On Saturday I got the chance to reverse a Corvair steering box over at my good buddy El Rio Roachs shop/garage. We were using the instructions that California Custom Roadsters put out 30 years ago and it seemed simple enough. So we thought. When I first got the Corvair box it looked like a cow chip with a Pitman arm. After copious amounts of penetrating oil and wire brushing it went from a lawn sculpture to a nice aluminum steering box. Literally, all of the caked on grease and dirt from 30+ years made it look hellish, but it is sweet now. The first thing we did was remove the screw on retaining ring with a brass drift, use a steel one if you want to screw it up dummy. Then we unscrewed the top cover of the box to reveal the guts inside. I took the top and tapped a guide in the center of the cap, still when we put it on the drill press the hole was a tad off center. This really was not a problem since you make your hole with a 5/8 drill bit ultimately (drill a small pilot hole first), and the instructions tell you to go oversize on the hole. So, we hogged it out a little bit and it went on slick on a test fit of the shaft. The directions are pretty straightforward which should have warned us that something funky would happen. According to the directions, you just flip the worm and sector gear and pop it back together. Not so, it took some finesse to get the end of the worm gear to seat well on the bearings AND line up with the first tooth of the gear on the Pitman arm shaft. As you look at the box from the top with the Pitman shaft on your left, lower the sector gear onto the first tooth of the Pitman shaft cog. Remember, you should see all of the teeth for both cogs and the first tooth of the sector gear should be on top of the first tooth of the Pitman cog, dig? It really did take some time and finagling and frustration to get it right, but we did. There is a seal that surrounds the outer shaft that goes to the steering column. We removed this seal so we could put a freeze plug in the hole the top of the shaft used to go through. CCRs instructions dont say anything about removing this seal, but you have to in order to install the 15/16 freeze plug. Dont bother with the parts bins where you buy your wax and fuzzy dice, they asked me what kit that was in and for what engine. I should have known, but they were closer. So, I went to NAPA and got one of what I needed and got out spending a mere $1.07 to finish the job professionally. I took a dead blow hammer and knocked that plug home leaving a tad above the rim for clearance as instructed. We could not convince the Pitman arm to come off no matter what we did with the cheapy puller we had, well, off to the machine shop for that. Better to spend a little cash to have someone with the appropriate tool do the job. I would have scanned the page the instructions were on, but I dont want to get Ryan in any copyright trouble, or me for that matter. Huge props to Rick for helping me get this done with his shop and experience he gained from doing his own Corvair box before.
that's it? you make it sound simple, and affordable! are they all the same or is there a prefered year/model? Paul
Mine is a '64 or so I'm told. It has an aluminum case and the boxes changed in the more modern '65 up models when they changed to a steel case. The steel case is obviously stronger, but who cares? The aluminum unit looks great and it is small and gives you drag link steering on the cheap.
Ya, easy. Only 6 fucking hours! Good experience though......like when your ol man put his size 11 up yer ass.
Saw one at Pate swap meet this weekend in some stuff with a roadster project I tried to buy, guy basically told me needed do just what you described. That aluminum steering box is a pretty little thing, real light too! Last night reading a Borgenson catalog I finally recd in mail, lots of tips & notes. They recommend not using this box in a front engine car, also say dont use Vega box on car over 2500 lbs. Guess one of those legal warning things cause I know a ton of them been used in roadsters. Also found out that old 68 Corvette steering box I been hauling around for years is woth $50 to them for a core. Guess I need to keep it a while longer. Good luck!
With all due respect to Borgeson, what difference does that make? I'm willing to bet that a fenderless T frontend is lighter than a Corvair.
It stands to reason that design limitation would be a consideration in ALL parts involved in building a car. If a part is used in a car other than what it was originally designed for and it is only subject to comparable loads it should be no less reliable than when used in its original application. Paul
I'd sure like to see those CCR instructions. Any way I could get a copy? Copyright laws won't let us post it here? Thanks, JH
Well, there are alot of artists and web wizzes like Ryan who want their shit protected, consequently I choose not to post stuff like that which is copyrighted. Got a fax machine? I'll fax it to you.
The old total performance plans shows how to mill the adjuster nut for the seal , better idea , no dirt gets in the box.. dave
I just bought a corvair column and box tonite at an auction. any chance of getting those instructions?
Old thread revived here. There's really not much involved in reversing one. Go here: http://www.hotrodders.com/projects/001/04.html
I posted that article on Hotrodders years ago. That is the box I reversed fro my '36 Willys gasser street rod. It really is that simple, I don't recall having the troubles that El Caballero describes. Pittman arms are some times trouble but a couple sharp blows with 5# hammers on each side of the boss usually convinces them to let go. A little heating from a oxy/acetylene torch will do the trick too. Just look at how the seal end is constructed and do that to the big nut to reverse the unit. Drive a Welch plug in the old hole and you are on the road again. Been driving my aluminum box on my Willys for over 20 years and it is as solid as the day I rebuilt it. Can't say the same for the factory split coupling that connected the box the steering shaft. Was cruising around town one day when turning the steering wheel all of a sudden did not communicate with the tie rod! Limped back home and found the splines in that factory clamp had totally disappeared. Replaced it with a Borgeson coupling and have been back on the road ever since. The only fancy recommendation is do the bore for the lip seal in the screw cap on a lathe so it is true. If you don't have a lathe and aren't a machinist, spend the $50 and take it to a machine shop. Otherwise it is no big thing. Ain't hot rodding fun?!
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