Early Mustang Rack and Pinion Conversion

A big drawback to early Ford musclecars is their steering systems. Thirty plus years of driving will undoubtedly leave your steering box and linkage in sloppy shape. The worm gear and reciprocating ball type steering box develop so much play over time that the steering wheel can be turned 2-3 inches from side to side without turning the tires. The vintage power steering made things even worse. The effort was way too light and road feel was almost nonexistent. Many performance enthusiasts followed Shelby's lead and converted to a fast-ratio manual box, which offered decent road feel, but at the expense of strained forearms.

One advantage the newer cars have is the advent of rack and pinion steering. At low speeds the rack provides enough assistance to make U-turns and parallel parking relatively easy. At high speeds the rack is nice and tight, allowing for maximum road feedback and superior control.

People have been adapting racks to early Fords for quite some time, but until recently this conversion has been plagued with huge drawbacks. The largest being increased bump-steer due to the change in linkage geometry from using a rack not originally designed for the application. Most of the racks required drilling, welding, and cutting of the car, which in itself a major hassle. Furthermore the transplant racks often interfered with headers, oil pans, and even the block.

Total Control Products, the innovators of Mustang handling components, have developed a rack and pinion unit specifically for the early Mustang and Cougars (also fits Falcons, Rancheros, and other Fords....call them for specifics.) The racks require no modifications to the existing body or mounts, and are compatible with all aftermarket headers and brake conversions. Bump-steer concerns are eliminated because the original geometry is unchanged, and also because the rack utilizes the stock tierods.

The racks are available in either manual or power. We drove a car with the manual rack and were very impressed with the feel of the car. There was no perceivable bumpsteer, and absolutely no slop in the steering. The manual rack, however, was very stiff for our taste, and wouldn't be appropriate for a daily commuter...unless ofcourse you have arms like Ahhhnold.

We didn't get a chance to test drive a power rack, but we've been told it offers much easier effort at slow speeds.

The good news is that the high quality racks are amazingly easy to install, with the hardest part being getting the old parts off the car. The bad news is that they aren't exactly cheap. With the manual rack costing about $1000, and the power option another $500, they are unfortunately out of reach for many of us.

We were invited to their facility to watch an install on a 1966 coupe, so follow along as we go through the details.

1 Dave begins by removing the steering wheel. If you have a stock wheel, such as this car, remove the horn spoke by pressing in on the center and turning the spokes; kind of like opening an aspirin bottle. Next remove the center nut. The wheel should come out with some coaxing, if not, use a steering wheel puller. Don't lose the small spring and bearing which sits behind the wheel.	2 Remove the two nuts securing the column bracket under the dash. Remove the screws holding the column seal against the firewall.
3 Disconnect the turn signal wiring harness from the column. Then slide the column out, being careful not to hit the dash or interior.	4 Dave suggests wrapping the steering column with news paper. This will protect the dash when the time comes to slide the column out. Note:Up until early 1967, Mustangs used a long shaft steering gear box (which is what this car has.) On these cars the shaft connection is integral to the steering box, and the easiest way to remove the shaft is to slide it out from under the car, keeping it attached to the box. After 1967 Mustangs (and other Fords) used a short shaft connected to the steering box with a rag joint. On these cars you simply disconnect the rag joint and slide the shaft out
5 Working underneath the car, remove the cross member. Dave is actually reminding us that you should NOT use an impact wrench when installing the new rack!	6 Remove the cotterpins and nuts on the outer tierods, and use a pickle fork to disconnect them from the spindles. Note that the new rack utilizes the stock inner and outer tie rods, so hang on to yours if they are in good shape.
7 Remove the idler arm to frame bolts.	8 Remove the centerlink to pitmam arm connection at the steering box. Again, use a pickle fork or ball joint separator to free the tapered fit. The entire steering linkage is now free to dropout.
9 Here is a shot of the old steering linkage. Disconnect the outer and inner tierods if you plan to reuse them with the new rack, otherwise pick up some new ones and start fresh.	10 Remove the three bolts that hold the steering box to the frame. As mentioned earlier, if you have a short shaft (rag joint) steering column, the box can now ready to be removed. Otherwise you'll need to remove the box and shaft together, as detailed below.
11 The steering box and shaft is now ready to slide out. On 65-66 cars you'll need to remove the driver side motormount to allow the box to clear. Be sure to support the engine with a jack and block of wood under the oil pan.	Continue