Steering box/column questions - Cowl Steering?

[Levis Classic]

I have a couple of 36 Pontiac steering columns and was thinking of using one for a cowl mount steering setup. It is setup perfect for a side mount like a F1 or F100 box. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[MBL]

Looks like it would work fine....the thing you'd want to consider is the condition of the box(slop) and replacement parts....and the pitman arm fitting. Looks fine to me.
Tim
MBL

[lakes modified]

Another thing to consider, is how many turns lock to lock. the steering box in my modified is 5 1/2 lock to lock, which is to slow. it steers fine, but it needs to be quicker. i'm now looking for one that is in the 3 1/2 range. anyone have a nice 32 ford unit?. they are 3 1/2 lock to lock, so are mid 60's ecnolines. anyone have one of them?. i found that changing the lenght of the steering arms, does not help that much. been there and tried that.

[modernbeat]

Don't change the steering arm. Shortening it to speed up the steering also reduces the turning radius if you're using side steering. The tire will start rubbing the draglink if the steering arm is too short.

Lengthen the pitman arm. It will change the bump steer characteristics a little, but should speed up the steering. It will also require more effort at the steering wheel, but with skinny tires and a huge Ford steering wheel I can't imagine it being a problem.

FWIW I don't measure lock-to-lock. I measure how many turns it takes the wheel to make the pitman arm travel 90 degrees. It's much more accurate and a better description of the box. My sprintcar box is 8:1 - equates to 8 full revolutions of the steering wheel makes 1 full revolution of the pitman shaft. It doesn't have any locks, you can keep turning and turning and turning untill you hit some external steering stop. To equate that to a "lock to lock" it's about a 2 turns LTL. With a pitman arm that's about 125% the size of the steering arm that would be a fairly fast, but streetable box. By using a long steering arm, and a long pitman arm and short steering stops on the spindles it should be able to achive a tight turning radius.

[lakes modified]

modernbeat: thanks for the info. i learned something today. guess i'll do some more homework to get mine to turn faster, i.e a different steering box.

[kustombuilder]

i'd use it. looks like it'll work out just fine.


so when we choppin that beeatch??? ...email. on my new email. check my profile if you don't have it yet.

[Levis Classic]

How about next week! Im off till april 3rd! Sent you an email