Did a search here and couldn't come up with anything, and I could only find one article on the innerwebs so I figgered I'd post up and see what comes back. I'm pretty sure at this point that i'm going to bag the stock front end but i still want power steering without going the MII route. For those who have done this conversion, I'm just curious what if any challenges you faced and also what kind of ground clearance you're left and how ride height affects the installation/performance. I'm planning on running the car pretty low. Any other PS options besides the 53/4 PS box? Pics are greatly appreciated. Thanks for your input.
I remember that an aftermarket u-joint for these was nonexistent. Grab a chunk of the steering column from the donor vehicle to facilitate adaptation. I did just one, over a decade ago. The car was not bagged.
I just saw something on using that box a few days ago but think it was on FB for an off the wall car.. The picture I saw had some serious fabrication going on in the brackets. I see you can get a rebuilt from O'Reilly's for 93.99 with a 10.00 core charge here locally at least.
Found a package for PS in that car on ebay. Came complete, but not as easy as it sounds. The man wanted to retain the PG column shift. It is still on the road and doing well.
The rack ends up pretty high up in there, so it does not affect ground clearance much, if at-all: There are power box solutions too: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/power-steering-for-49-54-chevy.233632/
Fabrication is not a problem. I have the schematics for the brackets, and we've adapted original columns to late steering pretty easily. All the conversion "kits" are in the $1k area and I'm just exploring options for spreading my budget around a little. There's a R&P kit on eBay that has a crossmember instead of frame brackets. Im curious what components that set up uses. Thanks for the response so far.
I remember that the install was not a huge challenge, less having to go back to the yard and get a bit of the column, before they crushed the donor car. The customer never came back to complain, and I see the car out, from time-to-time.
I found an old thread on it http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/cavalier-r-p-steering-question.144647/ And (how do you get rid of the underline) a batch of photos some good and some bad here https://www.google.com/search?q=cav...imvKiGm-LKAhVL1mMKHf1EDDYQsAQIHA&biw=979&bih=
what would your reason be for not using the MII? on a funny side note, a shop near me bagged a stock front end on a 54. I came over in my 49 sedan and parked next to it, it was maybe an inch lower than my cut coils stock front end. I asked him to drop it down so I could see how low it was and he told me it was down. I know other people drop them down much lower, but this guy just did a ****py job of it.
First reason is cost, second is a DIY video series for Speed & Chrome Illustrated on MotorNation.TV . We're gonna cover the whole ch***is build in sections. Third is I'm not interested in laying frame. I really just want the adjustability for a variety of reasons.
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