WALTSTAR

I only have the inner sleeve that is "I" shaped in section as the rubber was bonded to the rack (or outer sleeves). I will be under the car in an hour to double check for those sleeves. I hope I find them!

James Bailey

pretty sure you will find steel outer sleeves....peened over so they hug the rack mounting hole. The bonded rubber is between the inner and outer sleeves.....

AirtekHVAC

Good luck Walt

upstate bob

A couple years back, before I installed my own lift, I attempted to put in the 928ms aluminum slugs.
It was during a NYS motor vehicle inspection and the mechanic agreed to help me. We did the two easy ones but left the other two for later. -still haven't gotten around to it (thanks for reminding me) Reason for doing it was a slightly indecisive steering. The two I did put in helped a lot. As I dimly remember I will be using a hole saw to get the other two out. -eventually. BTW, just returned from FL and the old girl fired up nicely. took me little terrier for a nice sunny day ride.
79 5sp

ROG100

The metal bushings will crack the rack flanges in time and also transfer road vibration to the steering wheel. Only really good for serious track use as Carl intended I am sure.
His design also allows vertical movement of the rack unlike the originals which are specially swaged in place with a "top hat" on the top of the rack.

Our delrin rack bushings come as a set of 8 - each has a "top hat" section - one is inserted from below and the other from above. This ensure that the rack cannot move up and down and the delrin material attenuates road vibration while still keeping the feel exceptionally tight.

Delrin Rack Bushes - set $59.95

WALTSTAR

Thats why I love you guys! Last night, with a droplight, I couldnt see the outer bushings. Just like you said, in the daylight, they were there. Got them out in about 5 minutes and had the aluminum ones in and tight in another 30. The bushings are shorter than described by Rog100 and allow the rack to be sandwiched between the reinforcing plate, bottom bushing flange, and the chassis above. The rack will not move vertically as far as I could see. Maybe these are a shorter design...Anyway,
since it worked out so well, I installed the "new" 85 exhaust and it went in easier than the original 84 came out! all new rubbers, bolts, gaskets, and oxy sensor. This freed up the exhaust and the engine spools up twice as quickly as well as sounds awesome. Im sure its worth the extra weight. I am not going to do the headers/etc. as I dont know when to stop and dont want a car that is perpetually unfinished. When I started on my Chevelle, it was supposed to be a simple engine rebuild and it turned into a nascar capable drivetrain.
Thanks again, fellas.

Crumpler

No problem Walt, glad to help. Go out and enjoy her.

Fsharp9

I have the Delrin Bushings from Roger and I couldn't be happier,1st mod I made. Pain in the *** to put in so .....I had Panos do it ! LOL

dr bob

Waltstar--

The adjustment in height of the rack makes an alignment pretty much mandatory, at least the toe setting. Drive 100 miles first to settle the suspension.

WALTSTAR

The rack sits at the top (against the chassis) like it did with the stock bushings. The reinforcing plate sits a little lower as the bottom flange of the bushing is thicker than the rubber in the stock bushing. Maybe the modification was done due to observations of it moving vertically, I don't know. The first thing I did when I got the car was put in new ball joints and steering rack ends, so I need a alignment anyway. Bought the car in 1997 and haven't registered it yet, just worked on it from time to time. She will be out on the roads soon.
Again, thanks guys.

WALTSTAR

My bushings look like the one shown in th photo. What do you mean "top hat" on top of the rack?

Carl Fausett

WALTSTAR - all of the stock steering rack mounts have a steel outer shell surrounding the rubber. It does sound as though you have burned out the rubber leaving the steel shell in place, which might make it appear our mounts are too large. We do not recommend burning out your old rubber mounts. They can be a bear to remove, no doubt, but there are better ways.

A simple test with a magnet will confirm whether the steel remains or not.

When I was developing this part years ago, we tried Delrin first, thinking it would be a great sexy material for this application. But they wore so badly they were trashed up in less than 6 months and had to be replaced again. The Delrin went into the scraper and we went with 6061 T6 aluminum. Have had no issues since.

There is still a large rubber isolator in the steering column itself, so it is very unlikely that you will feel any vibration in your steering wheel after installing these. What you will notice, however, is more immediate steering response as the steering rack no longer moves left or right against the mounts before the tires move.

Carl Fausett

You should find that our steering rack mounts are trapped and held tightly in location by the steel cover when the installation is complete. Like this:

WALTSTAR

Carl,
You are correct in that I did indeed, find the outers when I had enough light to see them the next morning. Once installed, the bushings seem to be shorter than what you show in the pictures. My rack sits tight up against the chassis. Maybe my rack is thicker, I don't know...

WALTSTAR

Oh, as far as burning them out, I actually heated the inner sleeve until it spun inside the rubber. I didnt actually burn the rubber directly. I then used the screwdriver to scrape out the rubber and subsequently, remove the outer bushings.