418 replies to this topic

[axistr]

Hi Rhub, (Question 1) I am running HQ vented & sloted rotors with HX calipers on standard LX stubs, but I have a pair of WB calipers to go on soon. You can run any brakes you want, if they fit with the standard rack they will fit with the subaru power steering conversion. I run UC steering arms but you can retain the standard LH-LX or A9X. The only mod is I need your steering arms to slightly ream out the taper to metric to suit the tie rod ends. As for clearance issues the subaru rack is around 8mm higher than the standard rack because of the larger diameter power steering cylinder.
The area around the rotory valve has plenty of room with my small block chev, I will be fitting number 2 unit into a 308 LX in the next few weeks but I would think the clearance would be around the same. One forum member will be fitting the system with a GEN 3 engine, so he will be able to give me the run down after instalation, but I would think there would be no problems on these engines also.

The $440.00 for a rack is a bit expensive, you need the right rack, there are a few subaru racks that look the same but the inner rack joint centers are to wide and the cylinder to large, I have been able to buy them so far for $250.00 then of course I have to strip and do the mods then reco the rack, put it into a jig and set the mount bracket assembly up.

Hope this answers you questions.

Axistr.

[axistr]

Finally got the engineers report today, power steering and all other mods passed all legal now. yeh ha.

[antelopeslr5000]

Well done Lenny! A huge accomplishment, great work.

[axistr]

G'day Bango, number two rack was due to be fitted last month but the owner is organising his own power steering pump and brackets (slowing me down), I am just waiting for him to bring his torrie in for the rack fitment which is all ready to go. I will be taking photos of the rack fitment and compiling a basic fitting instruction manual. If the second rack all goes to plain and tests ok I will be good to go. I finally got the extra insurance and solicitors instructions. Sorry for all waiting but it has just taking much longer than I thought to get everything organised more often waiting for others. The first six rack have been allocated and I am taking names for the second run of six.

It's only six week before the workshop closes for our xmass break so to be realistic production should start in January. I have made mount brackets so it will be the racks and mods that will be required to finish the kits. PM me your details and I will put you on the short list.

Axistr

[enderwigginau]

What is the current costing?

Grant..

[axistr]

Hi Grant, EST for the kit is $2,500 plus G.S.T & freight this will include a reco rack modifyed, new tie rod ends, input shaft adaptor direct bolt up to suit the torana steering column shaft, mounted to the conversion bracket (direct bolt on no mods required to K frame), power steering pipes from the rotory valve to the rack cylinder, 2x hydraulic fitting to connect the hoses from the power steering pump(hoses not included)and a basic instructions fitting manual.

The owner will need to send me his/hers steering arms to ream the ends to suit the outer tie rod ends, (I will ream them in the kit price).
The " " " " organise the power steering Pump,P/S pump mount brackets,hoses to the rotory valve fittings(fittings supplied)the drive belt and pulleys, power steering oil & resivoir.

I can supply a new pump and brackets to suit chev's or Holden V8s seperate if needed. As many owners have different types of drives,engines ect,ect most have asked me to only supply the hard bit the rack, bracket and steering adaptor. But in most cases you should be able to buy the pump, pulleys and brackets from a wrecker off a Holden engine HQ-WB or VB-VT that had the power steering option. Chev engines all have a option with P/S systems. It will be easy for those with late model engines as most have them allready mounted.

The only way I could get insurance cover was to produce a statment signed by the owner/purchaser on the invoice saying that on compleation of the fitting of the steering kit, the vehicle must be inspected by a licenced engineer and comply with local laws in that state or tertory before dviving it on a public road. The installation is to be installed by a licenced motor mechanic. This is because I am supplying a basic kit not the whole thing, or fitting it myself and I carn't see your full set up from here. Basicly If someone fits 12" wide rims on the steer and they foul with a steering component or body and breaks the stubaxle off don't come to me saying it's my fault. If the engineer wont pass it it's not legal, the rack and brackets are but the steering as a whole may not be due to owners doing other mods.

Option 3 if needed I can supply and fit the total system wheel align and get my engineer to inspect your Torana. My workshop is in Windsor (Sydney)

Hope this answers everyones questions.

Lenny.

[A9X]

Just awesome mate.

[enderwigginau]

As above^

And yes, I think that answers most questions.

Could you PM me a contact number please?

Grant..

[axistr]

Number 2 power steering rack is now complete, fitted and tested. The rack was fitted to a lx SLR500 with a 308 and turbo 400 trans, the engine had a gilmer drive and the owner fitted the pulleys and VK P/S pump to the left head. The crank pulley was purchased from a speed shop off the shelf. The fitment of the power steering rack wasn't straight foward due to the car been modifyed by some rough mechanics, and I hope these blokes dont do any power steering systems. This was the problem I faced when organising the insurance cover, some people just don't know or care when it comes to safety. If you purchase a kit off me make sure your mechanic isn't a rough c**t. This is steering we are playing with not just fitting a power antenna. Back to the fitting, on this vehicle the engine was not sitting in the correct position as it was over to the right slightly so we had to make a small dent in the sump on the drivers side to clear the mount bracket. The steering column had been bodgied and they through out the rag joint assembly and mounted the shaft solid to the rack to clear the extractors. Due to the column not being able to releave correctly through 360deg they also through out the lower column bearing. We had to send the vehicle out to our local exhaust centre to get new primary pipes made.

Note if your vehicle is fitted with the original steering shaft assembly the power steering rack will fit also. if it fouls with your exhaust or other components it will foul with the p/s rack.

The engine also had a electric fuel pump and the mechanical pump was removed, I think the system can still be fitted with the mechanical pump but the hoses may be a bit harder to route around, or it may pay to run steel pipes as I have done but at some point they would need flexable hoses before securing to the steel pipes at the drivers side chassis rail. I have run flexable hoses from the rotory valve then to steel pipes which I bent to run from the O/S chassis under the radiator then run accross the N/S chassis rail, then back to flex hose to the power steering pump.

It should also be noted many rack problems can be traced back to overheating(fluid getting to hot) which was one reason why I used steel lines up front to try to get rid of that heat as the flex hoses will not dispurse heat well, many new cars use power steering oil coolers. If you sit in trafic working the steering hard for long periods or like to hold the steering wheel on full lock making the pump work flat out for more than 15 seconds at a time you may need a cooler.

The next problem we encounted was the owner had WB style brake calipers fitted on HQ stub axles, thats OK but they didn't clearance the mount brackets to clear the tie rod ends and bent the steering arms down about two inchs. The tie rod bars were on a huge angle which caused the tie rod ends to bind up on more than 3/4 lock, this was also the case with the standard torana rack which also induced bump steer. We corrected this fault and now the standard LX or UC steering can be used without bending the arms and the tie rod to rack bars sit level and will steer correctly.

It would not have been long before the torana would have lost part or total steering due to the incorrect tie rod angle and I am glad the owner bought it in when he did.

The rest of the conversion went well and we soon had the Torana on the wheel aligner and back on the road steering right.

NEED HELP it's been a while since I have fitted a Holden engine into a torana but I think the engine mounts brackets were slightly different between left and right, thicker on the right pushing the engine to the left for more clearance around the steering shaft. My chev mounts use thicker aluminium adaptors on the right and I think this is also the case with HQs as well, can anyone confirm this with L31/32 engines, as this may have been part of the problem why we had sump clearance issues.

All in all the conversion ended well and now steers excellent, number 2 conversion was a full sucess. So we now know the system fits with chev and Holden engines, I'am sure six packs will be OK, not sure about Gen 3 at this stage as they have a wider pan rail.

Axistr
Lenny


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[76lxhatch]

Great stuff, I'm sure the owner will be overjoyed with the improvement compared to the mess before!

NEED HELP it's been a while since I have fitted a Holden engine into a torana but I think the engine mounts brackets were slightly different between left and right, thicker on the right pushing the engine to the left for more clearance around the steering shaft. My chev mounts use thicker aluminium adaptors on the right and I think this is also the case with HQs as well, can anyone confirm this with L31/32 engines, as this may have been part of the problem why we had sump clearance issues.

No difference with HQ mounts left to right, I'm not certain but I don't think Torana ones are any different either. There is a certain amount of shuffle available with the slots in the rubber half of the mounts, looking at your 4th pic above it appears that this one could be hard toward the drivers side. In my opinion too many people sit engines on the sumps, it doesn't do them any good.

[axistr]

Thanks lx76hatch, we pushed to engine to the left and up higher as the engine sump was contacting the K-frame, we went as far as we could but this was the best we could get it. As these cars are now over 30 years old you just dont know what drams they have been through, bent crades ect,ect.
When I was in my teens, yes I know it was a long time ago, but when you bought mounts for HQ to chev engines be it from Holden or aftermarket they were different between left and right where they mounted between the block and the rubber engine mount, left was thiner. It may have been only for the chev engines no sure. My chev in the hatch is the same maybe only because the chev heads are deeper between the inlet and exhaust manifolds.

Axistr

[76lxhatch]

Could be Chevs only, vaguely rings a bell. I stick to the Holden engines so someone else will know better than I

[ls2lxhatch]

I was told was that the Chev was lifted on the drivers side so the exhaust would clear the steering box in the HQ.

It is preferable to design the engine with the starter motor on the passenger side. This leaves more room for exhaust on the drivers side which is typically tighter due to steering gear. The 308 should sit flat as the starter is on the correct side of the engine for a RHD vehicle.

Edited by ls2lxhatch, 03 December 2009 - 02:01 AM.

[axistr]

Hi Guys, when I fitted the power steering conversion to the SLR500 this week I had to give him the steering arms off my setup cradle as someone bent and stuffed his, and now I don't have any to set up the next racks, I made a few phone calls to try and source two more without sucess. Does anyone have a spare set. They were UC arms I think with the part number of AF3GM7249 & AF1GM7249, even a set of LX will do the job.

Axistr.

[antelopeslr5000]

Hi Guys, when I fitted the power steering conversion to the SLR500 this week I had to give him the steering arms off my setup cradle as someone bent and stuffed his, and now I don't have any to set up the next racks, I made a few phone calls to try and source two more without sucess. Does anyone have a spare set. They were UC arms I think with the part number of AF3GM7249 & AF1GM7249, even a set of LX will do the job.

Axistr.

Hey Lenny,

I have a spare set of steering arms. Let me know what you need (LX or UC).

[axistr]

Thank's Brad PM sent.

[axistr]

G'day racer PM sent.

ls2lxhatch, how did you go with the measurments I sent you, how much wider is the sump rails compared with the gen1/2 chev small blocks

Axistr.

[axistr]

G'day cruiza, already done mate just go back to about page 8 or 9 and start reading. I hope to get the ball rolling on the kits, I have made the bracket and mount cradle just waiting for the racks to come in (ordered in December)I have orders for around 12 and as soon as I can source more racks I will take more orders after the inital 12. sorry about any delays fellers but I am doing my best it always some one else slowing me down.
I can buy brand new racks but Subaru wanted $2,500 each then I need to do the mods on them but this would save some money on the reco. If any body would like me to supply a brand new rack and fitting kit I can do it this way but of course it will be more expensive.

Axistr
Lenny.

[axistr]

Good news I have tracked down 10 racks and they should turn up some time next week. I finally got onto a wrecker who knows what he is talking about and he should be able to keep up supply with a few weeks notice.

Axistr