cowl steering

catman · October 22, 2006, 10:04:36 PM

hi new guy here, I'm building a 26/27 T tudor traditional, I'm using a reversed corvair box, I was wondering if anyone has info or pics of the shaft that fits on the box and goes out thru the cowl, mainly how does it fit on the box, thanks...

donsrods · October 22, 2006, 10:11:54 PM

I didn't know they had an extension shaft to retrofit a Corvair box, if that is what you mean. My Kid built cowl steering for his '29, and he used a BMW model 2002 steering box (thats the model of the car, not the year) This box has become popular for this application.

Will be interesting to see if someone else has your answer though.

Don

PS: Welcome to the forum.

donsrods · October 22, 2006, 10:20:09 PM

I don't have a picture of the steering box itself installed, but here is one of the mount he built to hold it. The steering box bolts to this mount and the shaft sticks out thru a hole in the cowl. He tied a removable brace into the mount and body to tie it all together.

Hope this helps.

Don

catman · October 22, 2006, 10:44:06 PM

thanks Don for the reply, your kid does nice work, looks like it will be very well built..

Bib_Overalls · October 23, 2006, 07:47:23 PM

Hey Catman,

Good to see you here at the RRT. Best rodding site on the net. No doubt about it!

I am also engineering the steering for my 26 T 2 door sedan project. I am debating the merits of Corvair and Vega steering. I like the cowel steering concept but my eBay scored Limefire style exhaust conflicts. So I have to go with something more conventional.

I have a Vega box but I don't have a Corvair to do my mocking up with. Any chance you could shoot me the dimensions by email?

There are a number of cowel steering threads on the HAMB. Have you tried a search there?

donsrods · October 23, 2006, 08:22:13 PM

Hey Bib, if you just want to mount a Corvair box in the traditional manner, here are some pix of my in progress 23 T. I'm using a Corvair box mounted on a pedestal I built for it.

Hope this helps. ( I haven't figured out how to post more than one picture per post, so sorry, but here are a couple.

Don

donsrods · October 23, 2006, 08:24:28 PM

and another

donsrods · October 23, 2006, 08:25:50 PM

another view

donsrods · October 23, 2006, 08:29:23 PM

and finally,

Don

donsrods · October 23, 2006, 08:43:22 PM

Oh, I found one more showing how I tied the steering shaft to the cowl roll bar I built to take the strain off of the fiberglass body.

Don

Bib_Overalls · October 23, 2006, 09:31:53 PM

Many thanks for the pictures. I saved them to my "Steering Ideas" folder.

You are thinking a lot like me.

I talked with Zipper the other day and he has started using reversed Flaming River Corvair boxes with Total Performance pitman arms. He says the Corvair box mounts nine inches higher than the Vega box he was using and this change greatly improves the angle of the steering column and the position of the steering wheel.

What Pitman arm are you using? I'd like to find one that will work with a standard Ford tie rod end if I can.

My Olds 215 is mounted low in the chassis. Tomorrow I am going to put a header on the driver's side and see how much room I have. I want the drag link to run parallel to and slightly above the wishbone. May not be possible to mount the box on top of the rails (the way you and Zipper do it) and still have room for the pitman arm to hang down and get this alignment. Need to find a Corvair box and pitman arm to play with.

Zipper's originally installed the Vega box with the pitman arm pointing up. He used a Pete and Jakes pitman arm shortened one inch. If I go this way I will most likely have to pass the sector through a hole (or perhaps a notch) in the frame. More complicated but it may be my only alternative.

One of those situations where I simply have to mock up the various options and go with the one that works the best.

I appreciate your interest and help. And hopefully this will benefit Catman too.

catman · October 23, 2006, 09:38:01 PM

yep the pictures are great, thanks donsrod and bib, bib I sent you an e-mail of a corvair box mount that I got from rodfather on the OTHER eek message board, sorry no measurements yet...

donsrods · October 23, 2006, 10:47:57 PM

What kind of measurements do you need? I'll be over at my shop tomorrow PM after work and will take whatever pictures and measurements that would help you.

I had to mount mine on top of the frame with the arm pointing down. I am putting this car so low that I didn't want anything below the bottom of the frame, and the frame is only about 5 inches off the ground in front and 6 in the rear. I think the steering arms are stock corvair. I bought both steering boxes I have on Ebay and both came with the same arm, except one is chromed.

I wanted to eliminate bump steer as much as possible, so I mounted the box so the end of the arm is pretty close to the wishbone arc. I am using a glass body, and since they have very little strength by themselves, I built a bolt in cowl roll bar that also ties into my dash. My upper steering column support and windshield tie into this roll bar setup. It should eliminate any flex I hope.

Let me look in my computer pictures and see if there are any more pictures that might help you guys out.

Don