Rack and pinion conversion in chevelle

[UNISTEER]

You can dramitically upgrade & improve the steering & handling of your 1964-72 GM A-Bodies with one of our new rack & pinion kits.

Our rack kit easily bolts on & includes the rack & mounting bracket. The kits are designed to be used in conjunction with our various power steering pump kits with either remote resevoirs or a clip-on resevoir for short or long water pump Big Blocks or Small Blocks.

You can also select one of our steering shaft kits to suit your needs whether you have a stock or aftermarket steering column.
Our Chevelle kits feature a black powdercoated, heavy duty bracket which eliminates any twisting or flexing present in the competitor's kits; take a look.

You won't have to worry about ground clearance with our kit either.

We are currently offering a 10% discount & FREE SHIPPPING (to lower 48 states only) until the end of March on anything we sell.
So if you are interested in improving the steering of your ride take a look at our website and use the discount code: PT-10

[TitoJones]

Tito,
You get the car, I'll send the parts. As far as your coments about failure on the road, what parts are you refering to? Boxes need to have seals replaced, so do Racks. My kit uses factory seals. If your Lee sector or worm fails, there isnt a part store in the contry that have those. Our company have been rebuilding racks for 25 years, we are all former TRW guys and we can honestly tell you, gear boxes are more subseptible to failure than racks. Boxes have many more parts that can fail. Sector shaft are know to wear as are sector bushings, ball bearings, bearing cages, as well as valves. None of these would be able to be replaced on the road. Worst case for a rack is that a tie rod gets damaged. We only use low friction inner and outer ends which can have a life span of 50, 60, 70k miles. Plus all our kits have a lifetime warranty. How bout your boxes?
How do you know that your box feels like a rack....have you tried ours...Ive tried the Lee box.

I'm refering to anything that comes on your kit. Do you provide a parts list of items I can get at a Napa, autozone or GM dealer? Does the rack come off a certain model year of car? What about the outer tie rod ends, or steering shaft?

On a factory steering system you can get every item at multiple parts stores- because it is factory. No one is going to open up their steering box to replace a worm gear or some balls- they just replace the box if it were to ever fail (highly unlikely.)

Tom Lee takes apart brand new delphi boxes because they are so bad from the factory, that they would never pass his inspection. He mics every single ball, replaces all the valving with ones from a rack and pinion, blueprints the internals as he re-assembles it, and then dyno tests the box before it even sees a clients hands. I don't know of any other company that does this to NEW units. DSE doesn't, flaming river doesn't, Unisteer doesn't. Point being, the valving is what makes a box feel like a rack. I have driven multiple car with racks and not a single one impressed me enough to ever bother putting one on a car with a stock frame. Most had notchy spots where the 3 U joints required to get around the headers would bind up. A few had bashed in oil pans to make them fit, or completely inaccessible fittings for servicing after they were installed.

I purchased a car that had a Lee box installed on it 21 years ago, and after replaceing the idler arm ($65) it felt brand new again. That box will take one hell of a beating and still keep on giving the feedback and road feel I want.

As far as spending money on a rack vs a box-
670 P/S box- $515
Moog idler arm- $65
Moog pitman arm- $70
Moog inner tie rods (x2)- $56
Moog outer tie rods (x2)- $54

Total- $760.00

I can still find more great ways to spend that remaining $240 instead of going with a rack.

As far as not understanding the logic of how a 40year old box can do everything your rack can do-
It all about the valving. The 670 box uses a rack and pinion valve setup. The road feel, and feedback is identical to a rack. They feel the exact same as you drive it. It does not have the over-assisted vague feel that the early model boxes have, and most linkage when kept greased and in good order will last 15-20+ years. Your making it sound like boxes fail yearly, and linkage will be lucky to get a few hundred miles out of it. I have another 68 Camaro that has factory everything and it has zero slop after 40 years.

Who cares how many connections or moving items the linkage has if it works? The drag link is non-wearable on the Camaro, the adjusting sleeves will never need to be replaced, the pitman arm doesn't wear hardly at all. Hell we can use factory linkage with our AFX spindle and a 670 steering box and destroy any bumpsteer figures that anyone has been able to put out- aftermarket frame included.

Tyler

[LowBuckX]

Lowbuck,
Same goes for you, Im Dave Batke but Ive informed my office staff that you guys may be calling and yes we supply Alston, Heidts, TCI, Morrison, and many others.

Dave maybe we can talk about it over coffee. I work very very close to you.

[steeryourite]

Guys,
I am going to answer 70LS1 off line. I will tell you that you will only see posts from me from now on and if you have any questions please contact me.

[Wagonboy]

huh

[steeryourite]

I am trulely sorry that I have not been able to express my technical insight to all my employees. From now on you will only get posts from me.
70LS1NOVA,
I have yet to hear from anyone that has had to modify the banjo fittings on our kit. It does require a front sump pan, but thats should be all thats required. Fee free to call me and I'll supply install pics. Im sorry about my sales guy's advice, he a bit of a novice, and he his no longer to post on the sight.
Dave

[Marcus SC&C]

I`ll say up front that I`m a Lee dealer and have been nothing less than thrilled with their boxes. They`re by far the best boxes we`ve ever used period and truthfully have much better road feel and response than many factory R&P cars. IMO they offer the best performance for the buck out there. On top of that Tom Lee is a great guy to deal with and knows more about steering gear than most whole companies will ever begin know.
I`ve spoken out against poorly concieved and executed R&P conversions many times. I don`t suffer fools lightly.
All that said Dave and Unisteer know their stuff pretty well too apparently. I`ve talked to Dave a number of times and we actually have a Unisteer R&P on our A body test chassis as I type this. They agreed to let us test one even after I used "The B Word" (bumpsteer gauge)!
Well,they did their homework. The geometry is very good and bumpsteer is reduced to as little as we get with our StreetComp packages. It`s so good that the R&P conversion will require a few tweaks to work well with our packages. Basically a two rights make a wrong thing. I haven`t driven a car with the Unisteer R&P conversion so I can`t speak for the feel of the system at all but the install is common sense,brackets are well made and the steering shaft angle doesn`t require 27 U joints to get to the column. If you really have your heart set on a R&P for your A body Unisteers is the only one I would consider. Mark SC&C

[Wagonboy]

Thanks for your words Mark. My mind is made up that I am running a R&P, and from what I am hearing Unisteer may be my best choice.

[LowBuckX]

I`ll say up front that I`m a Lee dealer and have been nothing less than thrilled with their boxes. They`re by far the best boxes we`ve ever used period and truthfully have much better road feel and response than many factory R&P cars. IMO they offer the best performance for the buck out there. On top of that Tom Lee is a great guy to deal with and knows more about steering gear than most whole companies will ever begin know.
I`ve spoken out against poorly concieved and executed R&P conversions many times. I don`t suffer fools lightly.
All that said Dave and Unisteer know their stuff pretty well too apparently. I`ve talked to Dave a number of times and we actually have a Unisteer R&P on our A body test chassis as I type this. They agreed to let us test one even after I used "The B Word" (bumpsteer gauge)!
Well,they did their homework. The geometry is very good and bumpsteer is reduced to as little as we get with our StreetComp packages. It`s so good that the R&P conversion will require a few tweaks to work well with our packages. Basically a two rights make a wrong thing. I haven`t driven a car with the Unisteer R&P conversion so I can`t speak for the feel of the system at all but the install is common sense,brackets are well made and the steering shaft angle doesn`t require 27 U joints to get to the column. If you really have your heart set on a R&P for your A body Unisteers is the only one I would consider. Mark SC&C

Marcus I was waiting to hear of your findings. I remember you made mention of getting one and testing it in a post some time ago. Got a pic of it installed? would love to see it.

[steeryourite]

Thanks Marc,
We still have to make you outer tie rods. Have you contacted Brian in my office? If you have had any proplem getting anything call me directly
Dave

[Marcus SC&C]

Thanks Dave. We`ve been so hammered lately (which is great!) that I haven`t had the time to pursue all of the new projects as much as I`d like. I`ll drop Brian a line and we`ll get to it soon. Mark SC&C