Idea for Cowl Steering, Will it work?

After giving it some thought I think the corvair box should work. The aluminum housing should be plenty strong.

Most of the force isn't really at the box on a cowl steering car, it would be on the extended shaft and the bearing block at the cowl. I know this area takes the most abuse from abusing the cars I've built. I've tried a few different things and the problems are is always at the bearing block.

How big is the pitman arm shaft that comes out of the box?
Clark

 

i used one thru the cowl on my tub .....used 2 u joints to get the wheel where it was needed......had the box mounted half way up the cowl......used a column heim joint to hang it off the dash .....(that part will probably get changed ......)

seemed to steer alright ....and the car has a hemi in it ...so it can't be too bad....haha brandon

 

I'd be interested in seeing that, if you could attach it to this post I'd be more likely to see it.

 

One other box to consider is a 67-76 bmw 2002 series box. I enclosed a pic of a rebuilt one to show you. Its wide enough that you shouldn't have to extend the arm or get into that set of obstacles. It turns the right way to work for cowl steering, its 5 turns lock-to-lock, its manual(not power) and are pretty readily available used. Rebuilt they run over $200, but I bought a mint one I'll be using on my sedan off of eGay for $50. I'm not yet to that stage of the project, but heres a link to another hamber that used one.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22098&highlight=cowl+steering
As with any cowl steering set-up, the obvious big thing to do is make the mounting strong, not just mounted to the cowl. Thats the biggest mistake I've seen done on cowl set-ups

 

Just walk around any big rod gathering and you see some scary stuff on otherwise well built rods. It's good that you are researching your ideas. I think the chain could work, if it was heavy enough, like at least #50-60, and you had some sort of tightener to eliminate ALL the slack.
But read the tech, good stuff and extending the pitman shaft is really the best way.

 

Here's the Schroeder unit. Note the brackets. Since this was a banger, mounting was simple. The drag link is paralell to the frame. It took several tries to get the pitman arm right.

 

I never thought I would hear or see Frank say or type 'yo baby'.
I use a Model A box on my Bucket. No it's not cowl steering but the box is plenty strong.

 

You can buy a new steering from Schroeder Steering in Burbank Ca That will FIT your project and work just fine, Jerry

 

Kirk has one for sale right now

 

60s Mopar, under $100 on Ebay, no need to reverse.