Rack and pinion conversion
 

The power steering in my 67 Mustang is shot. I want to get some suggetsions if I should stay with the stock steering setup and fix the power steering or convert it to a stock manual setup; or convert it to a rack and pinion power steering or manual. If you know of any suppliers of the rack and pinion setup please pass them along.

Why not just get one of those conversion "thingies" from Mustang Plus for $100 or so? Seems the cheapest and simplest.

Rev

Yellow,
The thing about the older mustangs as that you can't get a good in-between. In other words, the power steering setup on those cars has a very strong pump which makes it hard to "feel" the road through the steering wheel, so you can basically just drive with one finger on the steering wheel. On the other hand, if you go with the manual conversion, from what I've been told, just a half hour of driving can make your arms sore for days, especially when driving at low speeds.

I've heard that the power steering pump can be replaced with one that produces less pressure so it creates less assistance to the steering wheel. Total Control Products (the guys who made the steering components for "Eleanor" in Gone in 60 Seconds) mention a power steering pump by KRC that allows you to change the flow fittings so that you can change the sensitivity of your steering system. Sounds great to me, but the MSRP is $799.

Another suggestion is to go with a mustang II conversion which would give you disc brakes and if you opt to, a coil-over conversion. Rod & Custom Motorsports has kits for all early mustangs and their website address is: http://www.rcmotorsports.net/

Finally, TCP or Total Control Products who as I mentioned earlier is the manufacture of the suspension that Eleanor sported in the remake of Gone in 60 Seconds. Their kits are complete bolt-ons for the most part and in some cases their might be little modifications. Mustang's Plus was named as their direct distributor early last year and it seems that as a result of that, their prices went up quite a bit. When they first began, they would sell a power rack & pinion bolt-on kit for 65-66 mustangs for about $1600, and now they go for $2500, so it would be quite an investment to go with that. By the way you can look at their products at www.totalcontrolproducts.com

I know of a few others who are working on doing some kits for rack & pinion conversion, one of which might be able to sell them for a little under $1000. Another option is to use the rack & pinion from some GM cars including cavaliers and similar body types.

I hope this helps you out and maybe others can shed some light on what seems to work best. I'm personally waiting to see if the under $1000 kit comes out with good feedback. :)


Some other links to look at:
http://home.pacbell.net/ssixto/automotive/R&P/R&P.html
http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2...ck/index.shtml
http://www.nzmustang.com/TechData/rack_install.htm

rack and pinion
 

Danny Bahn at DB Performance Engineering makes a replacement system.
www.dbperformanceengineering.com
2602 North San Gabriel Blvd. Unit C, Rosemead CA 91770
1(626)571-7126
e-mail dbpe@prodigy.net

As stated above...you can do many different things. Just depends on if you want power and if so, how much assist.

Then it gets down to the last basic....how much do you want to spend ?????

Have you considered a Flaming River replacement steering gearbox?

Good Point Jeff,

Mustangs Plus sells a reman steering box for about the same amount that you can buy a brand new one from places like NPD and I'm sure Virginia Mustangs carries them also. If not you can always check out their website at www.flamingriver.com to see who else carries these units.

Steering pump update
 

I did some digging a few backs on the KRC power steering pump, and found (not surprised), that you could get the same power steering pump that TCP suggest MSRP to be $799, for only $215 which doesn't include the aluminum reservoir and mount, but for those pieces the most you would pay would be approximately $70 (not sure, I did my math before, but it's been a while!). I found that:

http://www.charlottewheel.com/catalo...r_steering.htm

These guys, offer these items for decent prices (relative to what TCP suggests). Anyway, thought I would let you all know.

By the way, I also called KRC and found that the valve was adjustable on the pump, so if you wanted you would tighten/lossen the valve and you could change the assist from the pump on the fly without haveing to put a different valve fitting.

Enjoy!