Cowl Steering

Which box is better for cowl steering BMW or Mopar any one doing a new build with one of these would like to see pictures if you have them. I just can't bite the bullet yet for a schroeder set up i will be putting it in a 30 sedan. Looking for ideas

 

Sprint car racks are best,but on sprint cars.looking in junkyard for long housing boxs works but b sure they move the right way.
Cowl steering is and looks like lazy way{rat],it belongs on race cars not nice rods*,screws up the look of cowel,in most cases had wrong arm size and very poor steering,steeringwheel angle is nearly always bad and, O never mind,I'll just say I hate the looks of it on a rod,telling why don't ever seem to matter. Guys do what they want,thats why we got idits that think flat paint is a finish.

 

Sprint car steering box is usually very fast and as a result very hard to park a car with it.




Ago

 

I did cowl steering becuase I am lazy, and took the lazy way out. even though it was 3x more work than traditional steering. I also drew everything out in CAD and cycled it to make sure geometry was going to be decent. Looks awesome on my rat rod.


I used a mopar box. Check out my thread for more detailed pics. Theres an awesome tech thread done by Chris Casny I think on here

 

Here is a picture of the Doane Spencer cowl steering



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I've got a BMW box which I'm planning to use in the Roadster. Would also like to see some photos and hear pros/cons...

 

Seriously considering it on my build and have a Mopar box. Easy to extend the arm and box has nice mounting points. Although it has been said that it is the "lazy way out", it will be substantially way more engineering and design than an F1 box done the conventional way. I think it looks great and don't see how flat black paint will affect your cowl steering. ;~)

 

I used a mopar box, there is a good tech on here for it.

 

toreadorxlt I just scrolled thru your build and thats NOT a rat.True craftsman build.

 

Agreed, great metal skills.

 

What BMW box are you guys talking about? Does anybody have a picture of one?

 

Here is a pic.

 

The BMW and Mopar look similar, but I like the Mopar better bacause it's aluminum.

 

The BMW is also aluminum and works great easy to install

 

I am considering a side steer setup, what cars are the Mopar and BMW boxes from? I think I have heard the BMW is a 2002, early 70's

 

I stand corrected, I thought the BMW was steel.

 

Only took three posts. As soon as I read Dana's post I thought "oh oh, hes stepped in a steaming pile this time. "

 

Cool! I've done the deal with the Mopar stuff before, so I'm familar with that. The BMW is new to me though. What model is it from, or is it modular and shared by zillions of different models? The damn things are common as flies around the yards here in Phoenix.

 

Gonna put an aluminum box in a cowl steer application in a flat coloured rat? I'm in, I'll be watching the lazy way, as I'm a fast learner. I like lazy, its the greatest way to build, certainly the easiest.
Where the f%#&* do these guys come from?

 

What year's is the Mopar Aluminum box...?

I'm a Mopar guy and I've never seen one like that before.

no6...Nice job!!



Mahalo
Tommy

 

This was taken from another thread, I would assume it's correct.

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the aluminum Mopar boxes were the manual units only

24:1 ratio 5 1/2 turns lock to lock

a list of some cars that came with it:

• 1976-1979 Dodge Aspen
• 1970-1974 Dodge Challenger
• 1966-1976 Dodge Charger
• 1966-1976 Dodge Coronet
• 1966-1976 Dodge Dart
• 1966-1974 Plymouth Barracuda
• 1966-1970 Plymouth Belvedere
• 1970-1974 Plymouth Cuda
• 1970-1976 Plymouth Duster
• 1966-1978 Plymouth Fury
• 1968-1974 Plymouth Fury I
• 1968-1974 Plymouth Fury II
• 1968-1974 Plymouth Fury III
• 1972-1977 Plymouth Grand Fury
• 1967-1971 Plymouth GTX
• 1968-1975 Plymouth Roadrunner
• 1966-1974 Plymouth Satellite
• 1971-1976 Plymouth Scamp
• 1970 Plymouth Superbird
• 1966-1976 Plymouth Valiant
• 1976-1979 Plymouth Volare

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This one is in the Tech archives. Looks like a pretty good option:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=77658

 

The Land Rover "Series" trucks, the old flat fender version, have a gorgeous finned aluminum box with a very slow ratio, which means the long cowl pitman arm isn't as big an issue as it is with some other boxes.

Trick is, you have to get one from a RIGHT hand drive truck for your left hand drive rod...because, well, it's BRiTISH, see?

 

I used a tri-5 chevy box and reversed it. it has a neat mount built in that I liked.

 

If I remember right late 70's or early 80's, there is a good Tech article on here about cowl steering, thats how I got the info.

 

I stand corrected mid to late 70's

 

I used the beamer box, early '70s 2002 coup. It worked great, no modifications, just made the bracket and used the factory pitman arm as well. I'll try to post some pictures. There was lots of info here on the HAMB. Do a search.

 

At the risk of confirming the rat rod comment, heres a good tech article on cowl steering.

http://www.killbillet.com/showthread.php?t=12283

I reversed a 70s' f100 manual box for my '32. Haven't driven it yet but so far steers great a 0mph.

 

Thanks for the info on the boxes. I've been thinking about putting cowl steering on the boat tail roadster I am slowly putting together.

As far as cowl steering being a lazy out, I think it's pretty obvious that it takes a lot more work to do it and do it right than just mounting a steering box on the frame.

Appearance wise, it has to be an appropriate part of the whole build and not just something stuck on the car because the cool guys have it. Is the car going to have the right wheel/tire combo, proper interior that has at least a slight competition look to it and the proper stance and outward appearance to go along with it?
How many guys even notice that the Doane Spencer Roadster even has cowl steering until they stop to take in each individual detail of the car one at a time? It is an integral part of the whole package.

 

I used a BMW box on my Model A. It's definitely not the easy way of setting up the steering.