Dear Welder Series…
A group of my friends and I are retired and restore classic cars and fabricate several hot rods. My question to you is how do you determine what rack and pinion to use, especially when you have to modify a front mustang II crossmember to mate up with a wider or shorter suspension width? By the way, I saw your systems on the TV series “Trucks” this morning and found it quite interesting. I have booked marked your web site so as not to lose it. Thanks, George

Dear George…
George, this is a good question. All Welder Series Mustang II kits (56″, 58″, and 60″ track width) are designed to mount a stock 1974-78 MII rack or the later T-Bird rack. The 56″ Welder Series Mustang II kit uses stock tie rod ends. The wider kits can use rack extenders with stock tie rod ends or the longer Ford Fairmont tie rod ends. The best solution is the rack extender, but we have seen many MII installations with the longer tie rod ends and no noticeable bump steer or tire wear problems.

For narrow track widths, it depends on how the track was made narrower. If the upper and lower arms were shortened, the stock rack can be used because the geometry has stayed essentially the same as stock. The tie rods might have to have the threads cut closer to the bellows. If the crossmember has been narrowed by cutting a few inches out of the center, a matching rack can be bought or made.

I hope this answers the question and that we can help with parts for your projects.

Paul Horton