Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc
You can get aluminum bolts, nuts, washers, etc. which can be used for non-critical areas. They weigh about a third of what steel hardware does. They're also a lot cheaper than titanium.
I've considered that as one of my future projects to reduce more weight; switching out steel fasteners for aluminum in the front of the car wherever reasonable to do so. Might be able to save 5-10 lbs that way. Not a critical thing to do but just one of those casual projects for a weekend.
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Hey Doc, Have you sourced a supplier for the aluminum bolts and what bolts did you have in mind that we can replace?
Update:
Power Steering Rack
Here are the humble beginnings of what we started with.
the plan was to pay homage to the Pfadt suspension components.
In the picture below, we developed a game plan on how to style the rack. The red circles represented the parts that were to be polished for a chrome finish; the orange circle represented the part that we were going to anodize in the Pfadt orange; the beige circle, the body of the rack, we were going to try to come as close to the Pfadt struts color as possible. Like all good plans, things did change as we progressed.
The process started with the dissasembly of the rack. We enlisted Lee’s Power Steering for the job.
Our first snag was that since this power steering rack was a new, late model design, there was not a tool available to remove the internal nut.
Most racks only require a four tooth socket to remove the nut. Ours required a five tooth socket. So we had to machine one.
Once the rack was completely disassembled, it was time to start detailing.
Not every day that you get to see the guts of your power steering rack!
We started to detail each separate component. This piece is where all the lines connect to. The plan was to anodize it orange to stay consistent with the Pfadt colors.
Raw beginnings: Since it was created by sand casting, it had a very rough finish.
In order to get a machined look, we hand sanded the entire piece. Hand sanding is a much more time consuming process than using power tools, but it is the most effective method to get an even surface.
Casted pieces will usually not give you as bright of an anodized finish as a billet piece. To help get that desired finish, we polished the piece to a mirror finish.
The piece was shipped to Pilkington Inc. in Utah to be anodized by the same company that does the anodizing for Pfadt.
The steering shaft and plug were also polished.
Attachment 494039
You can see where the nuts have been polished.
Next we prepared the tie rods for paint.
Before sending the housing to get powder coated in anthracite, we removed all of the seams and casting on the power steering housing. This is the before picture.
Many folks were instrumental in the completion of the rack. Jerry and Adam from Lee’s Power Steering are hard at work putting the rack back together. These guys really know their stuff. They machine pretty much all of their own stuff. The cad plated fittings were machined at the shop.
In order to replace the factory hard lines with AN stainless steel braided lines, Lee’s Power Steering machined these fittings. We had them CAD plated to provide a nice contrast.
Next up was the installation of the braided lines.
There wasn’t a detail that didn’t get addressed. The factory clamp below is of the garden variety and not up to the level we desired. So we replaced them with stainless steel clamps which were polished before they were installed.
Attachment 494050
