<VV> rack & pinion for corvair?

[Chris & Bill Strickland]

>Has anyone done a rack & pinion instal on a Corvair?
>If so, what is a good rack to use, and how difficult is it?  Is it worth it? 
>

Once upon a time, the early aluminum steering gear (it was aluminum - it 
could be polished) was a very popular hot rod item (enough so that it is 
reproduction by Flaming River -- both standard (for Corvairs) and 
reversed (classic hot rod).  So here was this Corvair sitting around a 
shop with no steering gear, so of course, the next item to find it's way 
onto a rod was that unboltable front end, and since the steering gear 
was gone, they grabbed any old rack & pinion to make it work, which it 
generally didn't, or at least well, as most of them were European and 
had too short of a center section -- I had one of these once (that was 
replaced by a Mustang II conversion) and wound up taking it to the scrap 
yard, since it really was junque (Vega disc brakes, too).  At one time, 
this was a common occurrence in the hot rod world.

Difficult -- very, to do the necessary engineering design to get it to 
work right -- or easy, as in the above example. Or, perhaps some vendor 
has a kit with the hard work already done.

Worth -- in the eye of the beholder ...

Bill Strickland