VW bus steering box in a hot rod??

Just picked up a VW steering box from a 60`s bus and was wondering if anybody is running these boxes.Looks to be a nice setup and comes with a neat mounting bracket that looks like it can be mounted to a 2x3 frame rail.What I am wondering is does the gears in the box rotate in the right direction for right side steering?

 

I know they use them in the UK...maybe one of our friends across the pond will chime in. Of coures, it's the middle of the night right now...

 

very common thing here in NZ to run a VW bus steernig box in a t-bucket, but you end up with vertical or near vertical tiller style steering, which i personally hate because it very hard to control. the other questions I have no idea about sorry

 

Naw...a VW van box in a hot rod??? Never been done...can't be...ain't possible!!!

Ha Ha...this old heap (built by Kulturepimp) used one...a pretty cool set-up actually!

 

Very common. You will have to extend, or change the pittman arm, or you'll have poor turning radius.

Research your steering arm geometry or you'll end up with tons of "bump steer".

Get it right and they're great.

 

My car has one. Works great. Dean

 

21 years spent repairing VWs - never saw a pre -'68 bus steering box worn out ...

 

a lot of guys in europe do this

 

See em used over here now and then......looking for one myself....check this link and under the pics of the rod download the PDF file, check all the build pics and you will see the setup in detail....ignore the cheesey ratrod name, it is a cool rod though...it was over your side of the pond recently..... .....bert

 

Have one in my bucket and it works great. I have a little bump steer because of the way I had to mount it.

 

I used one in a T bucket I built for a guy , it worked out great.

 

fairly common in T buckets, but i think there harder to find then Corvair boxes.I think also the old( first few years) Ford econoline boxes work also.
JimV

 

This

 

If your VW box is like the one in the photo.....here's one mounted on a 2"' wide rectangular tube frame.

Be advised....they have but 2 1/2 turns lock to lock and you don't want to use all of it. Your spindles should hit the stops before the box bottoms out.

Edit: The box shown is from '67 and earlier.

 

I've got one mounted in my T and it fits and works great.
Its not like the one in the pic above its has got a splined shaft for a uj and not an attached columb

 

I saw one this summer in a T bucket .The guy had installed it so he could tip the steering shaft up towards the dash to get in and out of the car.
Yeah, the whole thing pivoted at the steering box.

 

I'm a little cornfused....Fat Asses pitman arm is pointing down....Johnny's is pointing up. Which is correct?
Clark

 

What about post 68?

I have a 68 box that hat a rag link and not attached column. ???

 

On the Raker Roadster (Green '29) it points up.

 

'68 and newer had the rag joint. '67 and earlier had the column attached.

 

I've got one in my A. The great thing about these boxes is that you have a ton of options on how to mount them due to the bracket design. My car's still in mock-up. The only snag I've run into is that I need to extend the steering shaft some how.

 

If your looking for quality rebuilt units go to www.wolfgangint.com
I have been using their boxes for 6-7 years now, never a problem.

Although the core charge is steep.

Geoff.

 

This is the box I have.Fit it to the frame tonite to see which way the pitman arm swings.I have to have the arm pointing up to get it to work.Very nice peice for hot rodding.You can ajust the colume angle to where ever you want it.Mount it on top of the frame or on bottom of the frame.Mine will be on bottom.It seems that different years must work different cause I see that some of the boxes have the arms down.Also they mount different.

 

i've got a Beetle box on the shelf i'm savin for somethin.

 

Fairly common to use them in the U.K. although i havn't used one except in a Cowl mount with extended shaft.

Langy.

 

If you look close at the different pix, you'll notice that Fat Ass' box is ABOVE the frame and Johnny's is BELOW the frame. So I would imagine that the pitman arm is set for each to maintain the mproper angle on the drag link.

Vance

 

Vance ...doesn't matter what side of the frame the box is on. The box is only meant to work one way. If you put a pitman arm facing up on a box that was meant to face down it will steer the opposite of what you want.

Looks like most are pointing up. Just that one points down.
Clark

 

So then what does it mean when someone says reversed Corvair box?

 

To reverse a corvair box you have to drill out the one end and flip the pitman arm shaft. Then the hole the pitman arm shaft came out of gets plugged.

There have been quite a few guys make the mistake of mounting the pitman arm wrong. Then finding out the car steers wrong. Funny but easy to do.
Clark

 

Years ago I walked into a guy's shop where he was putting a dirt track supermod together. He had made his own center steering unit.....and it was a pretty clean setup too. There was no draglink connecting his pitman arm to the left front.

I reached inside and wiggled the steering wheel back and forth a couple of times and told him, "Nice job but you may have to learn to drive all over again."

"Why is that ?", he asked.

I replied, "When you turn left the car is gonna go right."

That news wasn't well received. He ended up adding a bellcrank and a two piece draglink to reverse direction so it steered correctly.