[Tigers] Fulcrum Pins

[Mike Hokanson]

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Smit, Theo
  To: Landcmitch at aol.com ; tigers at autox.team.net
  Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 2:45 PM
  Subject: Re: [Tigers] Fulcrum Pins
  Theo and Tigers List:  No, the steering rack is not located under the oil
pan.  The rack is positioned directly in front of the pan, under the crank
snout between the pan face and the backside of the balancer.  Very tight
quarters depending on which balancer you use.  When I initially designed the
setup, I was fortunate that the spindle arrangement allowed me to position the
rack in that location.  The Flaming River center tube is fairly compact as
opposed to other steering racks out there on the market and that helped.  The
whole package is pretty tight, but fits.  Keep in mind the issues with people
swapping motor mounts from left to right, etc.  Some cars have the motor set
differently than others.

  Mike Hokanson




  The Alpine doesn't have the Ackerman problem because its steering
  mechanism operates from behind the front axle, and it's much easier to
  set up ackerman correction from that side. When the steering arms are in
  front of the axle, the tie rod balljoints have to be located further
  outboard than the steering axis in order to get Ackerman correction. The
  problem with the Tiger is that, at least with the stock discs and
  wheels, you can't get the tie rod balljoint that far out because it
  would hit the brake disc. The issue is compounded by having the rack
  located far ahead of the tie rod balljoints.

  To Bob and Mike Hokanson: Does the front crossmember that you built
  locate the rack under the oil pan, and do you then end up using one of
  the late model 5.0 (rear sump) oil pans?

  Theo