Cowl steering, whats the deciding factor??

What is the final factor that makes you mount the steering box thru the cowl, or on the frame??? Is it because of the "style" of box meaning you can ONLY mount in one place or the other, or is it "builders preference"??? I have a steering box, column, and wheel from a '53 ford car that I was planing on mounting on my fram in a "normal" way, but aftrer setting it in the general vicinity of where I thought it should be, it just doesn't look like it should be there...looks bad, funtions bad, just basically looks out of place!! But mounting it thru the cowl, means a whole bracing system to mount it under the dash, an extension of the shaft, and in a spot where I am unfamiliar with mounting!!! Any ideas or suggestions? I DID search first but came up with more " look at what I did" and no "I mounted it there because..." If you get what I mean?!?!?! Thanks...Ken

 

There are some really good tech in the archive on this... one is a ranger box. It doesn't look as hard as it sounds. I think my oil filter is going to get in the way of my f1 box, also I'm worried about having to angle the column to center it with the driver. That's what I'm worried about, if it doesn't work I'll drop in a cowl steering as per the tech archive.

 

Thanks, Yeah I saw some of those archives, I was just wondering "what makes a person ---decide---" whether to go cowl or frame mount?? I'll dig deeper in the archives, maybe the answer is there and I didn't see it??? Thanks again...Ken

 

In my case, footroom. Plus, cowl steering is cooler.

 

i cant think of any technical reason one is better over the other. I
think its more of a style thing.

 

It sounds dumb, but for me it was all about looks, I really like the way cowl steering looks. I used a late 60's Dodge box and it uses quite a bit of space underneath the cowl, but it was pretty easy to install.

 

Cowl steering just RULES. That drag link sittin way up high lets everybody know that you mean buisness!!!

 

I'm going with cowl steering. Look into sprintcar manual steering gears.

Jim

 

In my case on a channeled '28 rpu it was wanting to run a stick and i needed every square inch of room for the pedals which was a lot better without a steering column going threw the floor

 

Slamming a car on the ground makes it hard to keep proper steering geometry with your draglink. In a perfect world your draglink should be parallel with the ground. This is hard to accomplish with a frame mounted box, because your frame is so low. I find it easy to use cowl steering for this reason. You also dont have to build your headers around an ugly steering box. It also makes pulling the body on and off real easy. No expensive u-joints, or columns and when done right it is safe, and gives the car alot of a***ude.

 

I reversed a 55 chevy stock box for my T cause I had them laying around from power conversions.

 

More room with a cramped floorboard, and looks really cool. I am also using a 60s Mopar box. They are aluminum, cheap(under $100 on ebay), and don't need to be reversed.

 

I'm planning a reverse Corvair steering box mounted on a shaft up under the cowl on my 27 T roadster build. I'll have no steering column crowding the floor. I didn't want to spend the money for a Ross or Schroeder racing steering box. I see it as a more practical arrangement that also looks cool, and frees up a lotta' space around the engine and ch***is. By the way, there's also a lot of alternatives regarding both the angle and position of the steering wheel when you set it up this way! good Luck!

 

I have size 13 feet. Thats the deciding factor for my 29 A Sedan!


Now I just need a box,........

 

nothing beats the at***ude of cowl steering, i used a corvair box in my T, and it works great.