Neon Manual rack in a P-body

[turboshad]

I'm sure this has been done but I couldn't really find the answers I was looking for. What all does and doesn't line up? From what I can find I would need a new coupler or some kind of adapter to go to the steering column. Possibly I would need to fab new tie rod ends to get the correct length. Do the mounting holes line up? Thanks for any info.

[cordes]

The guys on Neons.org make it sound like our racks will bolt right in for them, but they need to swap out to Neon tie rod ends. I've always taken that to mean that their manual racks will drop right into our cars with the exception of swapping our tie rod ends on to their rack.

You bring up a good point about the splines on the coupler, but in my experience you can mix and match them fairly easily if you have a couple different ones lying around...

[BadAssPerformance]

Yeah it works... IIR its gotta be an early 1G neon rack?

I have an 88 Aries manual rack in the Z

[cordes]

Yeah it works... IIR its gotta be an early 1G neon rack?

I have an 88 Aries manual rack in the Z

Yes, when they speak of it, they are talking about the 1st gens.

[turboshad]

Sounds easy enough. Wow, have I actually found a straight forward project? I'll check but my suspicion is the rack available to me will be a 1st gen. He said it was mocked up on his charger and fit fine but I figured the charger would be a bit narrower so I wanted to make sure it would work on a P-body. Considering the P-body is a 0 gen neon it makes sense.

[3Bar_Mopar]

Sounds easy enough. Wow, have I actually found a straight forward project?

Don't let down your guard!

[Force Fed Mopar]

I have a '98 Neon power rack in my Shelby Z right now. All I had to do was put my tie rod ends on it. I used the Daytona coupler on it.

[Dohc Rocks]

I have the fast ratio 1990 Shadow Shelby rack in my 98 Neon.

Dropped right in.

[Mopar318]

Should have measured mine at SDAC. Had the only 1st gen there.

[Directconnection]

Dave St.Louis ran a Neon manual rack in his '88 (or was it '87) T-III Shadow yeeeears ago. He told me you have to make a hybrid coupler of the original one from your column side, and the one going to the rack. Never told me about tie rods....

[turboshad]

Well I bought it so we'll see how it goes. Like everything else I do thee will be pictures.

[Ondonti]

Comparison of the ratios between the older stuff and the 1g neon?

[Juggy]

Comparison of the ratios between the older stuff and the 1g neon?

the neon rack is absolutely horrendus lol

i think its 20 or 22:1

[Force Fed Mopar]

the neon rack is absolutely horrendus lol

i think its 20 or 22:1

Yeah, I know the power Neon rack is like 18:1, not sure what the manual rack is.

[turboshad]

So I took my rack off last night and put it up with against the manual version. I had to drill the holes out in the cast portion and move the side with the rubber bushing almost right to the end but it bolted up fine. The problem came in the passenger tie rod. With both racks at center, the manual is about 1" short from outer tie rod to outer tie rod. The inner tie rod in the manual is the same if not a bit longer then the one in the power rack so swapping those won't help and the outer ends are exactly the same. I don't know if anything had been changed before I got it but the only solution I can think of is to cut the inner tie rod end and weld in an extension. It's not really a big deal but I thought I would share.

[rbryant]

So I took my rack off last night and put it up with against the manual version. I had to drill the holes out in the cast portion and move the side with the rubber bushing almost right to the end but it bolted up fine. The problem came in the passenger tie rod. With both racks at center, the manual is about 1" short from outer tie rod to outer tie rod. The inner tie rod in the manual is the same if not a bit longer then the one in the power rack so swapping those won't help and the outer ends are exactly the same. I don't know if anything had been changed before I got it but the only solution I can think of is to cut the inner tie rod end and weld in an extension. It's not really a big deal but I thought I would share.

I wonder if there are any cars that have longer and compatible tie rod ends that you could just use...

Of course you could also machine a spherical bearing setup. Then you could have an adjustable pin height aswell and actually adjust the rack angles to match your control arms and help bump steer.

If it is that much shorter the neon rack might actually be a pretty close fit to the lbody which is .75" narrower than the pbody.

-Rich

[turboshad]

Ya it would be pretty close for that. It was probably only about 1/2" too short but you need some adjustability in there so I called it 1". I think I will just weld it up since that is all of a 1/2hr fix vs trying to track down a longer inner rod that works. Shelgame talked about a Borgeson U-joint that can be used to mod the Shaodw piece. I tracked that down to be a P/N 01964 and it looks like you can get them from Jegs. I'm trying to find somewhere local but for all you US guys there is a source for you. I still haven't decided whether to go the U-joint hybrid route or just weld the Shadow joint to the neon rack.

Shelgame's thread .... http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/showthread.php?1504-Manual-Steering-Coupler...&highlight=manual+steering+conversion
JEGS link ... http://www.jegs.com/i/Borgeson/153/0...rentProductId=