I'm sure I've read somewhere that the steering rack arms should be as parallel to the ground as possible when the front of the car is under normal load.

Has anyone got any opinions on if this is absolutely necessary?

StuartA and I have just adjusted our front shocks/springs to lower the ride height but it won't go anywhere near to parallel.

We've run out of travel in that department and the only options would be to mount the rack lower in the chassis or buy shorter shocks/springs.

Anyone got any pictures of thier working front setup that we can compare our to?

Cheers
Andy

It's not necessary to have the steering arms parallel to the ground. But what would be a good idea is to check how much 'bump steer' you have got through the normal suspension travel. Most cars are affected by this to some extent, but the less movement at the wheels, the better. Moving the rack up/down/forwards/backwards *can* make big differences to the amount of bump steer, but unfortunately, I doubt that you will actually get it perfect. With the mix and match of parts used, coupled with suspension pick-up points that are fixed in a less than ideal situation, compounds the problem.

HTH Stu.

Stu16v is right. Bump steer is difficult to eliminate, and will be almost impossible to get rid of if the steering rack isn't the correct length to start with.
If possible, try and tuck it away where its effects are least felt i.e. full droop.
There are various methods of calculating the rack's theoretically correct location, which will give you a good starting point. Clamp the rack roughly in position on blocks initally, so it can be moved fore/aft and also shimmed up/down to fine tune it.
I had a bit of a rant about it in the thread: "Fitting longer 'arms' to steering rack?" further down the page, if that's of any help.

here is one i posted earlier
"tech site on suspension

don't know wether this is news to you but found some nice info on bumpsteer and more importantly how to reduse it.
http://www.rebcoperformance.com/articles/artcat.asp?CATID=2
"

All good info , thanks guys.

The issue is that our chassis (Luego) is not going to allow too mush in the way of adjustment without trashing part of it and reworking it (not my idea of a good time)

If it turns out to have too much bump steer then we may have to live with it.

In theory (only theory though) all should be ok as the chassis is designed (?) to use escort rack and cortina uprights which we are

However whether the mounts and holes are inthe right place is another story

Well I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Cheers
Andy

And of course I meant much not mush...

or did I

It's just that I'd typed a long reply to you all and just as I hit the preview post button the 'puter died! Goddam WinXP!

Cheers
Andy

Hey Dave,

This ring any bells?......
Worked for me too...great minds etc.

Thanks Dave! for bumpsteer elimination...
I followed your (above) instructions and finally got it vertical, what a feeling of acheivement!
Thanks again, highly recommended to remove bumpsteer.