Monty

I got my Steeroids kit today. Here's a picture of the kit. So far, everything looks really nice. The brackets are powdercoated black, the tie rod sleeves are gold anodized aluminum. The packaging was very thorough. I inventoried the kit against the supplied parts list, but some of it is difficult to determine what it is. Unfortunately, the instructions do not have any pictures or illustrations. Things like a left or side bracket are hard to determine, hopefully it will make better sense when I'm putting it together. However, at first glance it's appearant that I may be missing a couple of items - it seems my kit is missing 2 tie rod ends, and some kind of frame gusset. I was told that the frame gusset would be sent later as it wasn't ready yet, but I needed the kit ASAP because i"m getting my turbo headers made this weekend and I need to have the steering system in place so they can built it correctly.

Anyway, here's a picture of the kit. I'll post later after I make some progress installing it.

ZD75blue

the kit looks great... wonder if someone could take measurements for us do it your selfers... read as cheap guys :jester

Shutdown1

Thanks, Monty.


'74 Turbocharged 350, "Molested to Perfection," class of '71

Eddie 70

This is another one of those things that I would like to do. I wish I had enough money to do the things that I wanted to do.

So little money, so many projects. I think that is how it goes.

Monty

Unfortunately, the kit I received today is missing a couple of items - the two inner tie rods and the steering shaft support bearing. So this is as far as I got tonight. I'll call SpeedDirect tomorrow and see if they can overnight the missing parts to me - I hope so cause the car goes to the chassis shop this saturday for the the turbo setup.

Here's the driver side bracket from below.

Here's the driver side bracket from above. They provided all the necessary fasteners, gold anodized grade 8, but I substituted their fasteners for ARP stainless steel fasteners.

Here's the passenger side bracket from below. In my kit, bolt holes drilled to mount the rack are drilled incorrectly. The two holes are about 1/2" too close, kinda disappointing, but nothing that can't be easily fixed. When I call tomorrow about the missing inner tie rods and support bearing, I'll mention it to them so that they can correct it on subsequent kits.

Here's the passenger side bracket from the top.

Here's a lower view of the steering rack installed. Due to the deep sump oil pan I use, there is only about 1/4" clearance between the pan and the top of the rack. My pan depth is 4.5" below the pan rails at the front, so if anyone is using an aftermarket deep sump pan, keep this in mind. Regardless, as you can see, both the oil pan and the Vette Brakes fornt transverse spring are slightly lower than the steering rack, so the installation of the steering rack will not reduce ground clearance.

Here's the steering shaft. There should be a shaft support bearing, but it was missing from my kit. It is basically just a sherical rod end that bolts to the driver side bracket. Also, in my opinion, the balck shaft between the two u-joints needs to be about 1/2" longer to provide full engage to both the steering column and the steering rack. It could just be my car, and it could be that my steering column is partially collapsed. I rebuilt my steering column last summer, and may not have reextended it fully. I'll recheck it tomorrow.


More to come later, but I would like to point out that I test fitted the tie rods and the outer tie rods and inner tie rods appear to be on the same horizontal and lateral planes. There was some concern by some forum members about the angularity of the the tie rods causing a side loading on the steering rack and traveler, that does not appear to be the case, and it jsut looked like that from the pics that Burners posted several weeks ago.

Other than the missing items, which can happen with any kit from any vendor from time to time, the kit seems real nice so far, and is easy to put together, even if there are no pics or illistrations in the instructions.

Shutdown1

Damn Monty,


Hurry up and get that thing on the road and tell us what it's like!

Bluewasp

:cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool:

Monty

I called SpeedDirect this morning regarding the missing items and they were very responsive about it and promised to send the missing items to me today, second day air. So far so good.

By the way, the universal joints are from Flaming River, as is the support bearing and the intermediate steering shaft. If you're familiar with street rodding and custom cars, Flaming River is one of the most well known manufacturers and distributors of custom steering components.

Some people have expressed some concerns about the angularity of the universal joints. Flaming River recommends a maximum of a 60 degree angle. With the kit installed and adjusted correctly, I measured a maximum of about 40 to 45 degree angle, so their should not be any problems there.


[Modified by Monty, 9:16 AM 1/8/2002]

gkull

Your not going to do well at the judging. If your car was a little more civil I ask to drive to see if the steering feel is that much better. Today is sunny dry and a high of 60 so I'm out driving the Vette today.

Monty

What judging - NCRS? My car is a mockary of everything the NCRS stands for, just the way I want it to be. I doubt you'd garner to many points and affection from that crowd yourself George.

I'm about 2 months from giving driving impressions - but my project is on track to be completed by the end of March. It's going to the racecar shop this saturday for the turbo headers, etc. They'll have it for about a month, and then I'll have a month to get the motor dynoed and tuned, and reinstalled. In the mean time while the motor is at the machine shop, I can finish up all the loose odds and ends. Once the motor is dynoed, all I need is a weekend to get it back together and I'll be prowling the streets, hunting snake.

By they way, thanks for rubbing it in. It's about 25 degrees here.


[Modified by Monty, 9:48 AM 1/8/2002]

SmokedTires

Monty the install either looks pretty straight forward or you just make it look easy :crazy: . Very interesting upgrade, something else for me to spend money on in the future ;) .

Monty

It really is very easy. When I initially opened the kit and took that first picture, I commented on the lack of illustration or pictures in the directions. I specifically commented about the brackets, after I started installing it, I felt dumb for making that comment because it's obvious which is which - hte drivers side bracket bolts to the frame via 3 bolts, while the passenger side bolts to the frame via 2 bolts. Not too hard to figure that out - DOH!

Seriously, if the kit would have not been missing the two inner tie rods and support bearing, I would have had it fully installed in about 2-3 hours - I already had the original steering system removed.

Flareside

Looks great Monty! I have a bunch of greasy old power steering parts in my basement that I've been reluctant to rebuild and install. Looks like my money may be better spend on the R&P. I can't wait to hear your eval.

Shutdown1

Geeeez, man.

'74 Turbocharged 350, "Molested to Perfection," class of '71

groovyjay

Looks great Monty. You got me thinking that why shouldn't I order one as well. I really haven't given this that much thought before but now that I've seen how easy it looks to install and the benefits of handling accuracy I'm all for it! :cheers:
Just got back in from the garage and that original steering box looked worts than ever ;) !
Keep us posted how it all worked out.
Jay

ZD75blue

hey Monty,

Cool pics of the install, sorry you didnt get all the parts...

have you seen the steering quickener thats in summit?

part number HRE-5222

pretty cool, can quicken the speed by 50% or slow it by 50%

not sure if it would work well on our cars, but worth looking at

Monty

Last night when I installed the rack, there was a centering procedure where you turn the rack lock to lock and divide by two to center it. The rack appears to be about 2.25 turns, lock to lock. That seems pretty quick to me.

I looked into the AGR power steering boxes and that seems like the a good solution, but they dont offer a box that has the same mounting bolt pattern as what is in the frame. One of the attractive things is that they are offered with a variety of rates and power ratios.

Those steering quickeners seem like a good option if you want to quicken the ratio. I guess you would have to collapse the steering column some to make room for it.

Robert8096

Looks great. How much of a pain was that front transverse spring install ?
Looking to get the setup for my 80 and maybe the rack setup also. Where
did you get the spring kit? Saw it in a catalog but I am gun shy of them because I ordered someting from them and had to send it back twice. :mad Spinner caps. Not a major deal but it must be for them.

Monty

The front transverse spring kit is from Vette Brakes and Products, they are the manufacturers of it - Mid America, Ecklers, ZIP, etc are merely distibutors of it. I have had the VB front spring kit on since 1994 and have never had a problem with it. The only thing I've done over the years is keep it lubed. It's so good, you forget about it. I don't see it now, but when I first installed it, the difference between it and the stock system was significant. Albeit the stock system was 12 years old and some of the rubber bushings were in need of attention, and the springs may have been soft, but I felt it was a worthwhile mod.

Vette Brakes doesn't make spinner kits, I wouldn't associate the two.

As a side note, there were some questions as to if the Steeroids kit would fit if the VB transverse spring is used - it obviously does.


[Modified by Monty, 9:06 PM 1/8/2002]

groovyjay

Hy Monty, I just got to thinking would that system clear Big Block with headers? By looking the pictures I really can't tell. :)