hi lads
doin some research for my ute build was wondering if anyone has done a rack and pinion steering converrsion in their 1200 of late , what steering did tu use and what else is involved
cheers

Very little info available. See Swap: Rack And Pinion Steering

yeah thanks mate had a read already was wondering if any hands on experience
thanks mate

i had been looking into adapting a toyota corolla ke70 steering rack into my 1200 until i re-read my class rules (doh) so that is as far as i got. plus you can get quick racks for them because of all the ae86 drifters out there. with remade tie rods and the right threaded datsun to toyota ish rod ends i dont understand y i cant be done with a welder and a weekends work. im still consedering it for my daily.
cheers kurt

main thing is the bump steer theres lots of second hand info out there that this rack fits ect ect then you hear o yea that rack is close ( bump steer ) well from wat i have learned close isnt good enough
kb laser is ment to be close
daywoo early 90's is ment to be close n a few others

im droppin my ute off to a hotrod shop that convert old cars to rack n pinion steering price $1000 - $2000 pends on how much custom work needs to be done

kool thanks guys
perthute i wonder if the shop will tell u which rack they intend on using

yes ill post wat i learn but he said theres a good chance it will be a shorten rack to suit the bump steer but they have all the sizes of all the racks so if the rumours of racks being the right size are true ill find out soon :) keep an eye on my build thread :)

hi guys , i have been doing a rack conversion in my 1200 ute and have found some info that might be usefull ,you decide.
As mentioned the bump steer is the issue because to get it right the rack im using is 500mm between the pivot balls on the inner tie rods (this is with the lower arm pivot bolt moved out 20mm per side) I also have s14 struts and stub axles so the steering arm geometry is a bit different to a standard 1200, but ackerman is another story , anyway i achieved 0.4 mm of toe out in bump and was happy with that.
the rack its self was a manual rack out of a nissan micra cut down to suit, it worked but had too slow ratio (3.75 turns to move 125mm). Then i modified a power steer rack from same model micra this was a huge task involving making a new rack shaft to get the spacing between the rack teeth and the hydraulic piston close enough to get 120mm of travel and stay 500mm between pivots ,and after all that 3.0 turns lock to lock , better but not good enough for a car with such short wheelbase ( i was advised by some very smart racecar builders that short wheelbase cars are very twitchy and to have the fastest steering i can so catching a slide can be done with out having take a second bite at the steering wheel) Take 3 a power rack from a mazda 929/ mx5 it has the fastest ratio of all 2.25 turns for 125mm rack travel and again i am remaking the rack shaft to fit the teeth and the hyd cyl in the desired length. Hope this can short cut your development but this project is not for a novice, as i've said in a previous string i have changed my approach several times as i descovered plusses and minuses in my geometry , sorry for the long answer hope it was worth the read.

Thanks for sharing Wards, some good info there...

yeah mate cheers sounds likje a few headf*cks involved