handleing upgrades

[hobgoblin351]

So Ive finally got the Stang up and out on the road again. And she's a beast! Launches as hard as you want , providing you've got the traction. And she settles into the corner nice. The thing that I dont like is all the play in the wheel. Early mustang power steering, has just..... well, too much power. It's a new, except for the power valve, which was rebuilt a few years back, and pretty much a stock setup. The alignment numbers are cas(0*), cam(-1/2), toe(1/4) Am I missing something? I whish I could afford to go out and get one of those kits IE: total control, or Global west. But that's not in the cards right now. And I really dont want to go with manual steering. Any suggestions, on how to get rid of all that play in the wheel?

[Rev]

Could be in the steering box . You can adjust the preload on the worm gear. There is a screw with a lock nut on top of the box. What I did was to loosen the lock nut, turn the adjustment screw clockwise only about an eighth turn, tighten the lock nut and then check for steering wheel play. I repeated that untill most all of the play was gone. Do it only a little at a time so as not to over do it. Try that and see if it helps. It did for me.

Rev

[hobgoblin351]

Hey Rev, there's one you dont hear everyday. Thanks! The car sits in a turn nice, but the play in the wheel dosent give you the confidence you need to really hit it. Sounds like tightening up the steering box will help. At least until I hit lotto and can get a new one from flaming river, along with power R&P. Oh and dont forget a tubular arm kit to get more negative wedge. Thanks again

[Rev]

I do my own alignments for the Stang in the driveway. I do level the wheels right to left and front to back. I use only a tape measure and a level.

I set the camber first at 0 degrees using a level off of the bottom and top edges of the wheels with the car on the ground. I measure the distance between the tires at the fattest points from both the front most and rearmost points.

I can't really measure caster very well, so I just make sure the shim packs are about 3 times at the front as to what they are at the rear on the upper suspension arms. After all that the camber should still be 0, and the toe in I like to be 1/16 to 1/8".

This setting woirks well for me both straight ahead and in the corners.

Rev

[htwheelz67]

There was a trick years ago for overly powered ford PS, cut both the hi pressure and low pressure hoses, install the appropriate sized "tees" in the middle of each hose, the middle of the tees will be the same size, put a small brass shutoff valve between the two as you open the valve it bleeds of some of the high pressure lines pressure to the return line and cuts the amount of power to the steering thus making an adjustable power steering so you can go from full power to no power and anywhere in between.


My ride http://htwheelz.smugmug.com

[hobgoblin351]

now these are the things I like to hear! So it works kinda like an H-pipe on the exhaust. But the valve would let you control the amount of power assit that you're getting. I know that they make adjustable power steering pumps but they are expensive. And right now funds are low! lol How would you go about tapping the lines. Just cut in and then what use screw down clamps? Would the clamps hold up to the high pressure comming out of the pump? The first thing that comes to mind is a brake proportioning valve for the pressure control. But it's probably to small to use. Any ideas?

[htwheelz67]

use a 3/8 gate valve with threads or a brass 1/4" flow control valve used on air tools to cut the air flow down, and yes you can use hose clamps, its been years but we did it on a cougar and I'm positive we used barbed fittings and tees used for splicing airconditioning lines. I think 3/8 tee for the low pressure and a 1/2 x1/2x3/8 (I am really a plumber too) for the high pressure side. Thats basically the theory on adjustable PS pumps but they have an internal bypass. If you dont want to buy the AC fittings home depot or lowes should have all the fittings to make up the tees etc....