Rack & Pinion + Mustang II

[ontheroad68]

Anyone here put rack & pinion and/or mustang II front suspension on their car?

I've driven plenty of original 60's cars so I know what they drive like, but never with an upgraded front end. Just wondering if it's worth the extra time/money.

I'm building the car ground up at this point and leaning toward the Mustang II set up. If any one has any experience or specific kits they would recommend that would be great.

I talked with one guy that put R & P on his car and really didn't like the reduced turning radius. I don't know which kit he bought.

Any insights are appreciated!!

[doghows]

I just finished a rack on my delivery. I used the Unisteer kit and could not be happier. The feel and response is fantastic way better than any factory stuff. I am running stock suspension still as well.
I highly recommend the rack and pinion. Patrick is running the RRS system on his maybe he'll chime in for you too.

[ontheroad68]

The RRS set up looks great but also lots of $$$$. I'll look into the unisteer.
Most of the Mustang II sus. set ups come with a rack and pinion complete for about $2300.

I'd love to hear what other brands/opinions people have out there!!

[pbrown]

Of the systems that maintain the stock shock towers these are my thoughts. The RRS setup is very nice but pricey. The trick to to keeping the stock steering geometry is to maintain the dimensions for the inner tie rod mount points. This requires a center hung R&P of which the GM unit that Steve and I have are the most common. The downside is that the center mount adapter has a lot of flex unless it also get's supported on one end with a sliding bearing. There are two companies that do this. RRS and Total Control. Unisteer doesn't have this but seems to have been heavily beefed up to compensate.

Then there is the Mustang II solution. There are two that are popular for Falcons. One is Heights and the other is R&C Motorsports. I can't offer much about the details of these. They open up the engine bay so you can get any engine to fit. Even the new Coyote 5.0 is an option.

[BadBird]

I love the Heidts that I installed in my car but if you want to keep the shock towers they won't work. I also like the fact that my engine bay is wide open but that personal preference loses a lot of Falcon fans that believe I butchered it. Too each his or her own I guess. All these systems will create other issues for every installer. I had an issue with oil pan clearances from the power rack which may or may not exist with a non-power rack.
The whole Heidts system is in my opinion easy to install. Other systems that I see in the Hot Rod magazines now, may be better. Larry

[ontheroad68]

I looked at the Heidts front end and it looks great, but might be a little outside my price range. Fortunately I won't have any time to work on the car until April so I don't need to make a decision right away. My car will not be a "stock" restoration so cutting the shock towers is not a problem for me, it might clean up the engine bay a bit.

Thanks for all the input!

[falcon cobra]

Is your falcon a 62? ..jh

[pbrown]

Is your falcon a 62? ..jh

Yes it is. I saw it last Saturday. It's an early bubble window.

[Luva65wagon]

The only thing I wasn't real impressed with on the Unisteer setup was the shaft support in the end of the column. Steve had to do a lot of polishing the end of the shaft to get their press-in bearing to slide over it. Should have centerless ground, or at least machine that end of the shaft if it's going to be a race. Also seemed a bit shy on the supplied hose to pump length. Otherwise I was pretty happy with the ease of install and the rest of the fabrication. Barring these mods, I'd use it on mine if I were to change.