Todd, great pics. Are you talking of making a cover for the inverted half moon area under the spring purch?
regarding the rack and pinion. I will have to get a measurement of the overall lenght. I do not have that off the top of my head.
however you could run an electric power steering pump from a toyota MR2. I think new the pump is about $400 I have seen used for under $100
however a manual rack would also work. if you want, a sweet manufacturing or appleton from the racing world would also work. they have a bit more travel than the pinto racks from flaming river.
The problems we face today can not be addressed at the same level of intelligence we were at when we created them - Albert Einstein Or with the same level of $ - Me