The Bean

Before I can make the intermediate shaft I need to mount the rack. Before I can make permanent rack mounts I need to check bump steer. Before I can do any of that I need to move the old mounts.

The removal took quite a while, the fun part about doing this on jack stands without removing the engine is trying to keep all the oil in the pan.

After a bit of napkin math we had dimensions for the temporary mount:

The mount has a slit in the tube so that I can line up the center mark on the rack with the center mark on the cross member with the laser level.

One more bite of the elephant.

Post # 302 in this thread! Woohoo!

Another requirement before checking bump steer: tie rods. The Miata outer tie rods seem to have the same taper but at a smaller diameter than the Pinto parts. The Miata outers also are angled to match the Miata knuckle while the pinto parts are straight. All of this leads us to making a hybrid inner tie rod.

The parts:

Cut them up and make adapters on the lathe:

Tack them up:

Check the length:

Then weld them out:

In reply to Shavarsh :

An unholy union of Metric and SAE parts?

In reply to Nukem :

Yes sir, and it's about to get worse (better?). After measuring bump steer it is certain I will need to adapt again to fit bump steer adjusters. This setup returned about .5" bump steer in bump and in droop. Adjusters and rod ends have been ordered, will need to check rack placement again as well.

In reply to Shavarsh :

Can't dial it in just with rack placement?

Even if you could the adjusters are probably a nice convenience.

Nukem said:

In reply to Shavarsh :

Can't dial it in just with rack placement?

Even if you could the adjusters are probably a nice convenience.

I had the same feeling and then looked again - the rack seems to me it needs to go up, and then there's an engine in the way, and the rack might need to be shortened. Bump steer spacers on the uprights are probably easier if not as "pretty".

Getting these things right tends to warrant a good deal of trial and error. Many hours spent but it is usually worth it :-)

In reply to Shavarsh :

This thread delivers!

Many thanks for the comments, really nice to see y'all are following along! 

Nukem, when I decided on the rack length I failed to take the height of the steering arm on the knuckle into account. I shortened the rack to place it in a convenient position (low) and keep the inner tie rod pivots in line with the control arm pivots. Unfortunately, the height of the rack (and therefore the length) should have been driven by the relative heights of the lower ball joint and the steering arm on the knuckle (If I wanted to run stock tie rod ends). Now that the rack is cut, its vertical position is no longer a variable, it should go in line with the control arm pivots (.5" above the lower control arm pivot in this case). In order to keep the arcs of the 3 links in sync, I now need something to be adjustable ( a free variable). In this case its simple to make the height of the steering arm at the knuckle adjustable with bump steer adjusters. 

In short, I could have avoided the need for bump steer adjusters if I had done all the math before starting, and there wasn't an engine in the way. Neither are the case, but that's ok, it's been a good exercise to help me understand the dynamics at play.

In reply to Shavarsh :

Makes sense. I'm reading this as, "the Ford engineers put the dang steering attachment on the knuckle int the wrong spot".

Nukem, that's exactly correct. 

Turns out, the crossmember needed to be cleaned up a bit further:

Then, then mounts were cut from the nb subframe and trimmed as necessary:

Measured 100 times until the rack lined up properly:

Finally the drivers side mount was tacked in:

After the passenger side mount was added, the rack and an inner tie rod were mocked up to start figuring out adjuster sleeves.

This bumpsteer snafu is a potential blessing in disguise. You can now drop back to an off-the-shelf inner tie-rod.

It's always nice when wear items don't require welding to replace

In reply to gumby :

I'm glad you said that. I have to buy a tap either way so I may as well try to use a factory inner. Cheap rock auto parts inbound.

So, I have not been able to get comfortable with the friction fit of the column being the only thing keeping the column together and the universals from binding on the frame rail. So I've decided to add a shear bolt. Here is how I decided on the size. First, gather materials. In this case a couple of tubes that will slide inside each other, and a few nylon 8-32 machine screws.

Drill, tap, and assemble:

Put it in the vice to get a feel for how strong it might be, then hit it with a hammer:

Not a bad result. I replaced the screw and yanked on the test piece to test durability... but it snapped. I needed a bit more heft:

The 1/4-20 screw held up nicely to the wrestle it in the vice test, and snapped nicely when the hammer came into play. I am satisfied, and plan to add a single 1/4-20 nylon screw to the column.

In reply to Shavarsh :

Man I thought I knew what you were up to. How many universals are you running again?

In reply to Nukem :

I seem to always have projects running in parallel right now, 2 universals.

So, thanks to Gumby's suggestion we now have 1995 300zx inner tie rods:

I am quite pleased with these tie rods. They are short, have a nice beefy M14-1.5 thread on them, and match the M16-1.0 thread on the rack. They also allow me to reuse the miata rack boots. I'll have to grind a bit of length off the inner threads to allow them to seat fully but that should be easy. So, now we need adjusters:

They are significantly heavier than they need to be, but I can always make them lighter in the future. I won't, but the possibility makes me feel better about adding weight.

Next up an intermediate shaft. Here is the stock Ford unit:

I decided to reuse the upper universal due to the fact that it already fit the steering column, and it is easy to remove from the steering column to service. I also ordered a 11/16"-36 spline to 3/4 weld on universal to mate to the nb power steering rack.

I removed the bottom attachment point for the rag joint, and after a bit of work with the grinder it was mocked up.

At this point the length of the steering column became critical. The shaft length needed to be secured before welding up the intermediate shaft. So, disassemble the column again and drill a couple of holes:

Tap the outer shaft and line up the inner for the nylon screw. I put a dab of flex glue on the underside of the head to act as thread locker, and a bit of spray paint over the connection point to act as a witness mark:

After reassembling the column and installing it I found that the intermediate shaft was too short... I had made the steering shaft too short. Take it all back apart, drill new holes, new nylon screw, and viola:

After assembly and a couple rounds of tacking and checking we have an intermediate shaft:

As a note for those following along, the universal joint I picked up is EDIT NOT:intended to be disassembled prior to welding to protect the bearings (likely to protect the grease). This was more difficult than anticipated. I ended up stripping the head on one of the retaining screws, and getting grinding dust in each of the bearings requiring them to be taken apart, cleaned, and regreased before pressing back together.

Again for clarification. The universal is NOT meant to be disassembled (individually honed and matched caps). The manufacturer recommends welding in sections to avoid overcooking the bearing.

Lets continue the current nonlinear theme we have going. This weekend I got help for a whole day! This meant... interior.

First we finished applying sound deadener:

Then... turf:

Finished shots to come.

Did not see the turf coming.

I mean I did see a cut in the trunk in the first pic and did a double take before deciding it was probably just a cutoff.

Then I scrolled down 

Can't wait to see the finished pics. 

Should be especially dog friendly.

Finished turf pictures will have to wait, the car is back on jack stands in the garage where the lighting is poor. 

Back to power steering:

A while ago I scored a great deal on a power steering reservoir, cooler, return lines, and a huge radiator overflow. 

Trying to make use of these parts has been interesting. The reservoir is a bit large for where I wanted to put it and ended up being too tall with the hood closed. Unfortunately, I cut up the miata hose I had while mocking that up. The next step is of course to use the hose that came with the reservoir. However it is too large for the barb on the miata pump...

Hopefully the reservoir install can proceed smoothly now. 

To me, the phasing of the intermediate shaft joints is 90 degrees out though. It may, or may not, be an issue in real life. In all the cars I have tested, some have a pronounced "notchy" or irregular feeling when phasing is incorrect. My take is that it also depends on the angle of the joints.

Gustaf

In reply to therealpinto :

I just looked it up... you're right. For some reason it really stuck out in my mind that they needed to be 90° out. I must have misinterpreted that instruction. I think I'll put it together like this and fix in the future. I am trying to get the car roadworthy for a road rally coming up and don't have time to correct it right now unless its unsafe.

Thanks for pointing that out, I appreciate it!

Carrying right along:

After adding some bracing to the steering rack mounts and welding them up, the cooler was mocked up and the mounts tacked in:

Then back apart for finish welding and a splash of paint to keep the rust away:

In reply to Shavarsh :

Luxury Pinto.

Do you have a headliner currently? If you don't, you might need something nice to match the turf.

As long as the joints don't bind up I wouldn't say "dangerous". But an inconsistent speed may feel quite strange when you turn the wheel. Only testing will tell so I agree, see if it works before tearing it apart again.

Gustaf