Rack and pinion in my ‘48 Plymouth

[Widowmaker hotrods]

 

On 2/1/2021 at 2:17 PM, Bob Riding said:

Found these pictures on the web. They are dated from 2014. Maybe somebody on the Forum? Look at the mounts- they look hand fabricated. I wonder if Fatman has mounts that would work?

That looks like Scotty T’s ‘48 Plymouth  

Edited February 5, 2021 by Widowmaker hotrods
Double quote

[Bob Riding]

3 hours ago, Andydodge said:

The Cavalier rack as mentioned was used in all the USA GM J car variations which for those of us outside of North America included the Australian Holden Camira and various UK Vauxhalls...........andyd.

Good to know. Any reason restorers always seem to want Cavalier racks?

[TodFitch]

13 minutes ago, Bob Riding said:

Good to know. Any reason restorers modifiers always seem to want Cavalier racks?

There, I fixed it for you.

[Plymouthy Adams]

these cars failed early and were not what one would call high quality to begin with and thus did not fair well in terms of survivability and thus availability at the wrecking yards made them a good source for snatch these racks...at this point and time I think locating them in the yards is a crap shoot....most of these have been recycled years ago....of the three yards in the area, I have seen but one of these cars cycle through of late and it had the look of being sitting in the field total in-op status for many years....these cars had no real model that was desirable and the Z24 was just a paint package...and the steering rack is placed found on GM cars....it is TRW designed and engineered.   (front steer unit were also on Chrysler LHS platform cars)

[Bob Riding]

11 hours ago, TodFitch said:

There, I fixed it for you.

I stand corrected!

[Sniper]

They say Cavalier simply because that was probably the most common source, plus who cares to remember all the GM models it might of fit.  Heck during that time just about every Olds had Cutlass in the name somewhere

 

For example, in 88, if you looked at a Cutalss Ciera you got an end steer R&P.  A Cutlass Calais had the center steer rack the Cavalier also used.  The Cutlass Supreme was a recirculating ball setup.  lol, easier to say Cavalier and let the parts man do the cross references. 

[Bob Riding]

That's exactly what my parts man, Jerry Turner did. I believe Jerry is 90, although he may be 91 and is still working everyday at his business,  Turner's Auto Wrecking, Fresno Cal. The guy is amazing, and has helped countless customers looking for parts for their vehicles for at least the last 50 years. It's a family-run business with his grandson Kyle pulling parts and working the front desk. All here in dry, (we are in another drought, or so it seems) sunny, central California. Here are some pictures of his amazing Disneyland for car guys:

[Plymouthy Adams]

not trying to draw a comparison here but just to let you know, but, disneyland is a mickey mouse operation...

[Bob Riding]

On 2/4/2021 at 6:49 PM, Widowmaker hotrods said:

 

That looks like Scotty T’s ‘48 Plymouth  

Is he a Forum member? Do you have his contact info?

[Frank Elder]

If you can find one I heard Omni racks fit also.

[Plymouthy Adams]

both of these racks are readily available on e-bay....and if there, often as equally attainable through your local friendly big box store.....as stated earlier, finding them in wrecking yards is slim due to the fact most were recycled years ago...

[scotty t]

4 hours ago, Bob Riding said:

Is he a Forum member? Do you have his contact info?

Yessir I am a mostly inactive member?. The pics shown earlier are indeed my 48 p15. Here’s what i remember about my set up: early cav rack and inner tie rod ends (94 and older),later cav (95 and up) outer with custom adapter sleeves, the steering arms were shortened, redrilled and tapered to 7*, actually the rack is listed as pontiac sunfire because manual steering wasn’t available  on the cavalier. The manual rack is shorter than the power version so the mounting brackets are unique to that application. My buddy and I did quite a bit of research regarding bumpsteer and we are confident that it will have a very minimal amount. When the car was mocked with most everything installed it steered nicely with the stock large diameter wheel. I believe I found a coupler for the rack to column joint through borgeson.

[Andydodge]

The J car racks and their various derivatives are used because they are a "center" pivot style and offer the best chance of not having any steering tie rod induced bump steer...........or you can narrow the whole rack & pinion by 9" like I did back in the mid 70's .....lol........andyd

[Sniper]

Hey Scotty T, I grew up in Chesterton, small world. 

[scotty t]

On 2/8/2021 at 10:40 PM, Sniper said:

Hey Scotty T, I grew up in Chesterton, small world. 

When did you graduate?

[Sniper]

1983

[scotty t]

On 2/18/2021 at 9:06 AM, Sniper said:

1983

1985 from Portage for me. I used to hang out in Chesterton quite a bit in the late 80's

[Sniper]

You probably know some of my cousins then, they were in the Portage area then as well.  In the late 80's I was in the Persian Gulf wishing I was back in Chesterton, lol.

[Plymouthy Adams]

1 hour ago, Sniper said:

You probably know some of my cousins then, they were in the Portage area then as well.  In the late 80's I was in the Persian Gulf wishing I was back in Chesterton, lol.

were you ever tied up in Manama when the LaSalle was undergoing a refit....I was there for 6 of those events...one ship survey and 5 refits periods...several other ships would come and go cannot recall their names....was on board a number of these other ships.

Edited February 21, 2021 by Plymouthy Adams

[Sniper]

Been to Manama many times, but I don't recall much about any of the other ships there.  Only thing I remember was an oil tanker that came within 50 feet of hitting us as the tugs were swinging her stern around.  We hit the collision alarm and half the ship started dogging hatches, the other half started going to security alert, lol.  Had to get on the 1MC and order the closing of all hatches to clarify.  For the non sailors, there was no specific security alert alarm and in port if any alarm was triggered in meant security alert, which showed a defect in that procedure.  Generally, we used the General Quarters (also known as battle stations) alarm but it wasn't limited to that.

[Plymouthy Adams]

you would have most likely remembered the LaSalle as being sole navy ship painted all white except the most top portion of mast being black....a designation to her diplomatic mission.  

[Sniper]

I do remember that ship, forgot the name.  The white ghost off the arabian coast is what we called it.

[Scott Knecht]

Okay guys I pulled the trigger on the FatMan steering kit for my ‘48.  $324 total I guess is a small price to pay for not having to reinvent the wheel.  Lol

I’ll let y’all know what it’s about when it shows up.  

[Sniper]

Thanks, I for one am real interested in how well it goes in and works.

[Scott Knecht]

Me too.  I do know the kit includes the brackets, adapter sleeves to connect tie rods to outer ends and of course the u-joint I mentioned earlier in the post.  They don’t delete parts from the kits unfortunately.  
I also got the heads up the kit requires outer tie rod ends from a ‘04-‘05 Explorer.  Apparently they use the same taper.  We’ll see.