I did a similar setup. I didn't lower the rack I just switched the rod ends to the top of the steering arms rather than the bottom.
I used Crome Molly Teflon lined male rod ends rith a left hand 5/8' UNF thread. I replace the rack ends with later model VP Commodore rack ends which screw straight in to the VL rack. the VP ends are much thicker and use a 16mm fine pitch metric thread which is pretty close in size to 5/8. I machined up a pair of collars with a 5/8" LH thread in one end and 16mm RH thread in the other. The reason for doing this was that for 1 turn of the thread I get twice the adjustment leaving more of the thread still engaged in the collar.
I also machined up some mushroom shaped washers that will hopefully stop the rod end popping off the steering arm if it fails.
Here's a pic:
