A buddy gave me this for my RPU, told me it was a Vega box, but it looks like no Vega box I have ever seen. Can anybody identify it? It was no use for what I wanted, as the steering shaft came out the wrong end, so I tore it down to see what was inside, and discovered I could make it work the other way round. All I did was drill a single 5/8" hole in the alloy end cover. Now I look at it, it appears that the steering shaft may have been extended, welded on, as there are some odd marks just where it comes out of the box. Does any box normally have an input shaft this long??? Does it look tough enough for a light RPU? Yes, it is still filthy and grungy, as I just tossed it roughly together to see if it would work all back to front.
Steering boxs had a long shaft up to around the early 60's..Looks like you have a corvair steering box, especia;lly since you were able to turn the guts around..Check Boregenson, Flaming river as far as strength for application?..
Ha, I did a Google for Corvair steering box, and look what popped up first!!!! So,they do come with a long input shaft.
The early (60-64) corvair box was aluminum and had a splined short shaft (about 2") and was easily reversed by drilling the adjuster end cap and using a disc type freeze plug in the other end. The later 65-68-9 were of cast iron ,had the long shaft and could also be converted but were heavier. We used the early style in the SnapToo Corvette when we ran as a C/A . It ran 10.80s @129 back in '68-9 ,never had any problems with the steering.
I reckon I'll be using this then, as it fits perfectly. I'll use a Double D UJ to adapt it to a steering column.
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