The solid shaft is a good mod for V8 cars, but on a 4 cylinder daily driver, you WILL get more NVH from a non-isolated shaft. I have a maximum motorsports shaft on my '93 daily driver and with the little 2.3 and it's inherent roughness (compared to a 5.0), I get a little vibration in the steering wheel at certain engine speeds; one of which is right around 70mph/2700(ish) RPM. It's a good mod, really stiffens up the steering but for a daily, the NVH is going to eat at you after a while if you are kind of picky like I am.
I made my own "solid" shaft for my '92 (427"), similarly. Used an SN95/New Edge telescoping shaft assembly, removed the SN95 upper joint and grafted the fox body upper joint assembly to it. This way it collapses if heaven forbid there is a wreck (just like the maximum motorsports shaft will) and secondly it retains the SN95's vibration dampening. As far as driving it--and it's "tightness" compared to the Maximum Motorsports "hybrid" shaft in my daily driver, I can't tell one bit of difference; none; other than no vibration. The hardest part of making this work was clocking the U-joints so that the steering wheel is straight since the SN/NE rack input shaft is "rotated" 90 degrees compared to the fox body due to it's unique design. The other option is to disassemble the rack, remove the pinion, rotate it 90 degrees and reassemble.
Of course that's all because I use the SN95 rack ('03-'04 Cobra). Fox body rack I leave the original style rag joint as the stock fox body rack is pretty "loose" feeling anyway and honestly, adding a u-joint to the base, while it does improve "feel" somewhat, it is nowhere near the feel of a SN95 v6/GT rack, which is a little bit inferior to the Cobra racks. Cobra racks are getting hard to find and frankly aren't "enough" better than a GT/V6 rack to justify trying to get one. If you need one that's really nice on center, you're far better off having one custom built with the correct torsion bar and valve for the intended application.
'93 Mustang 2.3T swapped. LA3, Stinger FMIC 3" down elbow and 3" exhaust.
(12-28-2019, 05:36 PM)TurboTodd Wrote: The solid shaft is a good mod for V8 cars, but on a 4 cylinder daily driver, you WILL get more NVH from a non-isolated shaft. I have a maximum motorsports shaft on my '93 daily driver and with the little 2.3 and it's inherent roughness (compared to a 5.0), I get a little vibration in the steering wheel at certain engine speeds; one of which is right around 70mph/2700(ish) RPM. It's a good mod, really stiffens up the steering but for a daily, the NVH is going to eat at you after a while if you are kind of picky like I am.
I made my own "solid" shaft for my '92 (427"), similarly. Used an SN95/New Edge telescoping shaft assembly, removed the SN95 upper joint and grafted the fox body upper joint assembly to it. This way it collapses if heaven forbid there is a wreck (just like the maximum motorsports shaft will) and secondly it retains the SN95's vibration dampening. As far as driving it--and it's "tightness" compared to the Maximum Motorsports "hybrid" shaft in my daily driver, I can't tell one bit of difference; none; other than no vibration. The hardest part of making this work was clocking the U-joints so that the steering wheel is straight since the SN/NE rack input shaft is "rotated" 90 degrees compared to the fox body due to it's unique design. The other option is to disassemble the rack, remove the pinion, rotate it 90 degrees and reassemble.
Of course that's all because I use the SN95 rack ('03-'04 Cobra). Fox body rack I leave the original style rag joint as the stock fox body rack is pretty "loose" feeling anyway and honestly, adding a u-joint to the base, while it does improve "feel" somewhat, it is nowhere near the feel of a SN95 v6/GT rack, which is a little bit inferior to the Cobra racks. Cobra racks are getting hard to find and frankly aren't "enough" better than a GT/V6 rack to justify trying to get one. If you need one that's really nice on center, you're far better off having one custom built with the correct torsion bar and valve for the intended application.
Did you happen to take any pics of how you grafted the SN to the Fox steering shaft?
I did my manual steering rack swap with off the shelf parts from Unisteer and a parts supplier for mini stock racers that have been doing the conversion for many years, it’s a very easy bolt-in solution and economical to boot.
2017 F150 Ecoboost 3.5 TT (sold)
2017 Mustang GT PP (sold)
2019 Mustang EcoBoost (sold)
86 SVO not stock
83 Ford Ranger project
2019 E350 service body, work truck and tow rig.
They did not have a lower U-joint that fits the rounded triangular input shaft of the SN95 rack & pinion, however, they DID have a fox body lower U-joint. This has been a couple years ago so they might have one now. The SN95/Cobra input is completely different. It is like half triangle half round, just weird and I can't even begin to imagine what engineer had that idea and why. Actually at the time I also called Borgeson and they said that they might be making them sooner or later. Not long after I had this stupid idea to graft the fox body upper joint to the SN95 lower, and that worked-was easy-and under $20. And all OEM stuff with a collapsible link between the rack and upper shaft, as well as vibration dampening. Yes you lose a tiny bit of "feel" but you get that back with lower NVH; as said the little 4 cylinder engines are not counterbalanced so there is always some vibration; which is felt through the steering wheel as a slight "buzzing" feeling. The rubber coupling helps dampen that vibration.
'93 Mustang 2.3T swapped. LA3, Stinger FMIC 3" down elbow and 3" exhaust.
I'm using a 3/4 DD shaft with borgeson u-joints in my 87 turbo coupe...seems to work just fine. I'm also running a totally custom set up though...I run an electric power steering motor from a toyota prius to assist the manual rack.
(01-16-2020, 06:25 PM)andrewjs18 Wrote: I'm using a 3/4 DD shaft with borgeson u-joints in my 87 turbo coupe...seems to work just fine. I'm also running a totally custom set up though...I run an electric power steering motor from a toyota prius to assist the manual rack.
I know this is an older thread but is there a chance of every seeing a photo of that prius setup? Would be cool to recreate. I have a couple of prius units for some other projects so not unfamiliar with them overall. Just need some copy inspiration, lol.
(This post was last modified: 09-15-2023, 09:15 PM by TurboRay.)
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There's no shortage of online articles and videos about converting to EPAS (electric power-assisted steering): LINK
Also, TurboFord member "LowRanger96" installed an EPAS unit in his truck, as outlined somewhere in THIS 47-page-long member project thread (not gonna scroll thru the whole thing to find it for ya', lol). <thumbup>
I installed EPAS in my '54 Ford. It's a junkyard unit out of a 2005 Saturn Vue. A bit of fabrication but not a difficult install. Pulled it off for under $200 and it works flawlessly! The best part is, there are no pulleys, pumps or reservoirs under the hood!
Here's a write-up I did...... https://www.hotrodders.com/threads/elect...st-4739217
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5
Thunderstang (DECEASED)
'27 Model 'T' w/2.3T
'54 Ford Customline 5.0/AOD
