[DeTomaso] Ferrari Steering Rack Comparison

Will Kooiman will.kooiman at gmail.com
Sun Jul 26 12:36:58 EDT 2015


Asa Jay,

I think he was suggesting to make new brackets not machining the original
brackets to be thinner.  I wonder if original 308 brackets are the right
size.

BTW, I bought the same rack.  I haven¹t measured anything yet.  The price
was right, so I figured I¹d take a chance.  Get Œem while they¹re
available, and even if they¹re not 100%, it isn¹t a lot of money to take a
chance on.

On 7/26/15, 12:12 PM, "DeTomaso on behalf of Asa Jay Laughton"
<detomaso-bounces at poca.com on behalf of asajay at asajay.com> wrote:

>Hi Joe,
>I'm responding to your email to the list.  So you -are- doing something
>right. :)
>
>You make a good point.  As for chucking up something for machining, it
>would be far easier to take 0.070" off the bracket.  But is that the
>better solution?  Would that reduce the mechanical ability of the
>bracket piece to hold the rack sufficiently under stress?  I don't know
>honestly; taking about 0.035" off each side should work.  But it's also
>a much harder metal.  Then also, if a person were to go back to an
>original rack, with the original spacing between the lands, there would
>be slop.
>
>It probably boils down to an individual choice.
>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 7:25 AM, Joseph F. Byrd, Jr. wrote:
>> Thank you for the write up and photo's.
>> Just "arm chair" mechanicing ... but instead of machining the rack, why
>>not
>> have a new support block made to mate?
>>
>> I think I understand your description, but I need to put my hands on it
>>and
>> hopefully this afternoon I'll unpack my new one and look.  The rack is
>>about
>> the only piece still attached to my body so I can't compare
>>
>> Joe/5177/NC
>>
>> PS...Sorry for the direct reply Asa Jay...eventially I'll get the hang
>>of
>> how to reply
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: DeTomaso [mailto:detomaso-bounces at poca.com] On Behalf Of Asa Jay
>> Laughton
>> Sent: Saturday, July 25, 2015 22:37 PM
>> To: detomaso at poca.com
>> Subject: [DeTomaso] Ferrari Steering Rack Comparison
>>
>> 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.teampanteraracing.com
>> http://facebook.com/racingagainstautism
>>
>>
>>
>>
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