Has anyone swapped a stock rack and pinion with performance rack and pinion - i think the tbird package "FILA" had a performance gear (tighter turning faster responce) ?
It's a pretty common swap. I've done it.
http://www.coolcats.net/modifying/steeringrack.html
87-93 Mustang GT rack works fine (that's what I've got in my Thunderbird). I reused the stock pump without issue.
SN95 rack, Fox inner and outer tie-rods, and Maximum Motorsports hybrid steering shaft with the stock pump. I have this setup on both the Coupe and the Bird and the steering response is much better than the over boosted Fox rack. Not cheap but I was tired of the lack of feed back from the over boosted Fox system.
Fila this were nothing fancy. Basically equivalent to an lx model, which could be optioned any number of ways.