Model A Cowl Steering - My Way

[Harrison]

Take me off the list of guys asking how it's done and put me on the list of guys who have done it.

Special thanks to Jet Fuel for turning me on to the BMW box and sending pics of his installation and to Clark for posting numerous pics and answering questions about his set up. Thanks also go to Ratster who gave me the '40 column.

The box is a '68-'76 BMW ZF unit. It is about 6 turns lock to lock. For my installation if was just long enough to center the wheel in the gauge cluster while also making it out the side of the cowl without further modification.

Braces from side to side were made with 1" tubing and the box hangs from that. I have a couple inches of room between the pedals and box.

I did have to break down and buy a Borgeson U-joint to make it all happen. I'll lengthen my column under the dash to run all the way down to the U-joint before I finish the car.

For me this is another "big project" out of the way. The engine comes back from the builder this week and I'm hoping to have the chassis painted by the end of the month.

I'm slow - but I'm working.

JH

[Harrison]

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Harrison]

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[slammed]

Great information. Sharing it too. On topic, usefull tech. The model A sedan is going to be my next and last ride. Trad./Rat style. Time to thin the herd.....car wise. Keep posting your update's,please.

[FoMoCo_MoFo]

NICE WORK!
expect many PM's from me regarding this

[Detonator]

You may want to tie your platform to the firewall, too, there's a bit of play in that A cowl. Plus make sure your firewall is good and stiff. The platform will serve as a gusset between the firewall and cowl sides and stiffen everything up. Just my 2¢.

[Tman]

Looks Very Nice!

[ray]

nice work, but i would really not trust that A cowl to handle all of your steering forces, as a minimum it'll wrack your body, at worst it will rip out killing you.

but then what do i know.

[Levis Classic]

I would agree with ray, Tie her into the floor sub frame or the frame and your good to go!

Looks like that steering box works great. Is that the stock pitman arm? Can I see a better pic of it? It has a nice look to it.

Even if tying the brace that holds the steering box to the subfloor is overkill. It's better to be safe than sorry.
Clark

[Tman]

If you are tied into the subrail, you still arent welding to anything more than 10 or 12? Gauge!I contend that the loads are more perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the car, ie: twisting the box from right to left. I dunno, mine is simlar with a little more beef.

[34Fordtk]

That looks like a clean box to use,but I go along with everyone also you need to tie into the frame/chassis as strongly as you can. My box on my truck would twist the stock frame if you tried to turn it while stopped.

[rjb]

That looks great!! I'm wanting to do a cowl steering set up on my '27 T coupe project. I have always liked the way they look.

[Harrison]

I was thinking along the same lines as Tman when I built it. Still, it looks like tying it to the forward body mount holes and the firewall would be fairly easy.

I'll get the engine in it and see how bad it wiggles with a little weight up front.

Clark, the pitman arm is stock. My camera is a POS up close (these pics are about as close as I dare get with it). I'll do some looking on Ebay to see if I can find a better close up pic.

Thanks, Jim

[Harrison]

Here you go Clark.

[heyitsnate]

harrison,i think you're doing some really nice work.it's good to see some original tech....i'll post pics of my cowl steering experiment soon....it'll be good for a laugh or two!

[BARNETT]

Nice work, Harrison! If I don't get a move on, you'll be done looooong before me! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif AntiC is comin down, this weekend, so maybe we'll make a little progress. Maybe.

[Jet Fuel]

Bad ass. Nice to have the steering paradox somewhat behind you.

Harrison and I have already spoken about it, but I thought it should be mentioned here that a GM A-Body (and likely others) pittman arms will work too 'cause they have the same spline. You'll likely want to mill out the indexing splines so you can put it on in the orientation that fits your application. You might have to open up the taper for the tie rod end. ...but the spline pitch and taper are the same.

As far as flexing and all that, mine wanted to push the box front and back versus twist. It's just one of those things you've gotta play around with to see what it wants from you. It'll tell you what changes you need to make once you get weight on it.

Cheers, Harrison. Nice work.

-jf

[29EHV8]

Harrison,it looks good.Added bracing=added bonus.
I gotta look for one of these boxes for my lil rpu project.
Thanx for the tech post......Shiny

[theodore]

Hey Shiny, talk to Rick at CB autotech, they always have a BMW in there that's written off, might be able to scoop a decent one.

[zibo]

<font color="blue"> you will need that bracing. the twisting force is strong enough to open your doors, unless you are making a coupe or sedan. The other thing that sucks about cowl steer is it leans your car the wrong way around turns. </font> TP aka zibo

[silent rick]

wow, your ride really looks exactly like this ratrod for sale in the classifieds. almost.







sorry, sometimes i can't help myself. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif that's a nice looking box. it rotates the correct way? 68-76 bmw, are those the only years? and what models were they used on?

i'm saving all these cowl steering tech posts. thanks for posting.

[bradberry00]

why is it that when i go to that steering wholesale site they say they dont carry that bmw box????

I wanted to check out the price of that baby....

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[Harrison]

It turns the right way to work. It came on a 2002 series BMW. Go to Ebay or the junkyard. $50 will buy a good used one. A remanufactured unit will run $230 or up.

JH

[ratster]

looks good Jim! , glad the steering column worked out for you and the price was right haha

[Jet Fuel]

[ QUOTE ]
it rotates the correct way? 68-76 bmw, are those the only years? and what models were they used on?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep, they rotate the right way. BMW put the steering gear behind the spindles.

They come on all BMW's between 67 and 76. Before that they didn't make full size cars. After that, they finally started using a rack.

These are available all over ebay for 5-15 bucks from private parties and for 50 bucks from 2002AD. If you're around the Antelope Valley area of California, you can go to AD yourself and have your pick of the litter. They've got pallets full of 'em.

-jf

[John boy]

We are planning to run the bmw steering box on the 27T we are building. Could you tell us which borgeson universal joint (part number#) you selected to match up with the splines on the bmw box. Thanks John Boy

[Bonehead II]

We are planning to run the bmw steering box on the 27T we are building. Could you tell us which borgeson universal joint (part number#) you selected to match up with the splines on the bmw box. Thanks John Boy

Thats a boy Johnny, You got there before I did.

Mike

[C9]

Good outside the box thinking.

I've thought for a long while that some of the foreign car boxes would be a good candidate for hot rods.

I'm with the other guys as well, a little more bracing please.

Six turns lock to lock?
That seems exceptionally slow.
My 32 with Vega box is just short of 4 1/2 turns lock to lock with the proper stop nuts installed.
It seems kinda slow sometimes, but I'm probably comparing it to the 2 1/2 or so turns in my 88 Mustang . . . course it had power assist, but the fast steering and minimal power assist worked out well.

It looks too like the Beemer box was originally used in a cross-steer configuration and mounted on top of the frame.

Interesting that the GM A body pitmans will fit.
There's a few different shapes of those that would work well in a cross-steer installation.

Regardless, cowl steering is about as cool as it gets.

[fab32]

It's amazing how many cars use the same size spline and spline count. Saginaw steeringgear Division of General motors has built steering gears for virtually every auto manufacturer in the world. They long ago figuered out strength/ size/ weight issues and sold their products world wide. The steering division is about 25 miles from where I live and it's been in 24 hr/day 7 day a week operaton for all of the 40 plus years I've lived here.

Frank