Center Drilled Aluminum Rack Bushing

[KaNolton]

I've got a track day coming up and after the last event I've been looking into the aluminum rack bushings.

Spill the beans, How much of a difference do you feel as far as response. Is it too touchy for a daily driven car. I mean its only $40, but is it worth the money (or the hassle for that point).

Some of you may remember I ran Little Talladega a few months ago in the Roush pictured below. However, I am driving my GT Convertible, subframe, spings, shocks/struts, and sway bars, so its nothing crazy. Therefore is the aluminum rack bushing overkill? Or is it a worthwhile investment?

Thanks in advance!

 

[AnaheimE]

I've heard it's a great upgrade to do while you have the front suspension apart but not a necessity if it's just by itself. If you can grab then for a good price get them, but I'd wait until you swap springs or something to throw them in.

 

[Maynor]

Spill the beans, How much of a difference do you feel as far as response. Is it too touchy for a daily driven car.

Its a Mustang steering rack. You'll never ever have to worry about it being too touchy. Perish the thought.

On edit: I've got them installed on my car as an FYI.

 

[KaNolton]

Its a Mustang steering rack. You'll never ever have to worry about it being too touchy. Perish the thought.

Haha wishful thinking on my part I suppose :beer:

 

[Taz]

Aluminum rack bushings will help improve your car's turn-in response.

Installation doesn't require any suspension disassembly. All the work - what little there is - is right at the steering rack. Just raise the front of the car, remove the rubber rack bushings, slightly shorten the sleeves for the bushing bolts, and install the new aluminum bushings. It's a 30-minute job.

The difference will be noticeable, but a more dramatic improvement in steering precision and response can be made by replacing the intermediate shaft with one that eliminates the huge rubber rag joint that is is part of the OEM design. Aftermarket designs, such as the Borgeson part, are constructed with two U-joints, instead of a single U-joint and a rag joint.

Replacing the intermediate shaft is also very simple, but takes a little longer, maybe an hour, because you need to remove a few pieces of dash trim to get at the top pinch bolt.

 

[David Hester]

If you just HAVE to have them, fine. Money could be spent elsewhere.
If you have lowered the car, then offset would be fine. I use Urethane offset in my a/sedan car and they do fine.
Same replacing the rag joint. If it is old, sure why not. Gives a tad more room for headers, although I spend more time tightening and adjusting than I would have to do with the rag joint and it wasn't that close. i was just worried about heat.
Found I had more play in the steering shaft end (portion that goes through firewall) with the new FlamingRiver unit than stock. Had to make shims to tighten.
Looks something like this.

Ends are different. Note there are 8 set screws that have to be adjusted/ tightened.
Don't know anything about dash trim, everything I replaced was between firewall and rack.
Much of the play you notice in the driveway goes away at speed, or you don't notice it.
Plus metal to metal bushing vibrate really bad. (numb hands?)

 

[wheelhopper]

For the money it was one of the best and easiest mods I did. Cheap, a quick install, and you will immediately feel the difference. The car simply feels more responsive.

 

[Taz]

If you just HAVE to have them, fine. Money could be spent elsewhere.
If you have lowered the car, then offset would be fine. I use Urethane offset in my a/sedan car and they do fine.
Same replacing the rag joint. If it is old, sure why not. Gives a tad more room for headers, although I spend more time tightening and adjusting than I would have to do with the rag joint and it wasn't that close. i was just worried about heat.
Found I had more play in the steering shaft end (portion that goes through firewall) with the new FlamingRiver unit than stock. Had to make shims to tighten.
Looks something like this.

Ends are different. Note there are 8 set screws that have to be adjusted/ tightened.
Don't know anything about dash trim, everything I replaced was between firewall and rack.
Much of the play you notice in the driveway goes away at speed, or you don't notice it.
Plus metal to metal bushing vibrate really bad. (numb hands?)

Wow!

If your experience with the Flaming River shaft is typical, it sounds like the Borgeson part is definitely the way to go. My Borgeson required NO set screw adjustment during installation. All that was required was to attach both ends at the pinch bolts.

That was 5 years and a number of Auto-X and open track events ago, and the steering is still as tight as ... I'll leave that up to your imagination. No subsequent tightening of anything has ever been required, and there's NO play at all in my steering system. Response is immediate and laser-precise at any speed from parking lot trolling to 155+ MPH. The car answers the helm immediately, goes exactly where it's pointed, and needs no correction to keep it on its prescribed course.

As for the installation, the Borgeson part replaces the ENTIRE intermediate shaft, all the way up to the bottom of the steering column, and the top pinch bolt is inside the passenger compartment, under the dash. I have had no experience with the Flaming River part, but if it doesn't go THROUGH the firewall into the dash area and replace the entire intermediate shaft, it's not the same part at all.

 

[David Hester]

Yeah, it's a pain. Don't have to take it loose too often, but any time I take off pipes on driver side, I have to loosen all of them, plus a couple of bolts on the top....
Mine ends at the top universal in the picture and then had a short piece that slides into the steering shaft engine side of the firewall.
Live and learn.

 

[Quadcammer]

Installation doesn't require any suspension disassembly. All the work - what little there is - is right at the steering rack. Just raise the front of the car, remove the rubber rack bushings, slightly shorten the sleeves for the bushing bolts, and install the new aluminum bushings. It's a 30-minute job.

I'd like to dispute that statement since I just did them.

its a pain in the ass.

Yes, the process itself is not complicated but there are a few snags.

Even on a garage queen like mine, the ds rubber bushings were not at all interested in being removed from the sleeves. I was finally able to get some movement after a lot of prying, and then got some dish soap on there, and was finally able to get it off (after about an hour, just on that).

Fun project number two was removing the sleeves from the kmember. Some oxidation made this somewhat difficult.

Once those two things are done, the rest is quick and easy, but those things alone took me at least 1.5 hours.

 

[Taz]

Everything is a pain in the ass if you can't turn a wrench.

If the entire process takes you longer than 30 minutes, start to finish, find another hobby.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

ALumnium rack busgings are the best bang for the buck handling mod you can do to the car. DO IT!

Also if you have the coin consider a solid steering shaft, or eliminating the rag joint in the solid steering shaft. It is well worth the money.

Consider spraying the mount tubes that go through the K member and the rubber bushings in the rack with PB blaster a day or 2 before you want to swap the bushings. Or at least do it when you get the car in the air to do the astual swap. It will make these pieces easier to remove if your car is older or rusted at all.

 

[Maynor]

LargeOrangeFont, I have got to know (off topic), what are wheels on your Cobra... I've been trying to figure that out for months now without luck..

 

[Quadcammer]

Everything is a pain in the ass if you can't turn a wrench.

If the entire process takes you longer than 30 minutes, start to finish, find another hobby.

I had a nice reply all typed up, but then I realized that you aren't, and never were, worth the time or trouble.

cheers.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

LargeOrangeFont, I have got to know (off topic), what are wheels on your Cobra... I've been trying to figure that out for months now without luck..

WedSport SA-70

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

I had a nice reply all typed up, but then I realized that you aren't, and never were, worth the time or trouble.

cheers.

:lol:

 

[Maynor]

Thanks much. Damn, I wish I didn't just invest of 18" wheels already... #()*#(*&.

 

[Taz]

I had a nice reply all typed up, but then I realized that you aren't, and never were, worth the time or trouble.

cheers.

The feeling is mutual and always will be. I made a general statement and you made it all about YOU! Get over yourself.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

The feeling is mutual and always will be. I made a general statement and you made it all about YOU! Get over yourself.

Good point, well played sir!

 

[TroyV]

Getting back to the subject.....I am of the opinion that anything that increases tactile feel to the driver is a mod worth doing. The bushings are worth it, not only for the turn in response, but also the increased resolution transmitted to your brain on the state of your front tires. More specifically, the feel when you exceed the limit of traction, and even the feel at the max slip angle of the tires. Both of those states are compromised and hard to feel with the numb stock bushings.

I feel this mod is just as important as a good shifter, or a steering shaft, or SS lines....anything that you feel through the controls with your hands and feet...