1Bentley

I'm looking into having a custom rack made and I need to find a used rack cheap to use for prototyping. Anyone have a bad rack laying around? TAP recycling only sells working racks. Any ideas? Also, does anyone know of any off the shelf quicker ratio racks available for 95-97? Custom won't be cheap!

Lanson

Couldn't flaming river make a custom just as easily as they make one for a T-bucket or similar custom ride?

curepunx

iTrader: (3)

to start, try:
http://www.car-part.com/


Cheers

1Bentley

Well, not quite as easily, since they've never made one before. They are the ones that want me to send them a rack for measurements and I obviously don't want to remove my rack for that.

1Bentley

Thanks for the tip. I've never come across that site and it's a great resource. I checked it out and the lowest listed price is $130 which is great for a good rack. Hoped to find a trashed rack for way less.

BLKonBLK98

don't turn that barge too fast, you might sink.

1Bentley

Just checked car-parts again and I must have missed a page - found one for $60. Thanks again curepunx!

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

what exactly are you trying to do?

someone once floated the idea of using the Supra JZA80 steering rack with LS400 inner and outer tie-rods. you might wanna look into using a frankensteined rack made from OEM parts before getting one made.

BLKonBLK98

i didn't want to go into it since i haven't figured out toyota interchangability yet, and honestly i don't feel the ls is the right canidate for high performance, but this is the route i went on my q.

there's a member (sn: irax) that signed up not long ago who worked at one of the premier rebuillders a while back and knows his stuff. helped me a bit when i was piecing stuff together. might try and get ahold of him.

fsms will also help you with track width and ratios.

1Bentley

As much as I like the LS, lets face it , the steering sucks. 3.5 turns lock to lock is way to slow for my taste, and it's got to much slop on center, its overboosted and lacks road feel. Compared to the 5 series BMW and the S class mercedes I drove its not that much worse, but those cars won't win any awards for steering.
So what I want is quick, precise, linear steering. My frame of reference is a 993 porsche. I've never driven a car with better steering. If you know of a better steering car lets hear your vote. Yeah, I know, not gonna get porsche steering on a lexus but I'd like to at least head in that direction.

1Bentley

Sorry, what is "fsms"

steveski

Pure has a good point on using an older Supra rack. I had a custom rack priced for my 95 and it was $1,000 shipped. Don't forget you can always get an in line adapter that speeds up response. Of course it will have to be fabricated to your existing setup. Adapters are available for under $200 at summit racing and other online shops. I don't even know if this would be a good idea since it takes the input and basically doubles the speed on the output side.

BLKonBLK98

factory service manual... uhhh... s

they seem to be a lot easier to get your hands on for nissans. i was able to go through about 5-6 models within an hour for measurments.

there's a link where you can download all you can in 48 hours straight from toyota for like $20 but i don't have it on hand. someone should chime in.

JimsGX

Here's the link...

https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfoPortal/

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

its not just hte rack you need to replace then, its the entire steering system and electronics, the entire system is made for comfort and cruising.

first off the 993 series is a feather compared to the LS, and then there's the actual steering pressure, the steering solenoid, the steering ecu, and more.

its going to be much more involved to get a porsche feel than just replacing the rack.

the OEM rack, while a slow ratio, is of high quality, with minimal slop in the steering.
drop the car, it will increase the steering "feel" quite a bit, then look into a supra/SC rack conversion to quicken the steering.