[DeTomaso] Ferrari Steering Rack Comparison
Asa Jay Laughton
asajay at asajay.com
Mon Aug 3 00:16:45 EDT 2015
I've installed the Ferrari rack. It does seem a lot smoother than my
old one but still a little stiff and still doesn't return all the way to
center on it's own, but that could be the fact it now needs an
alignment. Overall I do think it feels better.
Asa Jay
Asa Jay Laughton - W7TSC, MSgt, USAFR, Retired
& Shelley Marie
Spokane, WA
******************************
http://www.racingagainstautism.com
http://www.teampanteraracing.com
http://facebook.com/racingagainstautism
On 7/26/2015 6:16 PM, Asa Jay Laughton wrote:
> AH! Yes! add-in the bump-steer mod that later cars had. My car
> already has it, but if someone were to make the block, they should add
> that dimension to the upper block. Good call Mark!
>
> Asa Jay
>
> Asa Jay Laughton - W7TSC, MSgt, USAFR, Retired
> & Shelley Marie
> Spokane, WA
> ******************************
> http://www.racingagainstautism.com
> http://www.teampanteraracing.com
> http://facebook.com/racingagainstautism
>
>
> On 7/26/2015 5:32 PM, mark skwarek wrote:
>> I am pleased with the operation of my rack. It is better than my old
>> one which had a bit of slop in it. At some point I might play with
>> the adjustment.
>>
>> If someone were to make up mounting blocks, I would suggest that they
>> be made to incorporate the spacer that most of us use.in the block.
>>
>> Mark
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sunday, July 26, 2015 6:20 PM, Asa Jay Laughton
>> <asajay at asajay.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Three good points:
>>
>> 1: If there was enough interest, someone (not me) should have
>> replacement mounting blocks made that would fit these racks, driver side
>> only. They should do this in a mass quantity so everyone could buy a
>> set. That might make it a whole lot easier than trying to machine the
>> rack. Anyone game for that?
>>
>> 2: I plan to monkey with the tension adjust sometime this week -prior-
>> to mounting the rack. I'll see how well that works out.
>>
>> 3: The stock Pantera rod ends fit just fine, same thread, same size.
>> Any others I don't know.
>>
>> Asa Jay
>>
>> Asa Jay Laughton - W7TSC, MSgt, USAFR, Retired
>> & Shelley Marie
>> Spokane, WA
>> ******************************
>> http://www.racingagainstautism.com <http://www.racingagainstautism.com/>
>> http://www.teampanteraracing.com <http://www.teampanteraracing.com/>
>> http://facebook.com/racingagainstautism
>>
>>
>> On 7/26/2015 3:21 AM, michael barnes wrote:
>> > Hi Asa,
>> > I pulled the trigger on one of these last week and it arrived on my
>> doorstep , in England, within a week, very well packaged as you said.
>> > A couple if questions-
>> > 1. I wonder just how much tension adjustment is available ?Didn't
>> know what the extra nut on the cover plate was for, now i do thanks.
>> >
>> > 2.What track rod ends are comparable with out cars?
>> >
>> > Thanks in advance
>> >
>> > Sent by Michael Barnes
>> >
>> >> On 26 Jul 2015, at 03:37, Asa Jay Laughton<asajay at asajay.com
>> <mailto:asajay at asajay.com>> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> My apologies, some of you will get this twice (once as POCA and
>> once as TPR)
>> >>
>> >> Hi all,
>> >> Since I've not seen another real comparison yet, I figured I'd pop
>> in here. Attached are all the photos that accompany this comparison.
>> >>
>> >> I recently needed a steering rack to do a comparison with the one
>> installed in my Pantera. This was because a friend drove the car and
>> said he felt the rack was dangerous and should be fixed or replaced.
>> The easiest thing to do was to make a comparison.
>> >>
>> >> Peter (The German) Menyhart of The Whitehorse Ranch, fellow
>> Pantera owner and racer, just happened to have one of the ebay
>> Ferrari steering racks everyone has been talking about. He
>> graciously shipped it to me so I could do my comparison. Peter is in
>> the midst of a restoration project and is able to part with it for a
>> while.
>> >>
>> >> The rack is very well packaged in an oversize box. It does not
>> come with tie-rod ends installed. The boots are a big larger than
>> stock DeTomaso, and they are clamped on with those funny one-time use
>> on the large end and a friction/spring on the small end.
>> >>
>> >> The movement of the rack feels rather stiff, not as hard as the
>> one out of my car but still not quite "like butter." However, you'll
>> note from the photos the tension can be adjusted without the use of
>> shims. I will work with that later. So far, one plus for this rack.
>> >>
>> >> I took measurements of the tube diameter in the mounting bracket
>> areas. The two tubes are within .005" at each location. The overall
>> length is the same as my Pantera rack. The big difference, as has
>> been mentioned, is in the drivers side bracket area which contains
>> raised ribs for either side of the bracket.
>> >>
>> >> Now, here is where I discovered something interesting. I was
>> having a very difficult time getting a good reading with my inside
>> calipers of that area. The bracket was easy to measure at 0.624"
>> outside dimension but the space on both racks measured at about .555"
>> in width and that didn't make sense.
>> >>
>> >> Well, I had to put my grandpa glassed on, but found the reason.
>> Nearly the entire ridge on the Pantera rack has a shoulder on it,
>> that goes from about .055" at the bottom against the tube, to just
>> under 0.624" at the outermost edge. Looking at the photos of the
>> bracket you'll note it too has a bevel cut into the semi-circle. In
>> my case the brackets still don't fit quite flush to the Pantera rack.
>> >>
>> >> The brackets -don't- fit the Ferrari rack at all. You'll note
>> from the close-up of that rack, there really isn't any bevel to it at
>> all; it's nearly 0.555" from tube to outer edge. In order to get
>> this to the 0.624" it needs to be to accept the brackets, I'll need
>> to machine about .070" split more or less equally on both sides of
>> the channel.
>> >>
>> >> The last thing to note is that the tie-rods are a bit beefier.
>> However, they -are- cut with the same diameter and thread as the
>> Pantera rack. In the photo of the tie-rod ends, you see the Pantera
>> rack with the lock nut on the tie-rod end, and a used/spare/old
>> Pantera tie rod threaded onto the Ferrari rack.
>> >>
>> >> So there you have it. The rack is nearly identical with the
>> exception of beefier tie-rods (good thing), adjustable tension adjust
>> (good thing), and narrow mounting bracket channel (bad thing but
>> workable).
>> >>
>> >> Mark Skwarek recently did one of these for his Pantera as well and
>> used an end mill with the rack mounted in a vise, cutting a path,
>> turning the rack and cutting again until he got all the way around.
>> That's probably what I'll do as well.
>> >>
>> >> The best thing would be to completely disassemble the rack and
>> chuck it up on a lathe, but I really don't want to take it apart;
>> after all, it's not really my rack. :)
>> >>
>> >> There, any questions?
>> >> Asa Jay
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> Asa Jay Laughton - W7TSC, MSgt, USAFR, Retired
>> >> & Shelley Marie
>> >> Spokane, WA
>> >> ******************************
>> >> http://www.racingagainstautism.com
>> <http://www.racingagainstautism.com/>
>> >> http://www.teampanteraracing.com <http://www.teampanteraracing.com/>
>> >> http://facebook.com/racingagainstautism
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> <100_2810.jpg>
>> >> <100_2792.jpg>
>> >> <100_2793.jpg>
>> >> <100_2795.jpg>
>> >> <100_2798.jpg>
>> >> <100_2799.jpg>
>> >> <100_2800.jpg>
>> >> <100_2801.jpg>
>> >> <100_2802.jpg>
>> >> <100_2804.jpg>
>> >> <100_2806.jpg>
>> >> <100_2807.jpg>
>> >> _______________________________________________
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