Cowl Steering

[unklian]

heres a basic kit i found a while back that would get you started with a corvair box..http://www.gasalleystreetrods.com/Steering.html

That is the kit that was flamed on the HAMB. And rightfully so.

Not my first choice.

[brucer]

its a basic kit..   bet i could take it and make it work fine.. most builders/home fabricators could. mount to a dom or nice square tube frame, add pillar block, make a better pitman arm.. not rocket science

 
heres the article in streetrodder using the kit in an install. looks good enough to me, only thing i would do is move the pillar block to the inside, and used a piece of tubing across the toe board for the mount..

http://www.streetrodderweb.com/tech/0908sr_gas_alley_street_rods_cowl_steering_conversion_kit/index.html

[brucer]

thos esteering quickeners are high dollar units...

$150
http://howeracing.com/p-7432-original-steering-quickener.aspx
http://howeracing.com/p-7433-stealth-hd-steering-quickener.aspx

Not outrageous if you really want one.

its not needed


its the actual mini-sprint or modified steering units that are the expensive item..my bad, but i did state that in an earlier post

http://www.speedpartz.com/schroeder_steering_assembly.htm

[enjenjo]

thos esteering quickeners are high dollar units...

$150
http://howeracing.com/p-7432-original-steering-quickener.aspx
http://howeracing.com/p-7433-stealth-hd-steering-quickener.aspx

Not outrageous if you really want one.

its not needed


its the actual mini-sprint or modified steering units that are the expensive item..my bad, but i did state that in an earlier post

http://www.speedpartz.com/schroeder_steering_assembly.htm

It depends on what you want it to look like. If you want a 15" Pitman arm like sprint cars, and old modifieds, you will need to slow the steering box down for street driving. On a sprint car, they often have less than one turn lock to lock.

Myself, I would have no problem using a Corvair box, in fact I have in the past with no problems. Plus not al Corvair boxes are created equal, there are some out there with a cast steel case.

It the old Ross boxes used in the 30s, they were much smaller than even a Corvair box. Properly braced most any box would work.

I looked at the BMW box in the past, it was just a bit bulky for a race car replica for my taste. But Glen's looks good, in fact a bit racy. I will consider them again.

[Rochie]

old blue
I'll see what I can get for pictures tomorrow. The car is across town.

[enjenjo]

Frank,
we just finished a dodge box for a 27 T coach.  A little different than what you posted.  We used the cut-off pitman arm spline on the box, welded a tube to it to get outside the body, with a flange welded to it, to bolt the pitman arm to. The machined pitman arm has a hole large enough to get a socket and extension through it to the nut on the splines.  To finish off the the hole we used a chrome spring cap.  Looks great, works great, and Glen is absolutely correct, there is a lot of torque on the box and it has to be braced REALLY well.

I have done them like that too. In some ways I like it better like that.

[Old Blue]

old blue
I'll see what I can get for pictures tomorrow. The car is across town.

Sounds good, that might clear up some questions. Pictures help.

[Rochie]

old blue,
I can't get the pics through the server here so I sent you a pm .  I will send the pics by email

[Rochie]

[Old Blue]

Looks like the pictures came through fine  , thanks.

It looks like that setup will work well.

I see the body is channeled on that 27, I'm left wondering how the same cowl steering idea would work on a roadster that had a non channeled body.

By having my body sitting on top of the frame it looks like my pitman arm would have to be that much longer to get the drag link down to where it would run close to level or at least the same level as the radius rod due to the cowl and dash sitting that much higher in relation to the front spindles.

How would having a long pitman arm like that affect the steering?

Larry.

[Rochie]

Larry,
Frank's post above explained a longer pitman arm
Just mount the steering box lower in the cowl.  If you look at the angle of the steering shaft in the full side shot, you'll see there is a lot of room for adjustment.  The guy that owns the "T" is 6'4" and sits half way into the back seat.
Oh the box is a late 60's Plymouth Valiant

[wayne petty]

i was just surfing around...  ran across this interesting tidbit

http://www.streetrodderweb.com/hotnews/0908sr_steering_pitman_arm/index.html


i know that many of you had seen this.. but i thought i would kick it out into the field of knowledge..


there are also several other articles on cowl steering ...

search for cowl....