Ferrari 308 steering rack - but which one?

While rebuilding my front end I thought I'd replace the steering rack with one of these Ferrari ones from Buyautoparts.com as a quick replacement. Unfortunately it arrived damaged and is getting returned. I think I will just take the time now & rebuild the original after seeing this. 

Is there a power rack that will fit?

I recall hearing about someone putting a Honda S2000 power rack into their Pantera. Their comments were as expected: result worked well but it took too much time, required more modifications than anticipated, cost more money, etc., etc. 

The Devil is in the details. There are so many that look like they fit. An electric one would be the way to go. The Honda unit is a hydraulic design and needs a pump.

A few thoughts: "308" designates a whole series of Ferraris that encompass several models over a significant period of time. They also come in left- & right- hand styles to accommodate England, Australia/New Zealand and Japan-style driving positions. Not sure if Ferrari includes a power assist version- which usually use a different rack & pinion gear ratio. Without a power boost, such racks will result in heavy steering beyond what our needed extra caster adds.  

Next, 'some' 308-style racks look identical to OEMs used in Panteras except where they bolt down. The  left side clamp area (between two cast ridges about 3/4" apart) in the housing is flat-bottomed in Panteras and radiused in some 308-style racks. Sharp-edged steel Pantera clamps that install in that area will ride on those cast housing radii (if present) while being bolted down, unless one files the bottom of the clamp space flat all the way around. You can also bolt the steel clamp halves together and cut or grind a large chamfer into the steel parts to fit. If too much filing is done, rack looseness is not unknown, requiring shim-strips or a cut down stock clamp.

NOT doing mods there (if needed) will cause the attach bolts on such a left rack clamp area to not go in full-depth, so loosening later is a real possibility when the steel Pantera clamps dig into soft cast aluminum and the bolts loosen. Cracking may also occur, and I'm not a fan of cheap far-east castings, as it's well known they ignore world alloy specs and heat treating on their parts unless they are specifically ordered at extra cost. You'll get a feel for the alloy strength if you file the clamp recess to fit. Easy, gummy filing  = a low strength alloy.

At the price mentioned, I'd expect the castings to be made of recycled aluminum to produce a totally unknown 'alloy'. If you try to alleviate steering stiffness by using the original 90-wt gear oil, you may find casting pinholes cause lube leaks. All this happens regularly in 'bargain' cast aluminum cylinder heads and other low cost aluminum parts from the far east. They can be made to work and save a buck, but may not all be 'bolt-ins'. CAVEAT EMPTOR applies!

panteradoug posted:

The Honda unit is a hydraulic design and needs a pump.

The Honda S2000 uses an electric power steering rack. You're probably thinking of the Toyota MR2, which has a hydraulic rack and an electric PS pump. 

It gets confusing fast. They all look similar laid out on the floor. I'd prefer the power unit to be on the rack rather then under the dash.

I haven't tried but it appears that some of the electric-boosted conversion assemblies could be coupled directly to the metric steering rack pinion spline down by the l. front wheel. That would free up under-dash space for better wiring access and remove some top-mounted weight. You'd have to make up a mount for steering forces to react into and probably trim some sheet metal from the inner fender, but under-dash-mount kits require trimming, too. Cam Gears Ltd made several steering ratio pinion shafts over the years and if you add electric boost, it might pay dividends to add a smaller ratio R&P (and more caster w/ wider tires) which the boost would easily absorb. Let us know if someone tries any innovations in this area.

bosswrench posted:

I haven't tried but it appears that some of the electric-boosted conversion assemblies could be coupled directly to the metric steering rack pinion spline down by the l. front wheel. That would free up under-dash space for better wiring access and remove some top-mounted weight. You'd have to make up a mount for steering forces to react into and probably trim some sheet metal from the inner fender, but under-dash-mount kits require trimming, too. Cam Gears Ltd made several steering ratio pinion shafts over the years and if you add electric boost, it might pay dividends to add a smaller ratio R&P (and more caster w/ wider tires) which the boost would easily absorb. Let us know if someone tries any innovations in this area.

Comp2 did it that way but did a lot of sheet metal work to fit the unit in. I think the best way to do it is with a single unit where the rack and motor unit are integrated into one compact unit.  It's becoming so common that it probably is just a matter of time.

The new C8 has electric power steering and will be interesting to see if GM used what they had on the shelf or built a completely new unit for the car? The car is too new to see many of the details yet.

I think Gary used a hydraulic rack with an electric (MR2 or Mini?) pump.

The C7 used an EPAS rack so I assume the C8 is the same. They would both be too long to use in a Pantera application.

Jack's idea is a good one. I'm not sure if there's enough room to simply use a coupler. If you could take an EPAS motor apart and replace the male output shaft with the appropriate female output, you might be able to mount the EPAS motor on the rack rather than in the column.  

I'll let someone else figure the details.