Source for replacement Pantera steering rack

I'm in the process of rebuilding/replacing my steering rack. I also saw somewhere that some early Ferrari racks would work. I did look on eBay and found that the seller had a section on "will this fit my vehicle". Not one Pantera was listed. Bummer, not a bad price.

I bought one for a 308 from a European supplier a few years ago that look similar to the one in the ebay add. It fit my early car perfectly. Only problem was that the tierod ends that came with the rack didn't fit and had to be sourced from somewhere else.

I also have an early car and I am planning to change my rack. I bought a rebuilt one from a well known vendor which is basically junk with lot of play in it. Now I will change it with a new one from a 308. What kind of tie rod ends work with a 308 rack on a Pantera?

If the 308 rack has the same length witn a thread of 14mm x 1.5 pitch inner tie rod end, you can use the Pantera outer tie rod end.

It has. I used pantera tie-rod ends on the 308 rack.

Good deal then. Thanks.

There's a thread on the DeTomaso Mail List right now about this. Mike Drew just did a comparison of the inexpensive new Ferrari rack to early and late Pantera racks.

Ferrari 308 rack comparison:
http://poca.com/pipermail/deto...February/224739.html

Great photo set of Rick Mosely's Ferrari rack rebuild:
http://poca.com/pipermail/deto...February/224745.html

I was planning to rebuild the rack, but you make me change my mind and I bought one. $214 including S&H.

Thanks for the info.

quote:

Originally posted by garth66:
There's a thread on the DeTomaso Mail List right now about this. Mike Drew just did a comparison of the inexpensive new Ferrari rack to early and late Pantera racks.

Ferrari 308 rack comparison:
http://poca.com/pipermail/deto...February/224739.html

Great photo set of Rick Mosely's Ferrari rack rebuild:
http://poca.com/pipermail/deto...February/224745.html

Thanks for the link Garth. Mike had some good info. If all that's required to fit the 308 rack is some slight clearancing then it's a none issue. Pricing a rebuilt steering rack from Wilkinson was $385 plus shipping and $250 core. The new TRW Italia steering rack he sells is double that. I'm seriously considering buying two of the 308 racks and I think I would be set for the rest of MY life as far as racks go.

A special note* : the rebuilt rack that Wilkinson sells includes new Pantera tie rod ends where the new 308 rack does not. To help determine if the 308 rack is a good value.

Also, the steering rack brackets from the early Pushbutton Panteras will fit the 308 rack without modification if you happen to have one handy ( which I do ).

quote:

Also, the steering rack brackets from the early Pushbutton Panteras will fit the 308 rack without modification if you happen to have one handy ( which I do ).

Yes I read that too - I had no issues mounting the rack to my pushbutton - the clamp is a little different.

The supplier I used in europe had a version for early panteras and later panteras as well.

I replaced the rack mounts on my friend's Pushbutton because the rebuilt rack on his car had the shoulders on the driver side mounting point was slightly wider and allowed the whole rack to move side to side a little which translated to a lot of play on the steering wheel.

I also have the original rack off a 73L which uses the later bracket. The early bracket off the Pushbutton fit perfectly on it but I didn't mount it to a car to check for play under load. The later brackets have a bevel cut on he radius of the opening on both sides. According to Wilkinson, that's how they're made. I assume so that they fit tight against the saddle to insure no play.

So, it may be hit or miss. You may or may not have to make a mod depending on your bracket you have.

If anyone is in need of rack mounting brackets,I have a whole box of them!!! Not sure if they are all from later cars or pushbuttons. I would have to measure them to see. I have A LOT of them though!!! ;-)


Ron

Well, I decided to give the 308 rack a try. If it doesn't work out, I guess I'll just have to go out and buy a 308 to wrap around my new rack!

Ken

If you want a really good quality rack for your Pantera have one made up by Titan in the UK.
Available in different ratio's, same input spline & you can have the rack made 2" shorter to correct the bump steer issue.

regards,
Tony.

quote:

Originally posted by Edge:
If you want a really good quality rack for your Pantera have one made up by Titan in the UK.
Available in different ratio's, same input spline & you can have the rack made 2" shorter to correct the bump steer issue.

regards,
Tony.

http://www.titan.uk.net/ui/content/content.aspx?ID=24

Tony, I suspect that longer tie rods will improve the bump steer issue; but, will not correct it. Would you agree? Some bump steer is inherent to both the design (rack length) and height of the rack relative to the steering arm.

I have installed a Titan rack & had them make it 2" shorter, (rack end to rack end).
It sits 10mm lower than the standard rack as well.
I have removed the shocks & jacked the car up & down via a trolley jack through the cars suspension travel.
The toe change is something like 2mm, where as in standard trim it was very noticeable in the region of 15mm.
I have focused on the theoretical line between top & bottom arm pivot points & made the rack end intersect that line.

regards,
Tony

quote:

Originally posted by Edge:
I have installed a Titan rack & had them make it 2" shorter, (rack end to rack end).
It sits 10mm lower than the standard rack as well.

regards,
Tony

Tony,

This is very interesting to me. I went to their website to have a look. Do you have a copy of the order sheet with the measurements you used? That might help some of us. When you ordered the rack and specified 2" shorter I assume that they then supplied tie rods that are 1" longer on each side to make up the difference? Do you remember what it cost to have it built? My car is a 74 and has the additional 10mm spacers under the rack mounts.

Steve

Boy, that website brings back memories. In the early '70s, Titan made complete, really competitive Formula Ford race cars, their own dry-sump pumps and bellhousings along with other race bits that were used by everyone. I had a '74 Titan FF for a while, sold to another Pantera owner in FL in 2000.
IMHO, unless things have radically changed over there, all their parts were of very high quality and could be depended upon. Note also their power steering set looks very similar to the one being sold in the U.S. Several Pantera owners have one (different importer maybe) in their cars working fine. David, comment?

Jack,

Titan's electric power steering system is made by DC Electronics; also in the UK. The system is sold by Flaming River in North America but it's very expensive and really designed for serious racers.

The electric power steering system that's being successfully used by a number of Pantera owners is made by EZ Electric Power Steering in The Netherlands. It's a Pantera specific system that retains the OEM steering rack. It gives a low to moderate level of assist and is speed sensitive (more speed = less assist), so at 30mph you can hardly tell it's there. http://www.ezpowersteering.nl/...age/158/17/Home.html

Steve.
I do have all of the information & drawings at work.
(I'm at home right now & it's a long weekend so won't be back at work till Tuesday).
The rack is not an exact fit to replace the original Pantera item.
This is due to the limitations of Titans design & how much they can adjust the housing to suit the Pantera.
So the input spline shaft that the column bolts to is around 50mm further inboard.
The raised bosses on the rack also don't line up with the original Pantera clamp type mounts.
What I did was design an adaptor plate in 10mm Aluminium.
It bolts to the original four bolt holes in the chassis, (where the clamps bolted to).
Then I used the original Pantera rack clamps & they hold the rack in place & bolt to the Aluminium plate.
I used a ratio from Titans selection that is the same as the original Pantera.

The distance between the rack ends is 2", (50.8mm) less than the original which obviously makes the tie rods longer by the same amount.
I used the original tie rod ends, but had Titan make the tie rods longer by around an extra 25mm per side which gave me more thread up inside the tie rod ends.

There is a picture of the rack installed on another of my threads.
Click here: http://pantera.infopop.cc/eve/...044/m/2711093146/p/3

I will also be installing electric power steering, not a Titan unit though.


regards,
Tony.

Hi Tony.

I would also be interested in the Titan steering rack details if you're up for posting them.

Thanks in advance.

Lui

Woops, sorry guys I forgot about this.
Will find the information tomorrow.

The drawings are PDF & this site keeps rejecting them as they are too large.
Not sure how to adjust a PDF & make it smaller?

regards,
Tony.

Drawings for the rack & pinion.

Thanks to Lui for converting to JPEG.

regards,
Tony.

Drawing 2

Drawing 3

Drawing 4

Here's an update, I finally had some time to get the old rack out and compare it to the new 308 rack. Looks exactly identical. I measured the diameter of where it mounts and both are the same. That's good enough for me. I'll keep the old one and rebuild it at a later date just to say I did. I'm wanting to keep all the original parts for the next Pantera fan.

Kenny,

These Ferrari 308 GT4 racks are now available on Ebay at $185 with free shipping. 8 left.
Item 290640157982

About two years ago I purchased a new rack from Wilkinson when I believe they first became available. I tried to find another TRW rack like on my other car but failed. I liked the difference between my stock unit and the new. Cost was not cheap, but considering the investment behind the rack I chose not to become creative. Not many miles on the new rack but still believe I made the right decision.

Second picture to two racks