I'm looking for a quick ratio manual steering box for my 66 Chevelle SS 396.
Any ideas???

Check here (http://www.geocities.com/diels12000/SteeringBox.html) for some good info

Also search the Brakes and Suspension forum. There are also new quick ratio boxes available.

EDIT: didn't notice you were looking for a manual box, still do a search in Brakes and Suspension.

I would think that a quick ratio manual would be harder to use at slow speeds.

Power Steering Services (http://www.powersteering.com) can convert a p/s box to quick ratio and they rebuild manual units. They might be able to convert a manual box to a quicker ratio...not sure.

You won't need a gym membership with a quick ratio manual box if you plan on driving it regularly. I'd imagine it would be similar to driving a power steering car with the belt disconnected.

Tom

You won't need a gym membership with a quick ratio manual box if you plan on driving it regularly. I'd imagine it would be similar to driving a power steering car with the belt disconnected.

Tom

LOL! :D I was thinking the same thing... a power steering box without a pump would be the quick and dirty way to do it. ;)

There are a couple of drawbacks to using a quick ratio Saginaw power gear in manual mode.

The Saginaw power gear is certainly strong enough to be driven without a pump for power assist. HOWEVER! It was designed to have power steering fluid inside it to lubricate all the moving parts. So you need to connect the return port directly to the pressure port (bypassing the pump) with a short section of "U" shaped hose or pipe. This will allow power steering fluid inside the gear to pass back and forth as the gear travels from right turn to left turn etc.

Pushing the fluid back and forth is going to add some additional resistance and will cause your steering effort to go up.

You could just remove the belt from the power steering pump and leave the gear connected to it, but now you have to move a lot of oil all the way up to the pump reservoir and back as you steer. This would add more restance than the "U" hose.

One last thing, the power gear has a torsion bar built into the input shaft of the gear. The torsion bar has a small amount of "windup" motion designed into it in order to activate power steering. As you drive the car down the road in manual mode, you will always be twisting the torsion bar back and forth before you actually start steering the car. I would guess that you are looking for a good crisp feeling in your steering. You really aren't looking for additional lost motion caused by the power steering gear torsion bar.

JIML82

I definitely would not recommend driving a power stering car in manual mode for any length of time. I had a 67 Cougar in high school and drove it for 1 1/2 years that way. It's no fun to drive. None of my friends would even drive it (maybe that was because it was a Ford product?).

Tom

Maybe I phrased my question wrong. I would like a little quicker steering without having to turn the wheel a half dozen times each way . LOL I don't know if it's possible , just looking for a little firmer feel with not as much effort.
Thanks,
Fred

...just looking for a little firmer feel with not as much effort.
That certainly cleared it up for me Fred :)

Sounds like what you might want is power steering with a stiff torsion bar. If you research power steering boxes you will find that one parameter is the turns lock to lock or ratio. The other critical parameter is the torsion bar size which affects how much you have to turn before the power assist kicks in.

There are web sites with this information... JIML82 has provided a lot of info on this although it is a bit hidden. Not too hidden though since I was able to find it in the past (just don't have the URL handy right now...).

I have manual steering in my car. Most of these responses are dealing with power steering. I would like to keep manual steering, but it seem
s that there are no manual steering boxes with a quicker ratio than the stock box. Couple of questions. Would a rebuild on my present steering box or the purchase of a new box increase steering efficiency? Does anyone have a complete power steering setup for a 66 Chevelle for sale?
Thanks,
Fred

I used the entire set-up, pump brackets and close ratio box from an early '70's firebird for my project. Most firebirds are close ratio. About 3 turns lock to lock and power steering to boot! Bolted right into my '68. But I'm using a 350 for power, not sure which motor you have here.
BTW, after I installed the box to the frame and hooked up the pitman arm the steering effort was greatly reduced from the manual box even without the pump hooked up. (power steering is the way to go)!
Thinking back, I did have to modify my pitman arm, but it was definately worth it!
Good luck

I regularly update a lot of my Chevelle and Camaro steering papers as new information becomes available. The most recent papers are always available at Terry Rudy's www.corvettefaq.com/A-car.asp websight.

If you go to the above websight, you will be taken to a listing of my steering papers. The Fast Ratio Gear paper is right at the top of the list. The power steering gear spreadsheets are right below.

You will also note that there are many papers on the standard (non-adjustable) steering columns and tilt columns.

Hope this helps,
JIML82

there is a rebuilding service that can make the ratio closer but i don't think it is a true close ratio. i posted the same question quite a while ago but the info escapes me. i believe that some of the early Z-28 boxes were a closer ratio and that it can be rebuilt to those specs for about $240. mike

You might send an email to this guy for a power steering unit before they crush the car. It's from a 67 but will work, http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=104368

i know the 68-up had a quicker ratio p/s box, you might ck one with a manuel box and see if its quicker-measure yours lock to lock, and have someone ck theirs

As said above, I don't think you'll find a quicker ratio manual box because it would be way too hard to turn. You're only hope would be to adapt a box for some other application. Sorry I'm not much help, but I think you'll find that most people here are using power steering.

Ryan