I want to do away with the power steering on my 66 Valiant to make more room and shed some weight.
Any one have a manual steering box? Not sure if I need anything else to make the change or what years might interchange. Any words of wisdom? Thanks in advance.

cycledog

cycledog@iglide.net

Cycledog, have you driven an A body with manual steering? If not, you should before you convert. Even by 60's standards they were, how should we say it, "Loose" with a 24:1 steering ratio. The fast ratio 16:1 manual box (Formula S Barracuda)steers quicker but its about the same ratio as you PS unit and the effort is really high. I'm actually thinking of going the other way on my '65 Barracuda and converting to a Firm Feel stage 2 PS box. You should go to their website ( <A HREF="http://www.firmfeel.com">www.firmfeel.com</A> ) and read what they have to say. If you do convert you will either need to go to the longer manual steering shaft or get a coupler extension from Firm Feel that will mate your steering column to the manual box.

If you do jettison the PS parts email me as I may want to buy them. Oh, and if you just want to get some weight off the front end and make more room try moving your battery to the trunk like I did on the Cuda. It really does make a difference. Summit Racing has kits to do the move. Good luck.

patgr@attbi.com

Driving any old A-body with manual steering will not give you necessarily an accurate impression of how good they can be. I still have 24:1 manual on both my Darts and I love it. I will likely go to 20:1 when $$ permits, but the control and road feel of manual steering is, IMHO, unbeatable. If all of the front suspension and steering components are in good shape, your manual steering will be quite tight. This can be a big "if" on these old cars though.

Lou

I love manual steering, to me power has no feel. 8 of my 9 cars have manual, the one that doesn't is for sale.
The things that are different:
Power box is taller requiring a shorter steering shaft in the column, input splines are smaller requiring a shaft to box coupler with smaller female splines.
Most manual boxes from A,B,E and some vans are the same. You should be able to use the pitman arm on your car.
Three ways to go;
One, get manual box and column compatible with your car.
Two, get a manual box, extension and coupler from a van (vans used the same column with p.s. and manual by using a 2 1/2" extension on manual applications) be sure to get coupler, yours is too small.
Three, find a manual box (not hard to find) and get the Firm Feel extension mentioned in the previous post. The female end has large splines for the manual box and small splines on the male end for the coupler on your car. This is by far the easiest way to changeover as restaking the coupler cover back on, required in first two choices, is impossible by yourself. At $125, not the cheapest way but the easiest labor wise and parts searching wise. I used the van parts to convert my '68 V-200. The quality of the factory part is not as good as what I hear the Firm Feel is.

ceh52@quik.com