Steering Upgrades

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Galucha

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 2, 2015
Messages
181
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100
Location
Chattanooga, TN
My Car
1971 Coupe 302
After much research on these forums, I settled on getting a redhead 12.7:1 steering box instead of going the rebuild route, and WOW what a difference. The steering feel is night and day difference compared to the old SPA-U box. Figured it was time since the old box had developed a pretty bad leak around the shaft seal and had about 2 inches of play at the wheel.

https://i.imgur.com/Cwp5lPO.jpg[/img]

You can see just how bad the leak was underneath.

https://i.imgur.com/xicJY7k.jpg[/img]

New vs old. I called redhead to order this box, but they didn't have any with the 12.7:1 gear in stock, so they built one and had it sent to me in the same week.

https://i.imgur.com/10XrKLz.jpg[/img]

New unit was a simple bolt-on upgrade with a new rag joint and hoses. Definitely need a helper or some kind of jack to lift the box up and get it aligned with the bolt holes. That was probably the hardest part.

https://i.imgur.com/7XG1Lq3.jpg[/img]

Tie rods had seen better days, so I went ahead and replaced those as well and applied a (light) coating of POR15 since they came bare. Next is to tackle the streetortrack coilovers that have been mocking me in the corner of my garage for the last few months...

 
Looks good. Never heard of them before but then again I don't think I've ever shopped around for one before either. Gonna look them up, gonna swap to a manual box actually.

Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk

 
Looks good. Never heard of them before but then again I don't think I've ever shopped around for one before either. Gonna look them up, gonna swap to a manual box actually.

Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk
Just curious why you want to switch to manual steering? I had my PS box rebuilt and converted to quick ratio and I also went with a new pulley set up out front that allows me to run a wider belt set up and a different PS pump with lower pressure (got it from CVF Racing). So I still have power steering when I need it but not so much that you don't have any road feel.

 
Looks good. Never heard of them before but then again I don't think I've ever shopped around for one before either. Gonna look them up, gonna swap to a manual box actually.

Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk
Just curious why you want to switch to manual steering? I had my PS box rebuilt and converted to quick ratio and I also went with a new pulley set up out front that allows me to run a wider belt set up and a different PS pump with lower pressure (got it from CVF Racing). So I still have power steering when I need it but not so much that you don't have any road feel.
Im going with an electric steering setup. No pump, no hoses, no fluids.
I work on electric steering assist vehicles at work often (many/most new cars are) and am very familiar with whats involved. There is a company that does kits, but I plan on making my own from a Toyota Prius, which has a stand alone ECU making it easier to wire up. I like the way the steering feels in these cars, plus you get assist even if the car isn't running.

https://epasperformance.com/

Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk

 
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