This forum is for all years of the Ford Galaxie and all other Full-size Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury cars. This is a place to share information, skills, pictures, and stories for the purpose of building friendships and furthering the enjoyment and restoration of these cars |
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Ok thanks
So a basic cavalier should work
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Can I ask why that unit and not one from say the crown Vic from 03 on up or the Lincoln mark etc?
More of a full size car then the gm version?
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The GM j-car rack is center steer. this allows you to make brackets that mount the rack and allow you to attach the tie rods in such a way that you emulate the OEM galaxie steering which means no bump-steer
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Thanks
Just saw posts about this on the net.
Way to much info and ideas out there to update to newer power steering
Now I see jeep steering boxes
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If you are thinking R&P steering, check out my post...Rack and Pinion mock up. I posted pictures of a magazine article regarding a previously available kit. Daze and I based our swaps on that article.
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I LOVE THIS UPGRADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I only got to drive the car a little bit last year and loved the steering, but this year have driven the car a bunch more and could not be happier with this upgrade. I am even getting comfortable with the reduced turning radius (don't worry I still plan to fix this) This upgrade took me about two weeks of actually working on it and is easily one of the biggest returns on my investment of time.
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I feel the same. Makes the car a real pleasure to drive.
With your business, have you ever considered offering the rack conversion as a kit for the Galaxies? Something tells me there is a market for it?
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I do sell lots of parts but I try to stay away from things that if they failed would cause catastrophic failure. I have complete faith in my own skills as a fabricator and part designer but I am not willing to run the risk that someone who has no business working on their own car would by a kit then poorly install it leading to a failure. Short answer, not interested
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UPDATE:
I am still extremely happy with the unit, the car is amazing to drive. I, being a perfectionist, decided there were one small thing I didn't like and that was the sound made by the mid 80s OEM Ford pump. It was't really loud but made a little noise when turning the wheels or when I engaged the brakes, also even with a cooler inline the fluid got fairly hot. My solution was to replace the Ford pump with a GM type II pump, in other words the pump designed from the factory to work with the rack I am using. These pumps put out good high pressure but not very much volume, the advantage to this is cooler fluid, less drag on the engine and a much quieter pump. The car is still snowed in so I have not had the chance to take the old gal for a spin yet but turning the wheels and pressing the brake pedal with the car parked seams to be working better than it was with the Ford pump and it is so much quieter!!! Will update again after I take it for a test drive.
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When I got my system together I was experiencing two issues. One was power steering pump whine and the other was long brake pedal travel. After a bunch of trial and error stuff, two problems discovered. Firstly I had a worn pump. Replaced pump and that fixed the whine. Previous to the pump replacement I had fluid aeration from improper hydroboost bleeding I was fighting. Last issue was brake pedal travel...too much of it. It seemed to get worse the more I drove the car. After switching out a different master cylinder, I discovered the master cylinder bolts were working themselves loose. As result, the hydroboost and master cylinder were moving further away from firewall as time went by. I guess I didn't torque them down after install. I little torque and now all good.