My father and I are in the process of restoring a 64 gto that he purchased as an unfinished project. The car was originally a manual steering car and we are in the process of converting to power steering. I have run into some snags that I really hadn't anticipated.


1st: I had to source all of the steering linkage from different places.
The tie rods and idler arm are moog(Oreily auto parts), The steering box is a rebuilt Monte SS box, supposedly(also from Oreily), The pitman arm is from Ground Up, and centerlink is form Speedway motors.

2nd: The pitman arm will not go far enough onto the shaft, I am puzzled why, I reused the nut and lock washer from the manual box and ran it down with an impact wrench. when using the old steering box/pitman arm as a reference the new pitman arm is @ 1/2" further away from the center of the imput shaft(where the rag joint is).

3rd: This difference is apparently enough to keep the centerlink from working, it will not clear the tow hook/ skid on the front of the crossmember. I reassembled all the original parts and everything fit great.

I assume that the problem is with the steering box, but I've never heard of this problem.
Could it be that the pitman arm from ground up is at fault by not having the correct taper?
I am fairly certain that the Monte SS box can be used on the 64-67 cars.

If I am wrong in my assumptions please fill me in, because this is making me look like an idiot to my Dad(ie: the money behind this project).

I have experience on the 68-72 A bodies, I have a 72 SS which I completely rebuilt the front end with no problems.

It turns out that they gave me a manual idler arm, ill tackle that Monday. So far as I know I cannot reuse my old pitman arm due to the size of the opening for the centerlink ball joint being too small. The new pitman arm fits the new centerlink perfectly. My suspision is that I have the wrong steering box. I'll measure the dia of the manual steering box splines to compare it to the new box. I've never heard of pressing on the pitman arm, but that is what it looks like it needs. I just don't want to go too far and damage anything. People around here seem to be tight lipped today, I guess this problem is too simple for many to actually respond to.