Scott. If you can believe it, I have begun welding. I chose to make sure that the forward edge of the 2 hats was 17 inches from the nose of the frame. I still have about a 1/8 in gap on the inside between the cross-member and the boxing plate. I will use some 1/8 plate and steel rod to fill the gap and weld over it. I had to cut back the tabs on the hats about 1/32 on one side so they would stay in the slots on the cross-member. I tried to inset them and use them as a pivot and leverage the frame rails inward, but it just needed a slight adjustment.
So, I am about to find a steering rack. Do you know what the optimum full length and distance between pivots is? I am not an expert, but on a parallel a-arm setup I presume the pivot would be at the extension of the a-arm pivot. On this the upper and lower point in 2 directions, so I presume the rack pivot should be somewhere in between.
I am thinking about using a Flaming River Straight Arrow Modular which is a manual rack. I am using a 1957 235 truck motor and mounting a power steering unit will be complicated.
Have you known anybody to fill the gap on the outside between the cross-member and the bottom of the frame? I have been considering it, but it looks like some work.
