[DeTomaso] Pantera Steering Rack Interchange Ferrari 308
Thomas Tornblom
thomas at hax.se
Sat Feb 22 05:33:53 EST 2014
I just checked some photos from the rebuild and the rack is a Cam Gears
rack, which is the old Pantera rack, right?
Thomas
thomas skrev 2014-02-22 10:56:
> I rebuilt the rack in #9321 (1984 GT5) using a brass bushing that Mike supplied, and I believe it is the later rack.
>
> Later I removed some of the thin shims to reduce steering wheel play.
>
> I have Marino's offset poly bushings and it is still a white knuckle ride with the 285-40/15 Yokohama AVS-1 tires.
>
> I don't think this can be fixed with a new rack alone.
>
> Thomas
>
>> 22 feb 2014 kl. 08:13 skrev MikeLDrew at aol.com:
>>
>> In a message dated 2/21/14 21 43 19, julian_kift at hotmail.com writes:
>>
>> As you know I have replaced just about everything on the steering
>> end of my GT5 in an effort to try and make it an enjoyable drive,
>> alas it is still a white knuckle ride tram lining the slightest rut
>> in the road and darting when one changes lanes over the center
>> crest. The rack was rebuilt at some point by someone who was heavy
>> handed with vice grips and I have never been happy with it, so my
>> last ditch effort is to just change out the rack for a new one.
>> Mine being an early GT5 where Alejandro was still using up leftover
>> Ford parts has the same rack as my '74, so I'd be keen to know if
>> what you have in the box there fits. That said I'm intrigued that
>> later GT5's had a different rack, are they dimensionally the same or
>> does the later rack alter (improve) the steering geometry?
>>
>>>>> The later rack appears to be dimensionally the same. The rack
>> housing tube is a smaller diameter, and there are crude spacers that
>> wrap around the outside of it to make up the difference between the
>> small tube and the larger opening in the Pantera rack housing clamps.
>> Here is what arrived at my house for me to repair, plucked from the
>> GT5:
>> http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ferrari-Testarossa-TRW-Steering-Rack-/121278970
>> 012
>> At least, I'm 99.9% certain it's the same. The tie rods are completely
>> different from an early Pantera rack, the rack is different, the
>> housing is different, although the boot on the driver's side seems
>> largely the same (the passenger side is very different. You can see
>> the tube is much smaller in diameter as well.
>> But functionally it seems to be identical. As I said, I'm going to
>> fully compare the worn-out GT5 rack, a standard Pantera rack that I
>> keep on hand as a visual aid, and the new early 308 rack I just bought,
>> and we will see wot's wot.
>> BTW Rick Moseley's 1980 308 uses a later-style rack I believe, with a
>> different housing with the mounting clamps cast integral with the
>> housing. But internally it is the same as the Pantera rack, needs the
>> same bronze bushing for a quality repair, etc. etc. Rick is the one
>> who contacted TRW (the outfit that purchased Cam Gears UK, the original
>> maker of the Pantera and Ferrari racks) and asked what to use as a
>> lubricant; they told him in no uncertain terms that gear oil was no
>> longer in vogue and 0-weight grease was the lube of choice. The
>> GT5/Testa Rossa rack comes filled with this grease, as did the TRW
>> racks that some vendors were selling a few years ago, and also the ones
>> that Roland was selling. I have no doubt the new rack we just bought
>> will have grease as well.
>> (As an aside, I just replaced the worn-out rack on one of my VW
>> Sciroccos today. The new rack came from the German manufacturer filled
>> with grease too).
>> Rick and I worked together with the fellow you saw on the F-chat forum,
>> who has an early 308 GT4 Dino and had a blown-out rack. Some thief had
>> charged him over $1000 to 'repair' his rack; he threw a home-made
>> nylong bushing inside, bludgeoned some later-style tie rods onto the
>> rack, and overtightened them to the point where they were bound up
>> solid. The poor guy got the rack installed in his car with some
>> difficulty, but the car was virtually undriveable. He managed to get
>> it to an alignment shop and they literally couldn't turn the tie rods
>> to set the toe, so they sent him home.
>> With much long-distance hand-holding, he took the rack apart, dumped
>> the new parts, got three (!) Pantera rack bushings from three different
>> Pantera vendors, chose the one we told him to choose in the first
>> place, and put his rack back together using his original tie rods. The
>> result was perfection and he was quite pleased, not only with the
>> results, but with himself for having taken on the challenge and
>> prevailing.
>> He has been trying to sell one of his three rack bushings on E-bay for
>> quite some time now, with no takers; oddly, the other one sold almost
>> instantly?
>> Mike
>>
>>
>>
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--
Real life: Thomas Törnblom Email: thomas at hax.se
Snail mail: Banvallsvägen 14 Phone: +46 18 32 31 18
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