Subaru Guys
 

Any of you solid mount your rack? If so ..........

Wow - No one - hmm.

I'm not sure anyone understands the question. I thought there might be a double entendre or off-color joke involved and the "Subaru Guys" completely lost me.

Do you mean the steering rack assembly? I think mine (#782) is solid mounted to the frame. It came assembled to the chassis and I loosened the bolts to help get the sway bar on or something but didn't completely remove it. I don't remember any rubber there.

It would take a pretty weirdly shaped intermediate to substitute for the rubber bushings. You might be able to shim the current setup to take any play out. If you actually have the Subaru gear (as opposed to the modified equivalent Mustang II that we supplied for a while), we've got some replacement urethane bushings, but they are only slightly harder than the Subaru's rubber.

The major alternative is to change to the later rack which uses Mustang bushing-type mounts. That would require torching your old mounts off and replacing with new brackets, plus a new lower steering column.

Sorry - yes the steering rack assembly.

Yes - it will take some very strange shapes - lol!

I assume Subaru because that is what the previous owner thought he had. I have considered the newer rack, but when we replaced the boots on this one it appeared to be in good order though slipping in the mounts. The Mustang mounting IMO is a much better arrangement and something I am familiar with, but I am going to try to make this work first. We plan on machining some widgets to replace the rubber and solidly locate it. I was just wondering how any others had approached it.

x-chr

If your car is an ERAFIA #2076, Bob should be able to tell you which steering rack you have, ie; modified or Flaming River. My FIA is the former, the 289, the later.

Are you able to post a picture of what you have?

Jim

It doesn't matter whether it's a Subaru or modified Mustang. They both mount the same way.

With steel straps?

My FIA uses steel straps as a clamp like this -

http://ls2lxhatch.com/images/subaru_ps_0264.jpg

My 03 SVT attaches like this. Two bolts positively locate the rack, short the give in the rubber bushings. Swap the rubber for aluminum and it works very well.

Is this the attachment method of the racks ERA is now using?

x-chr

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/5965/img2008b.jpg

Subaru steel strap - my FIA uses this method of attachment.
http://ls2lxhatch.com/images/subaru_ps_0310.jpg


Fox Body cast boss - is this the current attachment method for ERA racks?

http://image.mustang50magazine.com/f...ering_rack.jpg

I am only discussing the attachment method irrespective of the racks pictured.

Bob,
Has anyone come up with thicker metal / more solid mounting strap (that does not bend) of the Subaru mounting straps for the Subaru racks?

Yes. Download the manual for the newer kits. It shows the later mount.

Duane,

The clamp is the only type we ever used.

Below is our solution for mounting the rack solid. As Bob stated it takes some strange geometry to mount solid. The rack mounting surface is cylindrical on the drivers side and square on the passenger. The two aluminum clamp halves are machined to match the rack perfectly. Since we are not using the stock isolation material we had two choices for fitment to the horns.

1) Add material to the frame horns and shape to the rack mounting surfaces. The horn mounting surfaces needed to be built out after torquing the bolts.

2) Add material to the horns in the transverse direction to make them wider so the horns contact the rack in the transverse direction. You can see the difference between the clamp thickness and the horn thickness in the picture. The drivers side requires both sides of the horn have material added. The passenger side only requires the outboard surface.

We used neoprene strips to solve number 1. We purchased 1/8" and 1/16" neoprene strip and added it where needed to take make the horns tightly fit the rack shapes. It could be argued it is not solid mount. We'll run it and see how it does. It will be very rigid and full solid in the transverse direction.

To solve number two we will weld thin plate to the sides of the horns and fit the thickness required by the rack.

http://imageshack.us/a/img600/4025/img0193uo.jpg

I wanted to share some of our progress. We are working on a lot of pieces on the front, but the rack (less paint) is finally mountable.

The mount needed shimming to make them match the width of the clamps.

http://imageshack.us/a/img546/7710/avh8.jpg

The top radii were shimmed also to assure we are parallel to ground, and cross member.

Up to an 1/8th thickness added as needed to fill.

It took a little to stop looking at the rack and to start looking at the car with respect to accurately centering it. CL is is scribed on vertical.

http://imageshack.us/a/img515/7020/w56h.jpg


A very nice tight fit - will not move in any axis. The rack lines up beautifully with the lower control arm pivots .I am having some solid rod ends made up which will thread into the ends of the rack. Will thread rod end and spindle for adjustable bump steer kit.

The 225 Avon is a tall tire. There are some ride height vs geometry decisions. Notice the lower ball joint stud on the left side. That is a 3/4 raised stud. That and a 5 1/4" ride height yields 2 5/8" (maybe) before we hit the top of the fender. The 26.5 diameter tire on the front of a 289 is beautiful.

http://imageshack.us/a/img96/1239/vl57.jpg

You can see a mock up rod end stuck in the end (drivers).

http://imageshack.us/a/img266/5739/g7x4.jpg