383vett

I posted this earlier in the week in the C4 section. I thought some of the drag racing members might find this interesting. Last week I had my fabricator friend install a Pinto manual steering rack in my 84. On my last race, I removed the power steering assembly and ran the Z51 rack with no pump or belt. I gained a tenth but you don't want to do this for long unless you are Charles Armstrong. The Z51 rack was 2 turns lock to lock. The Pinto is almost 4 turns. Obviously the steering effort is a lot less than the Corvette rack with no power assist. The weight difference of the racks is about 4.5 lbs. I weighed the stock rack at about 14 lbs. The Pinto was 9.5 lbs. The pump and bracketry was 7 lbs. The total weight savings is approximately 15 lbs. That doesn't include the chromemoly steering shaft. Along with the less engine drag and lighter weight, I think a tenth or more quicker in the quarter is a good estimate. My fabricator is very meticulous in his work and fabricated my 12 bolt rearend install years ago and I trust him 100%. I wouldn't have anyone do this work who didn't have a lot of experience. You've got to be able steer these things at 130+mph. A perch had to be welded on the crossmember on the passenger side to mount the rack. He was able to use the existing mount, with some fabrication, along with notching the crossmember on the drivers side. You can see how much lower the heim joints are below the control arm. This bump steer spacing allowed at most 1/8" of toe change from full compression to full extension. This should provide good control of the car when it settles back on the ground. The shocks are revalved double adjustable Afco shocks. I had 90-10 Lakewood shocks for years and my friend thought controlling the extension of the front shocks would keep the front end down and the car would be quicker. Here are some pictures...