Steering Gearbox Swaps

(Difference between revisions)

Revision as of 19:51, 4 February 2007

Nissan South Africa sells brand-new steering gearbox units.

Datsun B310 uses a seperate column and gearbox with a flexible coupling. So it is not a direct replacement for vintage B110s.

Rack And Pinion Steering

Has anyone ever done it? Aside from race cars with front tube frame, it seems no one has fitted rack and pinion steering to a 1200 with stock 1200 (or other Nissan) suspension.

However there are several Datsun 510s with rack and pinion steering swaps. One uses a rack from a Datsun 200SX. Here's what he did:

• Move the engine crossmember back a couple inches (which necessitates changes to the engine mounts)
• Weld simple flat brackets to the x-member so the rack can be bolted on
• Cut the tie-rod ends and weld them back shorter (make sure you have an expert welder do that)
• Use a newer steering column that has a flex-joint on the end. He used a 200SX column.

The swap had three u-joints and a fairly big angle from the end of the column to the rack, but he said it works great, much better than the stock 510 steering box. No slop!

Would it be better to cut the steering arms shorter and rethread them for the tie-rod ends?