Okay... its been a while. Thought i was done with hotrods for a while, but suddenly i find myself building a 74 Rallye Challenger. So... catching up... perusing Firm Feel's site i see they are making (re-making?) the factory-style 16:1 manual steering worm. Bits spendy i guess, but better than a heavy iron FR box thats gonna cost me twice as much.

Question:

Do i need a NICE used box to rebuild? Or does a rebuild (with these new parts) cover all that? Basically... does the physical box wear out? Will the kit fix ANY box?

Basically... i need a used one now, and a beat and sloppy box will cost me a lot less than a tight one. I mean... if i'm rebuilding it anyways...


Also... Will the 16:1 manual box plus Firm Feels fast-ratio pitman (and idler) hit Hooker Super Comps (small block this time)? How about Dougs 453 headers? I'm likely gonna end up with the former.


Thats a chunk o change (especially as this stuff is coming North...), like, thats over a grand... but the idea ov a light front end and 12:1 is getting me excited. I'm not worried about low-speed turning (going BIG on front tires too)... i'm a strong guy.

Holy Crap, man...I thought you dropped off of the face of the Earth! Welcome back!
I have no info regarding your questions...I was impressed to see you pop back in!

Heh... well... it just got too depressing having a Mopar and not being able to use it. Then even more driving a new Mustang, and then the last nail... a Toyota (though a pretty neat one i'll admit). THEN... it got worse... and i sold my baby. So yeah... it got old reading about everyone else's progress, and well... work/life got really busy too (in a good way).

Anyways... i had honestly no ambitions for getting another old car until i was rich. But two days after the 70 left my driveway, i spied this lil roach on CL and well...

I've lurked, occasionally... just didn't post, and quite honestly, i quit paying attention to all the new stuff coming out and what people are doing. Time to play catch up. I wanna be driving this basher by summer. And then i'm gonna sell the Toyota (as great as its been) and never buy another new car again.


So i'll be re-hashing some old questions i'm sure...

If you are doing it yourself, the a-body boxes for slant six cars used a bushing instead of a bearing. If the bushing is worn, it doesn't seem to be an easy DIY. FF can and does remachine them to take a bearing if the bushing is worn.

Otherwise, rebuilding didn't seem to be a big deal. I had one of mine apart last year. Used a spring loaded scale hooked to a wrench to measure the torque since its below what most torque wrenches will do. Just take your time and the shop manual is pretty good.

You would be better ovv buying a new 16:1 box from Rock Auto or PST ....not worth pulling a box apart to change the chuck.

Does driving a car with a power steering box that is disconnected, give the same feel/effort as a manual 16:1 box, so one can better determine if it's a useful ratio?

No, driving a power box without power assist is harder than a manual box of the same ratio.

Several reasons why, different alignment specs, different steering wheel diameters, additional resistance in the "dead" power box.

PLUS the power steering chuck has more slop in the first several degrees of wheel travel that usually gets taken up by fluid pressure once the engine is running the pump.

Call Dick atFirm Feel

Hole-E-crap... Just priced out the whole 16:1 manual box... and its $445... Canadian... SHIPPED. I've just been through a two-day ordeal that turned a pair ov $200 used headers into $550 (to my door)... So this blows me away. Just the chuck and the rebuild kit were $400USD from Firm Feel...

Is Rock Auto good? Good to deal with? How's their stuff?

I use Rock Auto for all my parts I can wait for. Stuff I need now I go to NAPA. Used oil I go to Autozone.

I had to return an electrical part that was bad out of the box, zero issues what so ever, though I did have to buy the replacement, return the defective and get reimbursed.

By the time you get a Firm Feel 16:1 up to Canada without a core you will be into it for around $ 1100.
Rock Auto is great...the only thing is sometimes if you order multiple items they all show up at different times form different places.

Okay... now i'm excited.