Astra rack and pinion steering conversion

[StefansBus]

Hi there,

I know a few out there have done a rack and pinion conversion on an early bay. I have a T25 (T3) relay (bevel) box and a Cavalier/Astra manual rack (LHD) for my LHD bus. Since the Astra rack will be installed with the input shaft facing forward instead of aft, which reverses the steering direction, and the T25 box reverses it again, we should be good.

A friend is willing to design the mounting brackets and the shaft with couplings between the T25 bevel box and the steering rack.

We would like to mount everting as high up as possible so that the steering parts are not the lowest bits on the front end. The first issue is that the T25 box is wider than the early bay steering box in which exact place we were hoping to install it. That doesn't seem so easy. Any ideas/pics?

Would also like to know how people have done the steering shaft between box and rack. Again pics and parts description would be great.

By the way, I am not interested in a conversion which keeps the idler arm. I want a rack which is parallel to the front beam, not 90 degrees.

Also, the Astra rack is great in that the tie rods connect to it in the middle,not on the outsides, keeping the tie rod geometry stock.

Looking forward to lots of input, hopefully.

Cheers

Stefan

 

[mattp]

Stefan,

I know of a split bus that has had this conversion done and I believe there is a load of info on SSVC forum, it took a pit of time to sort out and IIRC the tie rods needed to be modified in length

 

[StefansBus]

Hi Matt,

Thanks for this. Yes, I had indeed seen this T1 conversion on the SSVC forum. It's certainly interesting but unfortunately not a blueprint for a T2 conversion. Yes, it utilizes the same Astra rack and the same T25 bevel/relay box but the mounting points are so different on both vehicles that the T1 solution doesn't work on a T2. Also, the T1's stock steering gear box sits very low (under the frame) but the early bay one sits up in the frame which is were I would want the T25 relay box to sit but that's proving difficult. Also, the front beams are different so the exact location of the rack will be different. I would want it to sit between the two tubes of the bam, not underneath, if possible.

So any pointer still very much appreciated.

Cheers

Stefan