Hi guys, I have a real steel 41 coupe w/a chevy small block in it. I also have a 354 Hemi. The car steers hard now and I'm afraid it will be worse with 200 more pounds on the front end. Has anyone out there figured out a way to help make this thing turn a corner.
Is the box in good working order with plenty O lube in it? Are the kingpins well lubed and free? Is the caster user freindly?(more than 6 and less than 15 deg.)
The slave cylinder type power steering that '55-'64 full size Chevies had is adaptable to damned near anything. I've seen a couple early Ford rods with it adapted to the stock front end and steering.
Not to rob yor post, but I have a 37 Willys and want to put something other than mechanical brakes on the front axle. any info there? Later, Rusty.
we were thinking of the corvette stuff except the control valve would have to be back by the gearbox and pitman arm and there would have to be 4 hoses going to it and that would be really ugly
I don't know for sure but I think there is a straight axle out of an econoline van in this car and it DOES have disc brakes on it. It just turns hard.
There are like 4 1/2 centerlines on it and a 15" steering wheel I could go to a 16" wheel but there isn't a whole lot of room in these cars anyway and it's pretty close to the door. I'm begining to think these old gasser types were made to go straight. I've got alot to considerr before I try to slide the hemi in this winter. Thanks Though
41 Willys, hemi and PS??? Sorry something does not compute in my feeble gray matter. I can not picture that. I'd start at each wheel, removing the tie rods and drag link to check every moving part for stiffness. Check and lube each king pin and tie rod end as you reassemble the gear leaving the steering box for last. I've seen tight poorly lubed tie rods and king pins add up to some real stiff steering. It may not be sloppy just stiff. You may want to check the caster also. If someone has put an excessive amount of caster in it to keep it straight in the 1/4 mile, it could have a negative affect on the street. The steering box, if original, was probably engineered to work with a 17" steering wheel. It's amazing how easy to steer my hot rod became when I shit canned that 14" Grant for a 39 banjo. Often it's not just one factor but an accumulation of little things.
I am running a 40 willys streight axel with stock willys spindels on the 37 and it has a 57 Olds rear end with stock 10 inch drum breaks. I purchased a disc brake conversion for the stock axel and spindels from a guy in cincinnatti and it uses stock calipers, rotors, inner and outer bearings,break pads and caliper mounting bolts from a stock 1970-78 camero,Firebird, 1973-77 Chevelle or Monter Carlo, etc. These parts you can buy at any auto parts store. I think we bought these at O'Reily's. I still coulden't stop it with a foot break so I added power breaks and it works great, stops better than my Chevy truck even at 125mph. I drove and raced 37, 38, and 39 Chevy's in the early 60's and I dont remember having to push that hard on the break pedal to stop them that's why I put the power breaks on it. As far as steering I am cross steering with a vega box and it works great. I run a big block with a tunnel ram and two 660's so there is some weight on the front end. I think that's just the nature of the way a streight axel steers when you first start to turn it's a little hard to turn but with speed it loosens up. Steering off the left side is is OK to and the only thing I notice is the cross steer dosen't follow a rut in the road as bad as steering from the left does. I'll try to post the guy's name in Ohio that sells the disc break conversion but when I bought it in 2000 he said he only had two left and he wasen't going to make anymore, but that might have changed! Fred
Hey Fred, Seen your car run in Tulsa about two years ago and it was great! Will you be at the Hamb drags in MoKan? Working on my 40 Willys Coupe to come run with you guys. Looks like you all are having way too much fun. Sorry to hijack the thread! Thanks to the Hamb for all the tech info. To say that I used alot of the information that I got here on my car would be an understatment! Gary
Yes I will, can't wait. I think we'll have about 8 cars. Model A coupe, 38 Chevy gasser, 40 Willys blown gasser, 48 Anglia, Ross Auto Willys truck to name a few. See you there, Fred
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