putting an F1 steering box in 32 chev frame. the ford pitman arm hits rear spring shackle. can i heat and reshape arm for clearance or should i drill and respline chevy pitman arm to fit ford sector or should i mate the two together (weld)?? or should i??? i want to retain the str x and springs. thanx for your help.
No problem heating and bending it, just let it air cool slowly, don't quench it. You don't want it to become brittle.
You can heat and rebend the arm as its forged steel...just remember you MUST remove the pitman arm first as the heat will transfer into the box and may ruin seals etc. Heat red over a large area for each separate bend and do a smooth radius to prevent cracking. Burying in DRY sand after the bends are done and the arm is hot will let it cool slowly and help prevent the arm from becoming brittle. NEVER quench with water. Also, depending on how much you need to bend/reshape, its possible to shorten the effective length and give yourself less turning radius, so make sure you keep that in mind. Might not be an issue for you at all but its important to consider the potential problems. A lot of different boxes used the same spline as the F1 so you MIGHT actually find a different one to swap with and not even have to heat the one you have, IF heating it makes you nervous. EDIT...Just went to your profile and got a look at your coupe! Awesome job...you really nailed it in my book!
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