Another Mopar Off My Bucket List - Barracuda Fastback

HemiDenny said
On the B/E body the rack sits (rearward) closer to the steering knuckle ends, so if you want to remove some of the spacer, the effect is minimal. You will need to leave about 1/4" for rack clearance. Just test by stacking a couple of the big thick washers. That should help the #3 tube
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HemiDenny said

For the #5 tube......on the A body Hemi builds, for additional clearance, I cheat the steering shaft as far left (drivers side) as possible, often slotting the firewall bracket slightly to get all I can get. A small amount at the firewall yields quite a bit at the shaft end.

You can see now why the Hemi sits where it does.....your mod for the Stage V heads is probably the best way to go.....not much room to move the motor more to the left.

It is a dance to find the perfect location.

Lastly....I would ADVISE to not dent anything until you get the actual block in there. I have read of too many issues from relying on the plastic blocks for critical clearances.
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Hi Denny. You're still one of our main 'go to' guys when it comes to finding answers. We decided to leave the engine location where it's at for now. Moving it to the left would likely decrease the clearance between the headers and the steering shaft. Last night Spence spent some time looking at Borgeson's website for smaller universal joints. We saw that they recommend staying at a maximum 35' angle on their single joints and a 70' maximum on their double joints. I think we'll be able to find some there that will do the job for us.

Thanks for the info on the rack location. We didn't want to commit to moving it until we heard from you. One other advantage to sliding the rack forward is that it will give us some additional clearance between the rubber boots on the rack and the lower control arms. - It was pretty close.

I like the suggestion about fudging the steering column sideways to help clear the #5 header tube. I think we'll be doing that.

After talking with you the other day about whether or not to change the power rack to manual, Spencer is now leaning back to staying with the power setup. He is considering going to an electric power assist if the power steering pump location ends up causing problems with other components. Spence did contact the shop that is supposed to be designing the power steering pump brackets and they say they should have it to us next week. We're keeping our fingers crossed.