Rack and Roll

Our Billet Fabrication oil pan is a work of art. Configured to a stock oil pan's dimensions, this beauty features a kick out on the passenger's side for added oil volume.

It comes complete with a custom pickup for the stock oil pump. Note how the pan's bottom is roughly the same depth as the bottom of the rack's cradle.

The driver's side mounting plate receives three new 7/16-inch bolts (which are torqued to 50-65 lb-ft). Again, using a drift helped to align the holes in the plate with those in the framerail.

A slight tap with a dead-blow hammer helped to move the cradle a bit over to line the holes up. The cradle fits snuggly between the rails.

Here's the steering shaft's support bearing. A special bracket mounts a large Heim joint perpendicular from the frame rail so that the double "D" shaft is supported between the special Flaming River universal joints.

Mark shoehorned the rack in from the driver's side.

We found it easy to mount the rack in after the cradle was already in place, but the instructions call for the rack to be placed in the cradle before it is installed. Either way works fine, according to our experience.

The right side of the rack simple bolts in place around the pinion gearbox. The left side, though, uses an assembly to dampen the rack.

Included are two metal brackets that surround a rubber bushing that encircles the rack's shaft.

Instead of the grade-8 bolts included in the kit, we chose to use grade-8, stainless steel, button-head Allen bolts in their place for bolting the rack to the cradle. We figured that in the case of the car being so low, that any added ground clearance we could attain would be better in the long run. Of course, we may end up building a steel skidplate that covers all of the exposed components.

Here's one of the three Flaming River universal joints required to get the end of the steering column attached to the new steering system's pinion shaft. Note the double "D" that will receive the connecting shaft.

Remember to reuse the correct factory tie rod ends. If you don't have part # ES381RL ends that were designed for '68-69 cars, go get 'em! The kit does include a large jamb nut that needs to be installed prior to the tie rod ends going on the rack.

After both tie rod ends are in place (at the correct width, based on your original measurement), they can be installed back in the spindle's steering arm and the castle nuts and cotter pins installed. Here's how clean our Flaming River install turned out. Final steps are to install the new stainless steel column and cut the double "D" shaft to its correct length.

Since our donor car is a '68, it has the ignition key in the dash. For those of you installing the rack-and-pinion kit in a '69 with the key in the column, Flaming River makes this cool billet bracket for hanging the column in place and housing a new ignition key.

We used the small billet hanger, which simply clamped around the column's shaft and attached to the underside of the dash with two nuts.

A center set screw allows you to rotate the column to the desired position and fasten it in place.

Only thing left after the clamp at the firewall is reinstalled with a new rubber isolator is to plug in the electrical connection. Our car had previously had a tilt column installed that happened to use the same connector, so it was a simple plug-in.

Back underneath, after the column was in place, we set out to make the final link between the rack-and-pinion and the steering column. Flaming River recommends using a wooden 3/4-inch dowel to determine the length of the double "D" steering shaft. Here, after cutting the wooden dowel, the double "D" shaft is installed through the center bearing support and measured. Measurements are crucial, so take your time and be precise.

The final dimension was about 4 1/2 inches, and it fit perfectly between the universal at the end of the shaft protruding from the support bearing and the universal coming off the rack's pinion shaft.

Note how nicely the shaft assembly fits and clears the cradle, frame, and headers.

The final adjustment before grabbing hold of the wheel is to make sure all of the setscrews are secure and the lock nuts are tightened down. The instructions call for you to take a drill and countersink a spot on the double "D" shaft where the setscrews will rest. This will aid in preventing them from coming loose and shifting. Don't forget to add a drop of thread locker, too!