Early A, Rack and Pinion conversion, more Qs

[ne57]

Been investigating a R&P conversion for my 66 Dart, primarily for header clearance around the 392. Still have some questions, which might be obviously dumb Qs, but not if you don't know the answer!

The manual Dakota R&P I see mentioned alot. Apparently its the right length but the dumb Q is... will the tie rod ends simply bolt into the stock steering arms? same size studs?

I know the spindles have to be swapped side for side.
Is it as simple as that?..fab the mounts for the rack, swap spindles, connect steering shaft. How does spindle swapping affect disc brake conversion, i thought I read something somewhere about front/rear mounting of the calipers, one being better than the other. If I remember correctly a disc brake swap involves changing also the upper control arms, that shouldn't directly affect the R&P should it?

Bump steer... how do you plan ahead to minimize it? Must the R&P be mounted at a certain height re: control arms? How about front to back alignment? I've seen some pics of finished installs where it looks like the tie rod ends are working at an angle to the steering arms, that is to say the tie rod ends are not parallel to the rack itself, and the rack looked lower in the frame than the lower control arms so tha tir rod ends were angled up towards the spindles. My hunch is that parallel would be the way to go if possible??? If not, how much off parallel or too low/high in its mount could you go before bumpsteer becomes a major concern?

 

[OldVart]

Well, it looks like you didn't get much response to your question, so I'll give you a bump back up to the top.

 

[socal_65dartgt]

I have thought about R&P on my 65.

I am confused about swapping the spindles from side to side. Are you planning on a rear mounted R&P or are you attempting to move it to the front?

 

[belmateo]

the correct method for the rack mounting is to have your innner tie rod pivot point so that your tie rods are parallel to your lower control arms to eliminate bump steer. The idea is that they are on the same plane so there will be no change in steering as your suspension moves in it's travel. As far as the caliper location (front or back) it doesn't matter since pads are not sensitive to front and rear as drum brakes have a leading shoe and a trailing shoe.As for the upper control arms, you should not have to touch them. They are already designed so that you can align your front end correctly (camber, caster and toe).
Going back to your question about front and back alignment of the rack, what you want is the tie rods to be straight with the tires pointing straight ahead. If you were to mount your rack for or aft of center you will experience alot of tire scrub and poor handling.
Don't forget to change your master cylinder after you change to disc brakes as the reservoir for drum brakes is inadequate.
Hope this helps you!

 

[ne57]

Thanks Belmateo. It was blurry in my head because all I found previously were inferences and incomplete descriptions.

socal_65dartgt, I need to put the rack up front. At least that was what I assumed...if anyone knows of a way for rear mounted rack I'll consider that too.

OldVart, thanks for the bump..it worked.