Put the box through the frame hole and mount a pitman arm. Try sticking the drag link into the pitman from the inside, even if the hole is tapered from the outside (you can taper it halfway from the inside if my idea works). Flip the hoop arm on the spindle upside down so the drag link mounts from below. Then see how the drag link might fit and take some pics. Make sure to get a clear view directly from the side. Make sure the drag link will clear the wishbone and we will judge if your geometry looks good from the side.
I'll give that a try. Hoop arm is already flipped. Pic was from when I first got it. I still feel like the pitman arm will hang too low. Is it ok to shorten it. If so, what is the minimum length I would want it to be?
Altering the length of the arm will change the steering ratio, and will affect the power you need to turn the wheel, as well as how many turns to make the wheels move. Probably not something you'd want to do unless you can calculate the changes it will make (I'm not that smart).
I’d leave your set up alone, but if your looking for something traditional and not ugly like these mustang and all this other jive I have the solution. 40 ford box turned 90deg. And file the big teeth out of the pitment arm splines that locate it for cross steer and flip it to upward side steer like mine. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Too low by what measure? I don't think you're properly taking scrub line into account (ensuring nothing hangs lower than the bottom of the rim, ***uming all four tires were flat). If you lose a tire and rim, scrub line or not, you've got a bigger problem on your hands than steering.
To find the minimum length pitman arm you can use, you will have to measure the arc swing of the piman arm and the steering hoop. With the drag link off, manually turn the front wheels and measure the linear distance the hoop moves lock to lock. Then do the same for the pitman arm. I generally use a piece of cardboard to mark and measure. Then see how far you have to go down the pitman arm arc to move the wheels lock to lock. I would stop short of turning the steering box all the way to its stops.
I have a friend with a steel 32 roadster built back in the 70's and he is running a 32 box with 35/36 internals and stock pitman arm. The builder did this because this car has a 5 inch dropped axle with unsplit 32 bones. He has driven this setup all over the US with no problems.