rack & pinion steering damper

[oasis]

Great stuff, Chris and Tim. Thanks. I'll check into these. I'll try Woodward first if for no other reason, they're within an hour of where I live. (BTW, I'm sort of wedded to LHD.)

-René

[Tim]

I thought you were in the UK, Oasis. Keep me post with what you get because I am interested in Woodward R&P steering too but they are 10 thousand miles from where I live.

Tim

[oasis]

As it turns out, they used to be within an hour of me. Now thay are a two-day drive. I contacted three shops which are distributors of Woodward R & P products within a 12-hour drive of me. One responded.

My questions were:
(1) Does Woodward make a rack that can be used
on a VW Super Beetle?
(2) Do you perform installations, and if so, would
you be willing to so on my project?
(3) If either or both of the above answers are "no,"
do you have any suggestions?

The one response was:
Woodward does not make rack that is a direct replacement,
however if you fabricate a rack plate on the chassis, any
of the shorttrack racks will work. We do not perform any
fabrication work here.

He also went on to suggest a shop in NY state (3-9 hours away) that might do such a fabrication.

-René

[Tim]

I think you have a lot of choice with LHD but be careful with the length of the rack to avoid adverse suspension geometry change. Also, probably you need to do some modifications to the spare wheel well.

Tim

[oasis]

Although I am shying away from the 1302 in my original post because I think I would like a r&p set-up (and add the damper as per another previous post), I received another reply to my question on Woodward's r&p. Here is the edited version:

All [of] the Woodward Steering racks that I am familiar with are
built to suit front steer [set-ups]. If the Shroederwagon is front
steer mechanically, the rack could be made to work.

The reply went on describing a Studebaker pick-up conversion and a name (no number or address) to contact. My questions are:

What does "front steer" mean? It can't mean steering with the
front wheels, can it? Is he putting me on ... or down? I'm not
sure what to make of the "Shroederwagon" reference.

I politely thanked him for his "interesting response" leaving the door open that it could be sincere or sarcastic.

(I haven't totally closed my mind to the 1302 as it would be a perfect inexpensive starting point for what will be an expensive albeit worthwhile project. Finding a suitable '75 is starting to annoy me.)

Thanks again in advance,
René