[DeTomaso] Pantera Steering Rack Interchange Ferrari 308
Pantdino
pantdino at aol.com
Mon Feb 24 23:54:28 EST 2014
FWIW I had the rack on my Ferrari 246 rebuilt a few years ago by whoever it is Steve Wilkinson sends Pantera racks to
It is exactly the same rack (made by CamGears in the UK, IIRC), but has different outer ends.
When I was discussing my rack situation on Ferrarichat (good thing I'm not female-- "my rack" ha ha) I was warned to get my rack rebuilt and not buy some cheap aftermarket junk ones that were on the market.
Just thought I'd add this to the mix
Jim Oddie
-----Original Message-----
From: MikeLDrew <MikeLDrew at aol.com>
To: julian_kift <julian_kift at hotmail.com>
Cc: detomaso <detomaso at poca.com>
Sent: Fri, Feb 21, 2014 11:15 pm
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Pantera Steering Rack Interchange Ferrari 308
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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-------------- next part --------------
FWIW I had the rack on my Ferrari 246 rebuilt a few years ago by
whoever it is Steve Wilkinson sends Pantera racks to
It is exactly the same rack (made by CamGears in the UK, IIRC), but has
different outer ends.
When I was discussing my rack situation on Ferrarichat (good thing I'm
not female-- "my rack" ha ha) I was warned to get my rack rebuilt and
not buy some cheap aftermarket junk ones that were on the market.
Just thought I'd add this to the mix
Jim Oddie
-----Original Message-----
From: MikeLDrew <MikeLDrew at aol.com>
To: julian_kift <julian_kift at hotmail.com>
Cc: detomaso <detomaso at poca.com>
Sent: Fri, Feb 21, 2014 11:15 pm
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Pantera Steering Rack Interchange Ferrari 308
In a message dated 2/21/14 21 43 19, [1]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:
[2]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
_______________________________________________
Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
DeTomaso mailing list
[3]DeTomaso at poca.com
[4]http://poca.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso_poca.com
References
1. mailto:julian_kift at hotmail.com
2. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ferrari-Testarossa-TRW-Steering-Rack-/121278970
3. mailto:DeTomaso at poca.com
4. http://poca.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso_poca.com
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