I was considering cowl steering for my coupe, since i really dont know how else to get that steering box and column out of the way to make room for the hemi. The car is not channeled and has a stock front axle (no drop) though, so if i do cowl steering, even with a long pitman arm, the new drag link still wont be anywhere close to parallel to the ground. Now for the crazy part. Is there any way to run the drag link paralell to the ground from the pitman arm forward, and towards the front stagger it down (to get in line horizontally with the front suspension) then continue the last few inches parallel? If not, how bad of a ride will I have if the drag link is real long and really raked? Any help would be great. Thanks, -Dean
You could consider using a bellcrank, by putting the steering box where you want it, putting the drag link parallel to the ground, with the bellcrank on the side of the frame, directly below the pitman arm. Dave Mann (602) 233-8400 weekdays http://www.roadsters.com/
Its not so much that the drag link should be parallel to the ground as such. It's actually the imaginary line from the pitman arm to the steering arm. It is kind of irrelevant what happens between those two points, that line will remain the same. Putting a step in it will not change the geometry. Surely (without actually seeing the car) you could mount the steering box low in the cowl to achieve the correct geometry. I don't think the box has to necessarily be tucked up behind the dash. Pete
The shape of the actual tube doesn't matter. It's the line drawn thru the front and rear pivots (Tierod ends) that dictates the way the draglink will affect the steering as the suspension moves. Bending the tube might be a way to keep your tierod ends from actually binding as it works...but it won't change the likelyhood of bumpsteer and it sounds like your on the road to getting a lot. Do a frame mockup with just the main spring jigged into place on the front axle/wishbone so you can flex the frontend. Try different positions for the steering box tierod end and check for bumpsteer. Gotta be an easy setup you can go with...theres a few Hemi A's kicking around! What did Jimmy White go with to steer his A?
You can also bend the steering arm up some to help the situation as well, or fab a new one to whatever length you might need.
I was wondering about that too. So I could try a long pitman arm and a modified, higher steering arm to make up some of the difference. How high can the steering arm go before things get weird? Also, just to make all this more crazy, this is a full fendered '31, so I would be running this huge drag link through my front fender. Would probably look killer but Ive never seen it done. Any thoughts on that? Thanks again, -Dean
I have been blown away by steering tricks on rails. The tricks seem to work. The bell crank idea sounds good, but if you work off of the other end of your pivot, you will need to un-reverse your steering box. Here is a frankenstein idea. I might use it myself when I put my hemi in a roadster. Instead of putting a pitman arm on the end of the shaft that sticks out of the cowl, put a gear on it and couple it with a chain to another gear with the pitman arm on it. This would allow you to locate the steering box as high as you like. You could use motorcycle chain and sprokets to adjust your ratios. You could run the sprokets inside or outside. If you run em' inside, watch your shoe strings. : ) I guess I will hear about it if it is too dumb an idea. SQ.
There is a new steering system being marketed called "steerclear". It is basically a pair of sprockets in a housing, with one sprocket located directly above the other. The steering column running from your steering wheel runs perfectly horizontal untill it p***es thru the firewall, then thru the housing to the top sprocket. The lower sprocket is down far enough to clear your headers,and then a shaft runs horizontally from the second (bottom sprocket) to the steering box which is mounted on the framerail at the correct height. In some instances, the housing and sprockets can set on the inside of the firewall. As I understand it, the housing is very thin, only about 1 1/2" thru. This gains a lot of footroom and legspace inside the car, and also can be used to clear large engines.
All this seems so complicated...yet others have gone with Hemis with no real complications. How about a VW bus box? Heres a couple of pics John Fast put up in another thread. Could you go with a cross steer box and tuck it up next to the pan or something? Bell cranks and chains etc....man, your opening a can of worms...let me tell ya!
Don't know if you solved the clearance issue yet but that Steer Clear is the way to go. My dad has 3 radical customs (a 27 T-Bucket with a 392 Hemi, a 29 Model A 2dr. sedan delivery with a small block Ford, and a chopped, channeled, sectioned 56 Ford F100 with a 4.6 dbl overhead cam Ford motor)that all had steering problems until he put Steer Clear in each one. You can't believe what a difference it makes to put the steering column where you want it instead of where it "had" to be and use the motor of your dreams. Plus he gained all kinds of legroom and can sit comfortably now. And the company is great to deal with, really cool and helpful.
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