I'm building a 66 El Camino and I'm wondering if anyone here can help me with a solution for the steering.

The engine I built for it  http://www.mycatz2fat.com/resources/66ele.jpg  has a hamburger racing pan on it. To make it fit I had to notch and box the crossmember which wasn't a problem. But the center link is because it sits too high and the inner tie rod ends hit the front of the pan at 1/2 turn of the wheel. (if you ask me the stock center links on these things are way over engineered to fit the stock pan!)

To fix the problem I was going to make my own pitman arm and an idler arm bracket to lower the whole unit. Both of which aren't a problem for me to do but...

I was just wondering if any of you fine folks knew of a company that made a center link I could buy that would solve the problem for me. Not to make it easier on me (I love to make my own parts btw) but to make it easier for the next owner of this car to replace the parts when the time comes.  

Too be honest, I'd just go with a stock oik pan and leave the stock steering pieces in place, or convert the car to a manual rack and pinion unit.

Kudos on making your own parts, that rocks!  

A stock oil pan is out of the question on an engine like this. I'm not building a drag racer but a G car so a manual rack and pinion unit won't do either.

Actually making your own parts is a lot of fun. (or rocks as you so put it ) When it comes to building a custom ride fabrication skills are a must. If you're interested here's the mod to the crossmember I was talking about. http://www.mycatz2fat.com/resources/66elcm.jpg Now you can see what I was talking about.  

but if you change the heights of the inner tie rod end mounts or the entire center drag link... does not that totally affect the bump steer more than using a differnt pan...

it is a rear sump pan and the linkage is in front..  

are the frame brackets big block???? they look like big block units and they are shorter as i recall than small block units...  so a swap there might move the engine up out of the way...  

One of the inherent problems the A body had was excessive bump steer because the tie rods had too much angle as it was. If you look at a 68 or newer El Camino you'll see that GM made a drastic change to fix the problem.

Yes,the linkage is in front and the sump is in the back. But the stock pan was shallow and rounded in front so the center link could pass underneath it. (barely) You won't find an aftermarket racing pan that's built that way. True Racing pans are built for function,not fit.

No,the frame brackets are stock small block. Besides,moving the engine up and out of the way causes even more problems. To start with you want to keep your engine as low as possible to lower it's center of gravity. Especially if you're building a G machine. Next if you raise the engine on an A body the tranny won't fit right. Then you end up cutting part of the firewall out and the whole center of the floor. You'll then have to fabricate a tranny tunnel,relocate the tranny crossmember and have the driveshaft custom made. I don't know about you but I'm not into cutting up a classic just because I don't know what I'm doing. (let alone wasting tons of money and hours of labor being stupid)

Please don't take this the wrong way but I do know what I'm doing. I've been working on cars for over 40yrs. I was just wondering if someone knew of a centerlink that I could use. Other than that I'm more than capable of solving any and all problems that come my way!

Again,please don't take any offense to anything I've said. I'm just a matter of fact kinda guy.