I have all the suspension parts in - and ended up going with an 87 T-bird PS rack. Hindsight being 20/20, shaving your front crossmember makes your steering components crowd your engine.
Rack and engine are near their final spots - ended up having to move the engine back an inch and I need to order a smaller crank pulley and damper. The current ones are 8" in diameter and the ones I'm getting are 6". This becomes very important with respect to where the rack wants to be for the steering geometry to work out.
High-dollar spacers to match alignment with the serpentine setup - temporary, of course.
Looking at the blurry spots - you can see where the rack would benefit from more clearance from a smaller damper and pulley.
I got these headers for like $5, and with the current mounting location of the engine (and ditching the mechanical clutch linkage) - these fit and will be used. Once I cut off the air injection tubing, there is plenty of room to run the steering shaft to the rack input (blurry silver spot in the photo)
I'm hoping that the 1" I moved the engine back doesn't mess with my distributor clearance too much. I can add clearance to the cab, but I may just move the cab rearward an inch to help compensate the front wheel placement in the well. I guess we'll see...
