[DeTomaso] Pantera Steering Rack Interchange Ferrari 308

[Thomas Tornblom]

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
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