Picked up an F1 box this last weekend and was wondering where everyone is mounting them. I could mount it in the stock Model A location but is there a better spot??? I have ideas but thought it would'nt hurt to just find out what others have done.
sit in your car and position the box/steering wheel ***embly until its comfortable... that will dictate where your steering box will need to be.
That, and... Clearance issues. Engine, exhaust, etc. Also how high the car sits. You want the drag-link to be fairly level, and there's not much leeway on the length of the pitman arm. So if the car sits higher, the steering box must be located lower, and vicy vercy.
True.. but you want the steering wheel to be in a reasonable position first. Once set you can figure out engine placement, exhaust routing and drag link symmetry etc etc.
I just switched the original 29 box for an F1 in my Model A. It is a finished car and the switch was anything but easy. The A box has the steering shaft exit the top while the F1 box exits the bottom of the steering box. I had to move the box around 4 inches towards the front. Fitting it around the headers was tight. Everything was tight and I had to make a new firewall but now my car feels like it has power steering. Well worth pulling the motor and trans a few times to make it fit.
i moved mine back about two inches and down about one.if your using the model a flange on the truck box you can run the sector shaft out about an inch to clear your bones.
Mounted mine in original location useing an A flange. Mounted it using original bolt holes and a 38 ford colum drop shortened 1 inch. Fits perfect but tight and still fits **** pit nicely. Reds builds a set of headers that will fit like a glove. Walter
Tried fitting one didn't like it, wheel position wrong conflicted with lever shock link and other stuff. Pita, when I test fit cross steering with a joint made it easier and seem's safer than the push-pull.
We did it using the Model A flange as per Vern's book in original location. It worked fine with the zoomies, but when we switched to headers, steering shaft was very tight to rear exhaust port and we had to flatten it out. We reshaped the pipe at the center port and ran it slightly forward and down. It clears the box nicely.
As others mentioned, I would also recommend that you have your engine and exhaust in place before you try to decide. Between the exhaust and the pedals this is the one place on a hot rod where things get really tight and complicated to fit the steering box. FYI- an F100 steering box shaft comes in on top of the box and can sometimes help with clearance. However, it has less steering arm options.
Thanks guys! Walter- nice pics of the f-1 reds headers fmascioli- great pics of some fitment issues one may come across pinewood- I have both boxes and the engine in with a stock exh. manifold. Just tossing around options/parts at this point looking for the best fitment. I agree its important to have all your parts ready when custom fitting things.
I welded up all the stock holes and lowered the steering box about 1" to clear the exhaust manifold. I also shortened my f1 steering shaft and '39 column a good couple of inches, while the steering shaft was being shortened we also adapted a splined end to work with the '40 steering wheel.
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