Hi all. I have got a ford escort mk2 steering rack that im trying to strip down to shorten it. But got a little problem. How do I remove 1 of the ends of the rack to get it out of the housing. This is it. How do you remove this part off. dont no its name what is it called? Photos of it close up. I no its threaded but is there sumthing I have to do 1st and also whats best way to remove them. The 2 holes or what ever they are dont go all the way to the other side of the part. Thanks
that last image looks like a spot weld my friend Oh and that i believe is the track rod ball end, a flexible joint allowing for it move whilst the suspension is active.
To me, it looks like the ball joint is held captive in that piece screwed onto the end of the threaded rod, then the bit behind that is screwed up tight, then spot welded to make sure it never ever moves. If you really want to pull it apart, you'll need to grind the weld out, heat the 2 nuts, then use a pipe wrench or so to get them loose. Then everything will screw off of the rod. If you try and reassemble it, you need to find out the torques specced by the manufacturer, then re-weld it or it'll probably come undone (leading to no steering). How do you intend to shorten it?! I'd unscrew the pivots from the ends, cut the rod, and re-thread it. Much simpler / more reliable. Note that you'll lose suspension travel though.
Thanks for all that help. Got the Lead pin drilled out and used a nail punch to tap the lock ring undone and then removed the ball joint. Yeh there is a white plastic part thats got a washer and spring behind it that pushes on the ball. There is a slot cut in the rack for the pin to go into. Photo. Making the rack about 210mm long normal size is about 450mm. Have got plans on how to shorten it but no plans or workshop manual on how to strip it so I have had to just learn what parts are and what to do to remove them. Yeh a Edge products Piranha offroader. Like this.
ah it all comes clear now. Little disappoint, thought you had taste and was restoring a MK2 escort...
LOL nop not restoring just modding a ford part. buggy has got both ford and holden parts on the steering. :O did I just say that. hehe. I like sum fords & sum holdens not a person that likes only 1.
Time to start making it shorter. The housing. has to be shortened to 6mm from the left plate where the ruler is. The rack has to be shortened to 205. Ends up being cut on the rack gear. I got another for escort rack today. mk1 model. Have stripped it already and cleaned it up. Took 1/2 the time it did for the 1st rack now that i no how to strip 1. here is a photo of the 2nd rack i just got. Here is both of the housing's side by side. mk2 on top mk1 on bottom. This is the only differant part i can see sofar on them. Going to be starting to shorten it this weekend. Got sumone with a lathe thats going to make me the metal bush's to go in the end and also help me shorten the housing's. Going to make both of them shorter. Got both rack housings shortened today. Now I just have to get sum steel to make a bush for each one.
That's awesome So why are you modding two of them And what motor are you using? Mods? And of course, pics of yours or it didn't happen
+1 to every bit of this post. Why does it need two? I can't believe it's AWS - are you making two buggies?
Making 2 just for the hell of it. Mite sell 1 to a person thats building 1 or for parts. Engine I have in it is a Suzuki GSX 750cc, Its a 80's engine but in really good order. No mods done to engine apart from custom exhausts and new spark plugs. Going to be looking into air filters for it sum time. Still got a lot of work to do on it. Oh one other mod im doing is changing the sides where the tanks and that are In that photo i posted you can see the a tank on each side im removing them and doing this. have the tank in the back of the buggy. Right photos of my buggy as it is at moment. In the photos the shocks are set to the softest setting so its setting a be lower then it should be. The front im working on at moment. Also working on the new modded sides. Going to be making a vedio of the engine running sum time and going to remove it and give it a really big cleanup. Poster I made up. Frame and parts will be sand blasted and going to get it painted or powder coated. I sould have my seat cover for it this week.
That is super awesome Cheesecake Awesome choice of motor aswell Yeah, a newer gsxr motor would have been better, but we've gotta draw the line somewhere Those old gsx motors can benefit significantly from increasing the airbox inlet size and getting some bigger jets to suit More power, quicker response and a louder & mean intake sound Good gsxr mechanics would have done it lots of times Unless you wanna keep it quiet like a standard bike, in which case leave the airbox alone - a little increase in jetting would still help power and response a little while keeping things quiet however!
The mk1 & 2 racks are pretty much interchangeable anyway, only real difference is the threads on early mk1 racks were imperial while the later ones were metric, those were the days .. ripping escorts apart for spares and mating capri struts to escort racks
Yeh got it going again today an got a viedo of engine running. Also worked on the rear. Stripped the carbs and gave them a full clean out and replaced couple parts. just got to work out what 1 of the holes out of 1 of the carbs is for so i be looking in the workshop manual tonight.
Here we go a tiny video of engine startup. Had it running before this video also. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi4K7WR_2D0
Brought a new toy today a Mig welder. A Mitech 160s inverter. So i have a: Mitech 160 arc/tic inverter welder Mitech 160s mig inverter welder. This is the one im getting on saturday got to pickup from shop. Now I just need a trolly to hold them both and learn to weld more. Should be both good to learn with. Both are gas/gasless models. Going to be using gasless.
Looks like a great project, I've always wanted to make a buggy myself. What color you going to paint it? I've never heard of Mitech welders before, but they look like they are fairly decent. Using gas with your mig would give you a cleaner stronger weld, but going with flux wire works just fine. Good luck! I'm keeping my eye on this.
Mite do it blue. but then again I mite go all out and do a bright colour. Yeh been looking into the costs of gas and gasless wire and gas. been told to go with gas as its easy to learn and cleaner welds.
I vote for Kawasaki green on the chassis, with blue panels. The engine sounds pretty badass, who made up your exhausts?
