Custom Tie-rods for Datsun 260Z
As many people in front of me, I have come across the limitations of the front steering tie-rod length on the Zed. With new TTT front control arms with a minimum 3.5Degrees negative camber I have 6 degrees toe-in… You should have heard the tyres protesting on the way home from Wheels World!!
So, the challenge was on. Plenty of people said that the only way to go is custom because nobody makes a tie-rod that fits and gives the range of movement and extension we required, about 40mm. So, 280zx tie-rods were no good but still, SOMETHING had to be done.
I couldn’t go with a rose joint setup because I still have relatively standard suspension and the huge suspension travel would bind even the highest movement rose-joints I could find. Despite being told it couldn’t be done by plenty of people on this forum, my Father decided that everyone just hadn’t tried hard enough… Sure…
We went to about 6 or 7 suspension mobs in town, who all couldn’t get us out of their shops fast enough, before My dad ran into the State Manager for the Pedder’s suspension mob who, after hearing about our poor reception at several of their stores, measured up the standard zed tie rod pitch, thread and thread height and got the national R&D department onto the case. It took them 3 days, but they came back with a solution!
A threaded tie-rod off of a Ford XY Falcon!
It has the same pitch, thread height and thread as the zed tie-rod. In short, it fits in the standard steering knuckle without any modification!
To complete the tie-rod I used:
- 2 RH thread Falcon Tie-rod ends,
Pedder’s Part #PTE391R (Bursons auto parts.
Road Safe brand part number: TE391R). These come off an XT-XW-XY Ford Falcon from 1968-1972. For those in the USA a 70-74 Ford Maverik, 70-73 Mustang (all models) and 69 Boss Mustang all use the TE420R - but what is interesting is that one US website lists a
moog part number for these US based Fords and get
ES387R which has imperial threads (go figure) So that explains the weird thread you found it is .687-18R at that molly tube and .500-20 on the top of the ball end tapper thing.
- 2 Datsun RH thread rack-end ball joints
- Chrome-molly tube, cut to the extra length you require
- Steel nuts to fit on the tie-rod and the rack end to act as lock nuts and another set to weld onto the chrome-molly tube to fix to the nuts.
You then simply tap the Steel nuts and then weld them into the chrome-molly tube. I then had mine electro-plated so the steel nuts don’t rust.
Using all Right Hand threads means that expensive and difficult to find 14mmx1.5 LH die’s don’t have to be found to tap the nuts for the LH thread ball joint on the standard Z steering rack. Also, because the ball joint in the rack end can spin the tie-rods can still be adjusted on the car by spinning the ball joint end instead of turning the tie-rod itself, very much the same as the standard suspension.
However, the thread on the Tie-rod is a really weird size and nobody in town could supply nuts of the correct thread, they kept telling us it was like a Hydraulic fitting thread. Therefore, we had to have a machine shop make up the nuts and plugs for the tie-rod end of the middle tube.
And here are the pics everyone has been waiting for:
New rod next to old one demonstrating the extra length of the new tie-rod.
The middle section of the rod
A blown-up view of all the pieces
And finally, the new tie-rod on the car. The angle look great and I’m not expecting any bump-steer but I’m yet to drive the car so can’t comment just yet.
Versus the non-modified tie-rod:
Here is the in-board side of the new rob, showing how it all mates up. Nothing binds even at full droop.
And here is the clearance with the stock 14” rims and with TTT Roll centre adjusters fitted as well.
With any luck this mod will be useful to someone looking to avoid going full custom rose-joints on this part of the suspension, as well as fitting on COMPLETELY STANDARD SUSPENSION. Total cost for both sides came in at around AU$300 for all parts and machining, but could be replicated for less given a few hiccups with attempting to get everything to work together.
