Just a quick little tech on something I did over the last couple of days in spare minutes. Probably 1 1/2 hrs work total. I picked up what I thought was the ideal cowl steer box from a swap for $10. It has a long sector shaft in a long housing, it's aluminium, it has great mount holes, it is in really good condition...BUT... it turns the wrong way. This is how I made it work. It's a long way off going in the car so I might add to this post down the track some time. The original steering box is a HK Holden box. Means little to you foreigners but the Aussies know what it is. (Late '60s, early 70's GM) I dare say this would work for heaps of other boxes too. Bear with me while I do this. It will take a few posts. Straight from the swap
Drill a 3/4" hole in the bottom end of the box. Needs to be centred to the bearings. This was probably the only troublesome part of the whole job. It's not super crucial as long as there is clearance for the stering shaft and it doesn't have huge gaps. Then you need to plug the other end of the box where the steering shaft used to come out. I turned up a little bung (just so I could use my new lathe). I fit the bung from the inside. Sealing is handled by the original O ring.
Then just reassemble the whole thing with the steering shaft coming out of what used to be the bottom of the steering box. You still have full adjustability but now the sector turns opposite to the input instead of the same way. The only thing I'm not really happy with is that there is not enough meat in the end of the housing to machine for a seal. I considered packing it with felt but thought it might get caught up in the bearing. It is filled with grease, not oil, so I dont thing it will be a major problem other than some minor weeping. After I had finished I was looking at a later GM steering box (HQ for the Aussies) and realised that I probably could have used the end nut / bearing carrier off it instead of making the bung. It is solid because the shaft exits at the other end. Worth investigating.
There's a better than average chance of that. Most of our Holden stuff is copied direct from Detroit. BTW I stated 1 1/2 hrs work. I reckon if I did another one now it would be more like 30 mins. It's that straight forward. Pete
a reversed holden box....great friggin idea! why people arent doing more of this is beyond me... been reversing corvair boxes for years....
The RHD to LHD swap doesn't work. Regardles of whether you want left or right the key for cowl steer is that you want the sector shaft to turn in the opposite direction to the input. When you guys turn right (clockwise input) you need the pitman arm to pull (anti clockwise). When we turn right (strangely still clockwise) we need the pitman arm to push (strangely still anti clockwise). I think it has to do with the Corriolus(sp) effect. Pete
Looks good ! If you find you need a seal where the steering shaft comes out, how about machining up a piece of aluminium to take a seal (or an o-ring). Either drill and tap the steering box case to bolt it on, or you could possibly use a decent epoxy and glue it to the outside of the steering box ?
It works if the shaft is going out the opposite side of the car though! In USA the arm pushes to turn left and if the box is flipped upside down that's what it'd do.
Cool tech. I've saved this one for future reference. Always been a fan of cowl steering and apart from looking cool as hell it gives you a bunch of extra room.
Yep, but then the sector would be going out the right side of the cowl and guess what...if the pitman arm pushes when exiting on the RHS it'll turn the car right. The requirements are the same whether left or right hand drive. The output of the steering box must be opposite from the input. You could simply take this box that I have modified, flip it and mount it in your car and it will work for LH drive. Trust me. It's amazing how much confusion this causes for a relatively simple mechanical problem. Pete
Good plan. I don't think dirt getting in is a concern because it's up under the dash. Only if the box leaks on my best suit I might have to seal it up. Thanks Pete
This thread was gold! I always used alum Dodge boxes from mid '60s-early '70 Going to the junque yard today to get one of these pups. (or 3 or 4)
nice stuff striper! what is the distance between the centre of the steering column shaft and the centre of the pitman arm spline? i.e. is it long enough to work without lengthening the pitman shaft?would like to know if this is long enough to use in an improved A (with a reasonably large steering wheel) cheers, ben
It does but it doesn't. The Tri Five Chevy Saginaw already has the steering shaft entering the case at the end where Striper had to drill the hole. With the Tri Five version, you have to drill the hole in the opposite end (thru the adjusting plug) to reverse it (which you must do in order to use it in a cowl steering situation..)
55-57 Chevy That's what I used on my T. A 54 chevy pitman arm works nice cause its straight and has that clamp ball thing instead of a ball joint type end.
Give Chopper a call Ben. I know Dean did this to the 32 he just built to race. Not the best pic but you can sort of see.
For all you skips out there, I used a 49-54 Chev pitman arm on the HQ box in my coupe, for the same reasons. neat post Peter. Cowl steering is bitchin - now to convince the engineers.
Real car guys wear oil and grease. None of that fancy "suppose to drive the women wild" smelly water .
I disagree. This is the great thread: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/cowl-steering-just-stop.1101046/
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