With the depletion of good junk yard Vega Steering boxes has there been any research into a good substitute for them? A friend of mine told me that an import truck box looked like a good proposition.
yea an early 80s toyota 4x4 truck box would be close. i'm using a 50 ford F1 box. also a fj 40 land cruiser box would work. i'm sure there are others i have a 88 toyota truck two wheel drive and that box would be nice for a cross steer set-up. sooooo what are you working on???
do you have to run cross steering for a corvair box? a buddy of mine is thinking of trying to use one to replace the f100 box on his '32 coupe.
There is the Saginaw box from the '65 to 72 GM midsize cars(Chevelle ect.). It is larger than the Vega but will bolt to the Vega type mounts. This is only the manual box that I'm talking about.
A few pics. One shows the #140 Vega box for comparison. The Saginaw #122 is a direct bolt-in for the Vega box. The Saginaw #122 is a touch larger than the Vega, but it would probably replace the Vega box with no real clearance issues. The Saginaw #605 is GM's smallest power steering box. Bolts onto a Vega mount and is larger as well as longer than the Vega #140 box. This would be a good box for the fat fendered and Shoebox sized cars. I believe the #605 bix is found in Malibu and El Camino sized cars. This last one I'm not sure exactly what it is. It's larger than the Vega #140, but it fits this SBC powered Model A frame car just fine. One identifying factor could be the S shaped pitman arm.** I call it a car cuz it started out to be a 29 A two door sedan, went to a 34 pickup cab and now it's going back to being a 29 A two door sedan . . . this week. It takes a different mounting bolt pattern than does the Vega #140 and the Saginaw #122. One key point here is to be very careful when selecting these larger than a Vega steering boxes cuz there's one that's almost identical to the one in the color pic and it rotates in the incorrect direction for a hot rod. The incorrect box mentioned is from a GM product and it may be from a Camaro, not completely sure though. And the box in the pic may be from a different year Camaro. ** The S shaped pitman arm could be useful in other applications. Most of GM's passenger cars have the same size and spline count pitman arms. My experience so far, but check to be sure. Here's one someone posted a while back. I think they did a draglink steering car with it. It's a BMW ZF box, 1968 - 1976, More than likely other foreign cars in the junkyards would have some good candidates for a solid axle steering car.
Disregard the title on the Vega #140 pic. It indicates the Saginaw #525 fits the Vega mount, but it doesn't. The #525 may be what we have in the A frame pictured above. A pic of the #525. And a pic of the Saginaw #800 power steer box. This one for the larger cars and it may be workable for the fat fenders, Shoeboxes and larger early 50's era cars like Caddy, Olds, etc.
I'm working on the T Coupe I picked up last month. Have the front end set up and just got the Engine and Trans. installed tonite. Think a Corvair box would be a little light for it. I may have to go with a cowl steer on it as things are tight between the frame and bellhousing. I was just wondering if collectively we could come up with a "subistitute standard" for the Vega.
Did you not see what I posted above? You don't need a "standard." Just pick one from the list or find another box that's common enough so you'll be able to find another a few years down the road.
Thanks for the info C9, got to save and print this.. I kinda like the 525 if you have the room and they were used on Jeeps 1971- mid 80's.. You can get them new for a bit over a hundred or used cheap .. If you do grab one out of a early jeep might as well grab the column because it's got GM splines on both ends..
A few numbers relating to Saginaw boxes. The Saginaw 122 was replaced with the 525, having the same dimensions, different internals. Vega vrs Saginaw 122 Dimension Vega Saginaw A Box length 5 7/8 7 1/8 B Box height 5 1/2 6 1/2 C width 4 5/8 5 3/8 Dia. Steering shaft 5/8 ¾ Manual Steering Box Buick Special '64-70 Camaro '67-74 Chev Pass '65-70 Chevelle '64-70 Firebird '67-73 Grand Prix '69-70 Monte Carlo '70 Monza '75-79; 8 cyl Monza '78-80; 6 cyl Nova '68-70 Olds '64-70 Olds F-85 '64-70 Pontiac '64-70 Skyhawk 75-80 Starfire '75 Starfire '76-80; 6 cyl Starfire '77-79; 8 cyl Sunbird '76-80; 6 cyl Tempest '64-70 The following fit, but have different ratios or other characteristics Several '70-83 AMC cars Several Jeeps '70-86 Apollo '73-75 Buick Special '71-72 Century '73-74 Chevelle '71-77 Cutlass '73 Cutlass '76 LeMans '73-77 Monte Carlo '71 Nova '71-79 Olds F-85 '71-72 Omega '73-79 Phoenix '77-79 Regal '73-74 Skylark '75-79 Sprint (GMC) '71-77 Tempest '71-72 Ventura II '71-77 Mounting a box out of a 70 Nova in my A. Only modification is the enlargement of the hole in the pitman arm to fit the Ford style tie rod end. The longer steering shaft coming out of the box looks like it will be advantageous in hooking up the column. Watch out for some of the later model boxes as the pitman arm may travel in the wrong direction, especially those mounted in front of the suspension. Hope this is of some help.
Jeeze, there are Corvairs all over up here. Maybe when I go to the one yard I should grab a pile of steering boxes, they rot so bad other than the pittman and steering shaft they should about fall off the car. Vegas have pretty well dissapeared, though, I never see those in junkyards. Although the U-pull-it got a good solid one last year, PA sticker in it, I was surprised no one into those didn't want it. But then again it's NY, probably got sick of guys offering him five bucks for it.
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