it hit highway speeds so I wouldn't worry about the front steer issue at highway speeds.

Saw a couple of C2's with front steering last weekend. C4 A-arms, but not sure on the rack?

BBShark said:

Saw a couple of C2's with front steering last weekend. C4 A-arms, but not sure on the rack?
.........................

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Where was this at?

I went to Barrett Jackson and Russo & Steele auctions. Lots of nice cars!

The first pictures I posted look like a C4 rack. Gotta guess that the rods have been shortened for the C2. The next set of pictures have a front steer rack that I don't recognise. Anyone know what this is?

BBShark said:

The first pictures I posted look like a C4 rack. Gotta guess that the rods have been shortened for the C2. The next set of pictures have a front steer rack that I don't recognise. Anyone know what this is?

Click to expand...

My guess is T-bird.

I going to guess C4 rack, as my '87 had similar mounting, but I don't recognize that center fitting there, only been pushing 20 years though....

:crutches:

That's not a C4 rack.

That's a mustang II power rack.

So a Mustang II is front steer?

yes, popular aftermarket rack, used in many chassis/suspension kits.

Twin_Turbo said:

yes, popular aftermarket rack, used in many chassis/suspension kits.

Click to expand...

Any particular advantage to switching my rack over to a front steer arrangement, I do have 17" wheels....with plenty of room them being flat faced '89 vette wheels....right now it's the 'steeroids' rack, '92 Grand Am....

The major advantage is in the end take off part but the other advantage is that it's much better suited to a double a arm susp. Any deflection in the arm bushings under hard cornering (pushing susp. corner inboard) translates into understeer, much easier to correct than oversteer which happens with rear steer. With rear steer as the susp, deflects and you keep the steering input the same the deflection increases the steering angle at the wheels. Problem is, for the rack to fit you'll need it to fit the stock C3 lower and upper arm geometry and the lower arms are placed pretty tightly together (cross shafts) I think it's around 15". This means you need a very narrow rack. Now you know why I have a 16.75" appleton rack and it takes a whole lot of cutting to make it work. The lower arms are in the way of a proper tie rod angle from birds eye view, you need to do some cutting to the crossmemeber to put the rack as far back as possible.