Once the aforementioned tools are obtained, one needs only to set the car on the grease plates, assuring that it is sitting in the stance it would normally take – i.e. all weight on the tires and settled – push down on the bumper a couple times to be positive.  Being settled in, it is fairly basic to set the straight-edge with attached laser on a set of jackstands, placing the edge on both the front and rear sidewalls of the rear tire.  This will give a straight line to the front of the car, passing by the front tires.  Measuring the distance from the front and rear of the front rim to the laser will give you an idea of where your car is.  Turn the wheels 20 degrees both directions and check it again to be sure it is correct, and cross-reference with your manual as to how many degrees of toe your particular car needs. That’s it. you are done.  As I said, simple.

Back to the point though, is the fact that this Mach was originally a 351 car, and so the shock towers were cut down at some point to accommodate the big block.  Unfortunately, this was done some time ago and was not done specifically for the 385 series engine, which causes problems procuring headers.  It is to this end that a rack and pinion was desired, to allow for more room in the engine compartment to design headers with better flow.

First off was the removal of the old steering components, including the gearbox, the center link, and all the tie rods.  Next on the agenda was the fabrication of brackets to install the rack and pinion itself, making sure that it was low enough to clear the oil pan, an issue with this larger engine.  Also of note is the retention of the rear steering, rather than a full on conversion to front steering components.  once the brackets were fabricated out of steel, with solid aluminum bushings for the rack to eliminate any movement, the measurements had  to be taken for the overall length of the rack.  This turned out to be a bit long, and short of ordering a custom (and more expensive) rack, we simply machined the threads farther up the rod ends and cut off the ends to shorten it up a bit, roughly 1.5 inches.  Once this was done, the daunting task of assembling a linkage to the steering column was tackled.  This involved lengthening the stock shaft by about 9 inches, cutting off the end of the steering column that protrudes into the engine bay for added angular clearance, and assembling the knuckles.  All told, this is fairly simple, just a matter of measuring the distances and drilling a few retention holes in the DD bar.  Of note is the fact that we used a short pinion rack to allow for the most clearance.

A summary of parts is simply this – rack and pinion, two knuckles, a length of DD rod – 3/4 inch, and a couple Mustang II outer tie rod ends.  That’s really all it takes.  Of course, this still needs to be road tested, and a bearing may need to be installed at the base of the steering column to maintain alignment, but that remains to be seen.  Currently there appears to be very little slop in the system and so it will be left as is for now.  Parts total was just upward of $500.