I am going to have to move the steering column downlink in my GTS in order to clear the supercharger and associated pipes etc.

The column itself is sierra and the rack is escort mk2

Basically I am looking for some universal joints suitable for the downlink. What have other people used? What ford couplings are compatable with the escort rack splines? I would prefer to replace the existing rubber disc joint with a proper universal joint.

I would rather use some off the shelf couplings rather than spend £20 each on GP4 escort ones.

Thanks,
David

Depends a bit on how many joints you need in it. I needed 3 u/j's to get the angle but obviously if you can get away with 2 its cheaper. The top (triangular) joint was off a granada which had about a foot long shaft on it. I welded and sleeved an old piece of splined escort shaft onto that and turned the sleeve down to be a press fit into a rose joint for support (mcgill motorsport on ebay) The next bit was a group 4 steering joint which are cheapest from either rally design, gts or ebay i needed 2 of these, one for the rack end too, and joined them up with a 400mm universal steering shaft which are cheapest from either ral des or gts, and just so happened to be exactly the right length without any cutting and welding. As far as i know the splines on an escort rack are the same size as the sierra rack, but double check before ordering. HTH.
Just read you dont want to spend £20 on each joint, neither did i but didnt find anything else. This may be of some use though click

[Edited on 29/12/09 by andrew-theasby]

Hi David,

Have a look at Rally Design my UJ's are from there, they came with the Panther kit from Darren there's one for the rack end with escort splines and one that fits the triangle end of the Sierra column with escort spline at the other end.

Regards Kev

Farnell's do one like this;




Cost you as much as a Raldes one though, best bet for a tightwad is to hit the scrappies as suggested.