Rack and Pinion conversion
So, what has to be done to put a rack in the front? I would think that the stock K member won't work. Iv'e heard that the left and right spindles can be swapped, moving the arms to the front.
This has been covered here before more than a few times. Just swapping the ball joints left to right to put the steering arms up front totally hammers the Ackerman. It's a lot harder than that to get a system that steers half decently.
If you need to have a rack, look at the coilover conversion systems out there- HemiDenny, RMS, Gerst, etc. At least with those systems someone has looked at the resulting geometry.
Of course, there are also more than a few guys that have done new engine swaps on these cars and kept the torsion bars, so, the argument that it
has to be done for room isn't accurate. Yes, the torsion bar locations do complicate things, and the headers on some of those engine conversions are a pain. But it can and
has been done. For that matter, the headers on an A-body are
always a pain. And the coilover conversions come with their own issues. They stress parts of the original chassis in ways they simply weren't designed for. And there are track width and turning radius changes as well. Nothing that can't be overcome, but coil-over conversions DO have drawbacks. All suspension systems have pros and cons, that goes for coilovers just like it goes for torsion bars.
The new Borgeson power steering boxes are pretty close to the size of the original manual boxes. There are differences of course, but a new Borgeson box makes some of those swaps easier without doing a full K member and coilover conversion.
