cowl steering woulkd this work ??

That's some scary stuff and as some others mentioned someone with little experience at building cars will see that and think it will actually work and end up getting killed or killing someone.
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Well, this one http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=297314 is still WAY better than the Street Rodder article.

A simple search for "cowl steering" can find a bunch of good posts on here.

Norton

 

i agree -thats dangerous -pure and simple

 

Offer to send them some chinese grade 8 bolts to really 'tighten her up' and let them have at it. This is just mother natures' way of weeding out the stupid.

 

They printed that in a magazine?

 

Anyone see the American Hot Rod episode where they did the rat rod build-off ? Rizzo got involved in that road trip to do an article for R & C and nearly bought the farm when his steering let go on the hi-way at 70 MPH in his roadster pickup. He said at the time that the oil leaking ate up the lok-***e on his U-joint on the steering shaft. I wonder!!! I agree that he's done some really borderline stuff when it comes to saftey. Take a look at the threads here and just the pictures will show you the right way to do it, or at least the right end result. Body & sheetmetal are one thing but when it comes to steering, suspension, & brakes, overkill ( no pun intended )is always a good thing.

 

I actually got a reply from Brian Brennan, as follows;

It's attached to the frame in three places, as well as the firewall and that was alluded to in the body copy of the story, as well.

Sincerely,
Brian Brennan
Editorial Director


Now, can someone show my aging eyes, where in this picture or in the body of the article, is there any evidence of this being even close to the frame, let alone attached in three places. I know what the word "alluded" means. Never try to use vocabulary that exceeds your pay scale. I think Mr. Brennan may be FOS, but I will give him a break, for now, so someone can allude to the location of these phantom frame mounts or their mention in the story. This still doesn't address the questionable support bearing being attached to ancient sheet metal and what will result if that overly long pitman shaft is stressed by even a small pothole or if the car goes into a death rattle.

 

It looks fine to me, but then, I am a blind man.

 

What a joke and what a ******** response from streetrodder. Selling a bs story just to make money. I have a doubt that steering is really used. Its probaly just thier for pics to sell a tech artical for a advitizers bs kit.

 

Somebody should link the bondo thread over for them. That way they can have tech body how to video also.

 

All I got to say is::::

 

I think Mr. Brennan may be FOS, but I will give him a break, for now, so someone can allude to the location of these phantom frame mounts or their mention in the story.
******************************************************************
Mr. Brennan has earned any and all criticism he may have received in the too many years he has been reporting on technical matters. There is a history with this guy, dating back to the defunct publication "Rod Action". Do a 'search'. Right next to 'Pelosi'.

 

Mine is not attached to the ch***is but the cowl is braced heavily with a network of 1" square tubing. The cowl is really stiff and the arm is "healthy" to say the least. Great job Chris (and you inspired me to go with cowl steering) but didn't want to lose foot room to a roll bar. Damn I don't have pics of the '63 mopar box and attached column.

 

Seems like everyone who emailed about this article got the form letter I got:

It's attached to the frame in three places, as well as the firewall and that was alluded to in the body copy of the story, as well.

Sincerely,
Brian Brennan
Editorial Director
Performance Automotive Group
Office: 714-939-2589
Cell: 714-305-8909

 

sorry pal thats is just dangerous-you and your mag aint got enough money for me to trust that setup-sorry dude just my 2 cents

 

Here is how I did my track T:

 

not very nostalgic IMO. Looks like more **** for my foot to hit.

 

Well, then it is official, Brian Brennan is FOS. He will be receiving his trophy soon.
I dropped my subscription to SR quite a while ago. I thought I would red line if I saw one more "how to" on installing the same Mustang IFS in a slightly different car in every frikken issue

 

$650. for a Schroeder box or DEATH, tough choice...

 

Man holy **** !! those guys should stick to red 32 fords and gold chainers not construction of any kind. I love that rag for a long time but now its a catalog for rich guys!! nobody can get to upset because any 3 freature cars in that mag will go half a mill or more the opinion their is spend spend and spend you cant realize how much fun you can have throwing that **** in the trash and learning to think for yourself again not depending on them guys here seem to build your cars the pomp*** pebble beach crowd need not apply!!.Its great to learn here keep em safe P.S. remember brians VW powered years !!

 

that set up might not be that bad. I saw the exact same thing on a clown car at the circus. When I asked why it had been done that way, it was explained to me it was necessary so the last clown could be stuffed in. Safety wasn't as big an issue as stuffing in that last clown. Maybe Street Rodder has joined the Big Top crowd. After looking at the article, I see they already have the clowns.

 

Wow...so many things wrong with that entire setup. If you want more info there are several good threads on the hamb the search will pull them. Several of us are using BMW 2002 boxes and there is a Mopar box that is popular too.

There is a lot of pressure on the mounts when turning at a stop....the box has to be supported well.....I have supports in the back that you cant see in these photos.

 

not only weak, but UGLY to boot

 

A far better choice for a cowl steer box on a budget would be a '50s era Ford F100 pickup box, made by Gemmer, and commonly used to upgrade the steering on Model A's. I am using one set up for center steer on my champ car replica. I also plan to use a frame-mounted hoop and outboard bearing (not shown). Note that the shaft extension and reinforcement sleeve are welded all around and rosette-welded too. I rebuilt the box and installed new seals and wrapped the box in wet-pack to prevent internal damage from heat.

 

I emailed Rizzo about this when that article came out. Specifically to ask about the questionable mounting of the box.

He told me that he had to add a "hoop" anchoring it to the frame. I'd figure that there will be a follow-up in the magazine.

...or not.

JH

 

Sure a lot of great looking side steering installations. Everyone is showing real concern for the loads that the steering and its mounting have to take. I used a Schroeder midget steering box, built a 2-1/2 square box from some 18 gage that spands from one side of the cowl to the other. It is connected to both cowl panels and the fire wall and then I added 4 adustable struts to carry the fore and aft and side to side steering loads which connect the beam to the frame. The Schroeder box is clamped to the beam with aluminum clamps that are 3/4 thick aluminum and use (4) 3/8 sockeet head cap screws to mount to the beam. Over 5000 miles on it and no problems!

Rex

 

Hoop Schmoop. That stupid limp **** pitman shaft and that cheezy flange mount bearing still kills the deal (and probably anyone that dares drive it)

 

It's attached to the frame in three places, as well as the firewall and that was alluded to in the body copy of the story, as well.

Sincerely,
Brian Brennan
Editorial Director
Uhhhhhhhh, ok...I read the entire story and nowhere does it say a word about the box being mounted to the frame....nor do the photos show any frame mounts. If there is a frame-mounted bracket behind the firewall, they should show it or mention it....scary stuff, this.

 

It's obvious that the esteemed Mr. Brennan thinks we're a bunch of lemmings that will follow and believe every word that drips from his lips. There are NO frame brackets shown or alluded to in either the article or the photos. He is treading on very thin ice. He and SRM WILL be held liable if anyone follows the directions in that, so called, tech article. As mentioned earlier, even if this invisible frame mount does exist it still does not address the long flimsy, unsupported pitman shaft. The shaft MUST be FIRMLY supported as close to the splines as possible or it WILL flex, bend, break, destroy the bearing in the housing, crack the housing, crash the car, kill or injure the driver, p***engers, innocent soccer mom's and kids, etc, etc., etc. If SRM's corporate lawyers knew of this, they would have that article off line in a nanosecond and "Brain" Brennan would get a memo from the corner office to be a bit more selective in what he publishes under their banner. I'm certain that he or one of his friends/toadies drops in here from time to time. If they had any sack at all, they would address this in an open forum. Cue the music from "Jeopardy"

 

I once sent an email to Brian Brennan and got a ******** reply too.

Some good setups being shown here.