Tom,
Have you considered using an extra pair of steering tie rods (threaded
rack ends) off an alpine or MGB (or whatever will fit up to the new tie
rod ends), cutting off the threaded ends, and welding on to the ends of
the Midget tie rods to bring it to the right length? Problem is, extra
tie rods are not the kind of things usually lying around.
Another thought would be to cut off the female threaded end of an old
tie rod end (these are more likely to be lying around), and finding a
bolt (specialty bolt/fastener store?) to chop off and thread or weld
(these are cast iron) to one end to make an adapter, like Dales, but so
much uglier and cheaper, not to mention time consuming. I guess if you
could find a bolt with the same threads, you could just weld this to the
Midget tie rods. My apologies to Dale, for suggesting such butchery, to
replace a nice machined part.
All of this makes me think, if you liked your stock steering ratio, why
couldn't you just straighten the existing Tiger tie rods to meet the new
longer MGB steering arms, isn't this the crux of changing the Ackerman
angle?
Arnie Sugar
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2003 20:52:55 -0800
From: "Tom Witt" <wittsend@jps.net>
Subject: Re: rack & pinion for ackerman mods
Arnie,
I got the Midget rack out of a So. Cal. Pick A Part for $35.
It is from.... I think a '74 (it had those bulbous bumpers). The reason
the pre 70 is prefered (so I'm told) is that Dale uses two internally
half round pieces (square on the outside) and clamps the rack to the
crossmember and those early racks are the diameter of the hole he makes
(so I'm told - again) the later racks are a different diameter.
Having said that I have my crossmember out and just now pulled
the Midget rack out of the rafters. This is what I observed. The rack I
have fits properly between the Tiger rack mounts on the crossmember.
There are raised sections near each end of the rack itself, like this
---I------------I--- , and there is about 1/8" clearance on
the outside of the Tiger crossmember rack mounts. The Midget clamp
looks similar to a double bolt pipe clamp like this (O====O) and the
rough center to center measurement appears to be 2-1/8". The Tiger
center to center appears to be 2-1/4". It would seem a simple task to
grind out the clamp holes an 1/8" on each side towards the outside to
line up with the Tiger rack mount holes. It appears the greater
difficulty seems to be supporting the rack on the back side that seats
against the Tiger crossmember rack mount location. However, here
again, simply using the stock Midget piece, it's side view looks
something like this )== , and grinding down what is
represented by the right end of the equals sign, then welding a plate
with holes drilled to the Tigers 2-14" spacing should keep everything
tightly in place. Anyway, that's my budget adapter. If you go this route
and find the needed threaded hex pieces and treaded round stock
(remember the proper thread directions) please let me know. That is
still the missing piece of the puzzle for me.
Regards, Tom Witt B9470101
--------------------------
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 22:12:15 -0800
From: "Tom Witt" <wittsend@jps.net>
Subject: RE: rack & pinion for ackerman mods (upate)
Arnie (and any others following),
I had more time to look over the '74 Midget rack today. I was
in error that
is favorable. The hole centers for the Tiger crossmember rack
mount and the
Midget rack clamps are actually the same. The simple solution to
mounting
would be to get an extra set of the front clamps and use them on
the rear side
(facing the crossmember rack mount). Just cut some spacers of
the proper size
(I'm guessing about 1/2") to go under the rear clamp bolt holes
to take up the
space created by the "U" shape. I hope this goes through the
server the way it
looks now:
I I spacer : crossmember rack mount
front clamp ( O ) rear clamp
I I spacer : crossmember rack mount
What I did notice was that the threaded rack ends on the '74
Midget rack were
smaller than the threaded ends on the Tiger rack (and Alpine tie
rod ends
too). Whether this is the problem with the newer rack, or the
sizes regardless
of year are the same and Dale has the hex piece threaded to two
different
sizes I don't know. I look up tie rod ends for the Midget and
they showed two
different tie rod ends and tie rods so????
Anyone with this conversion care to comment on the thread
size? Note: these
are my observations for "theories". Any modifications are done
at your own
risk.
Regards, Tom Witt B9470101
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