Technical 34 with stock steering and a hemi?

Can you run stock push pull steering with an early hemi? Pics please.

 

I don't know how much better the '34 box is, but on my banger powered A, the '56 Ford PU steering is much, much better than the A steering. ...and on my '51 with a 392 hemi, the original steering was not nearly good enough for me to keep. Hemi's are heavy, but can be made significantly lighter with aluminum heads, aluminum water pump, aluminum intake manifold, headers, etc. ...but they are still not light.

I know I would not consider running an original steering box on a hemi powered early Ford.

 

You should be able to google it and find pics of old builds with that set up. I initially thought you would have to move the box due to the physical dimensions of the Hemi but then I recall seeing a bunch of old hot rods over the years/decades with Hemi's so it maybe could be done. Tim

 

No, it definately cant be done...

 

I am only interested in clearance between the box and engine. I did a lot of searching and nothing so far.

 

Thanks George. Looks tight but doable.

 

Looks like plenty of clearance to me

 

Not as good a photo, but heres a chrysler with another '32 box...

 

Those are both 32's but it might be doable. My rising sun box is a little bigger but not much.

 

I've got a '34 box...you need some measurements?

 

No but thanks.

I am keeping my steering box. I just want to know how much clearance I would have with a hemi instead of my little flatty.

 

Exhaust and box clearance will be fine with headers outside the frame. With exhaust Inside the frame you'll need to be creative with the pipes.

 

As far as I know, '32 and '33/'34 boxes are externally identical except the mounting flange bolt pattern is flipped.

 

Dumprat, whatever the question, the answer is ALWAYS "Hemi"...

and yes, I gotta replace those phillips head with some slotted oval head screws.

 

Hemi?....what am I missing here? I thought you were a flat 6 guy... spill the beans!

 

There's no such thing as a "flat six" guy...there's only guys that have flat sixes because they haven't found a hemi yet...

 

Nah I am still a flathead six guy. I have several of them.

 

which hemi are you looking at? Chrysler Desoto or Dodge?

 

Desoto. Not sure if it is a 276 or a 291 and I haven't heard a price yet but we will see. Might be junk or way to much money. Just wanted to see how it would clear an F100 style steering box.

 

period aftermarket intakes can be very pricey for desotos, just so you know going in. If you arent trying to get the engine too low/back in the chassis, and you are willing to run the headers out over the frame rail, it will clear pretty easy.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/home-made-log-manifold-hthuye-nov-61.880614/

 

Hot heads makes a dual plane intake it seems. And looking at what the hurst mounts look like I think I can push it up enough to work. But this all conjecture until I can get my grubby hands on it.

 

Nice clean plug wire covers can be expensive and hard to find too. I hunted mine for well over a year. They are really a neat little motor, very well made, and the Desoto is really a nice size. If you were so inclined, you could fit it under a full hood on your truck, but like Vicky says, making headers to fit inside the rails and clear the steering would be hard work. It would probably be do-able, but not easy. I'm putting mine in a '26 T-coupester with a chopped '32 shell, the valve covers fit inside the hood line at firewall, but just break through at the front. With the wider firewall in your truck, the hood side panels would taper out at more of an angle, I think it could fit under a full hood without any bumps or blisters. There was a '32 roadster in Hot Rod that had a desoto in it with a full hood, I will post an engine shot later.

 

I am planning on just running the hood tops anyway. I have the full hood but as I am running fenderless less is more in my opinion.

 

I actually really like that look, and you dont see it much anymore.

 

And if ya put the hood sides on then ya can't see the hemi! Like duh! Lol

 

Oh yeah........LOL

 

One other thing i should mention is that camshafts are an issue, if you dont already know. There are new billet rollers available, but as far as I know, no cast iron flat tappet blanks, and when I talked to Pete1 about it, he advised me against re-grinding, as the original cams are on the soft side.
I am not trying to discourage you, just make sure you know what you are in for before you pull the trigger.

 

I had a soft flatty cam built up once with stellite and reground. I am sure the hemi should respond to something similar. If not a reground stock cam that is Nitrided should be fine.

 

And I am sorry Flat six fix, but the AOk guys have some of the dumbest ideas of performance I have every heard.

 

Really? care to elaborate on this? But please send a PM or an email, do not want to "sidebar" your thread, as that certainly was not my intetion for posting those 2 videos, just funnin with Falcon George on the Hemi comment...