Fevre

Was just curious sense it looks like something I would be interested in if the $ was right and it worked well.

Thanks

Chris


[Modified by Fevre, 9:15 AM 9/18/2002]

Chuck Harmon

Chris,

It still hasn't arrived yet. My biggest worry is that when it does I take as much time to get around installing it as the Seeroids guys have :bb

They thought it would be about 5 days to get it out of their shop, probably a week more til it arrives. Should be here anytime soon.

Currently, I am in the middle of a rather major painting job on the inside of the house, business has me jumping (which is good to pay for such orders), and I am leaving tomorrow for a few days for our 20th anniversary. Life is rough :D

I know there are going to be a few more parts I need to get before I have everything for the installation. I will keep careful notes as to what, where, and how much such items will be.

Chuck

Fevre

Thanks Chuck!

If you can, when you get it let us know your initial impression. That fabricating looks like something Norval or Monty could handle as far as the bracket. Wish I had their skills and resources. :cry But this would not be something I would want to learn on, maybe start with a muffler weld up. :D


[Modified by Fevre, 11:09 AM 9/18/2002]

72GACRZR

If you haven't seen the article that was in Vette, try this site http://www.vetteweb.com/tech/0208vet...oll/index.html

Hope it helps. :seeya

jackson

Chuck & Chris:
I too am interested in that PS box ... where does it come from ... approx cost ... other threads? Thanks
JACK

Fevre

Here's a link to Chuck's original thread:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=384957

Chuck Harmon

Fevre,

I have little doubt that I could probably take a Jeep Cherokee box from a wrecking yard and make it work. The biggest hassle is to convert the 4 hole standard setup to the 3 hole Corvette design. Since the brackets are attached to the engine side of the mount, it will not make the box sit further from the frame and make more of a clearance problem. But I doubt that once I see it I couldn't fabricate something myself. The other hassle is the pitman arm. I don't have time to try to find the combination that would work best. For the couple hundred dollars I might save by doing all the engineering and searching myself I would be saving far less than what it would cost me in time.

Henry,

The system I ordered is better for me than the Steeroids because of its simplicity. A small pump plumbed to a steering box no larger than what is there now. No steering rack to hang below. No interference problems with my BB headers. I have no preference of worm and ball vs. rack and pinion. There are good and bad units made for both. The quality of the box is what I value. This box with roller bearings, etc. is far and away better than the original. I have also driven this box in other cars and liked it very much. The rack & pinion in my ZO6 is great, but it would be wrong to credit the cars fantastic handling to the R&P. Tires and suspension make for most of this. It is the slop free connectedness to the road that impresses. Ferrari used a worm and ball for years with great success in its larger 12 cylinder road cars.

To add controversy, I would bet that most people couldn't tell the difference between a new factory worm & ball setup vs. a non power assist rack & pinion if the overall steering gear ratios were the same. The "Emperor's New Clothes" story is very profound and applicable to many car upgrades!

It is not so much the design or quality of the original manual steering box that has me looking elsewhere; but, simply the need for power steering because of my much wider and stickier than original tires in an urban environment. My manual steering is very tight and solid feeling with very good feedback now after replacing all bushings and joints. Over 30mph the manual box really is not too bad. But I expect to gain that "polo pony" feel once I get the new system in place! :yesnod:

Chuck

Fevre

Glad to hear you have driven a car with it in it. I too have big o' tires and turning when stopped takes a great deal of effort and I am an old school musclehead. :) Like you said, above 30 no problems.

Let the $ keep flowing out! :D

Chuck Harmon

Fevre,

I should explain that when I said I have driven other cars with this steering box, they were not Corvettes. This is a 605 production box made by Saginaw, formerly owned by GM, that builds many of the steering boxes for numerous car manufacturers including Jeep. I owned such a Jeep.

Chuck

Fevre

After I posted it, that thought did cross my mind.

I am thinking of adding a hydro boost system at the same time. I do love having nothing in my way when working on the engine but think one little pump will be worth it to add power steering and power brakes.

Jim Shea

Guys,

The thing that I don't understand is how the adapter brackets are supposed to work. If you overlay the Jeep 4 bolt mount over the Corvette gear 3 bolt (keeping the pitman shaft centerline and the input shaft centerlines the same in the side view) you will find the following:

The forward two Jeep tapped mounting holes are close but are not in line with the two Corvette frame holes.

the third frame hole (on the rearward side) lies right between the two Jeep tapped mounts.

The Corvette frame should have inserts inside to keep the rails from crushing when you torque the gear mounting bolts. I haven't seen them, but I assume they are probably cylinderical steel tubes that are welded in place inside the frame rail at each bolt hole location.

So I don't see how you can fit the forward bolts since they would have to slice right through the sides of both frame inserts. Also, if you are using the Jeep gear mounting holes to bolt your adapters, the bolts coming through the Corvette frame should interfere with them.

An adapter for the one rear Corvette mount should be easy to fabricate.

The only thing I can see to get the two forward bolt holes to align would be to tip the gear down 12 degrees. This would align the front two bolt holes but now your steering geometry is way off since your pitman shaft is no longer in line with your idler arm pivot. Also you would have to have some type of universal joint for the column attachment since the flexible coupling will only take a 5 degree max angle. Maybe I am missing something.

BTW, the Saginaw 600 gear actually doesn't have any better support for the pitman shaft than the old Corvette manual gear.

Both gears depend on ball bearings to support the input shaft.

Both gears use recirculating ***** to convert rotary motion from the input shaft to rotary motion of the pitman shaft.

Both gears support the pitman shaft with bushings.

The 600 gear has a small diameter rotary valve to direct oil flow to provide power assist. The Corvette system depends upon a slide valve to direct the oil flow. Theoretically, you are just trading linear valve motion for rotary motion between the two systems.

Now you are comparing a quite high quality, modern recirculating ball gear, to a gear that is thirty some years old.

redvetracr

Chuck,
Please correct me BUT wasn`t the "kit" originally designed for a 55-56-57 Chevy?? ...redvetracr


[Modified by redvetracr, 2:46 PM 9/18/2002]

jackson

Chuck:
You have mail. I'll follow your project with great interest. I too like this approach better than rack.

Chris:
Thanks for the link.
Jack

Chuck Harmon

Jim,

As I understand it, you are correct with all you've said. Both systems are worm and ball. My earlier post was to explain that I really don't care much about the romance of a R & P system. The newer worm & ball with the benefit of 30 years of improvements makes a big difference.

There is not supposed to be any modifications necessary to my frame. His modifications to the steering box are to mount up to the existing frame holes. And yes, this was also developed for the 55-57 Chevy.

Your thoughts on angle changes, etc, are what induced me to buy what has already been worked out by them instead of performing my own R&D.

I would love to hear your feedback if you were to call Corvette Steering and discuss with Tom in much more detail the merits of his sytem. Your background is far greater than mine in this area.

Chuck

Fevre

Here it is installed:



Think they should have done it on a cleaner car but if it works......

Page link:

http://www.corvettesteering.com/Corvette%20Parts.htm

71roadster

Chuck,
Do you or anyone else have any idea what that pitman arm was originally used for? Any chance you could weedle that info out of the owner of CV steering? I'd like to try this myself but would rather dig up the parts as time allows.


Chris