Hi, I am new to this forum,
Thanks in advance.
I recently got a 69 302 convertible with an AOD. It is a sweet car, I love it! It is a driver and I am fixing it up while driving rather than doing a full restoration all at once. While I love the car, I am not loving the brakes or the steering. I have had numerous cars in the past with manual brakes and manual steering, but neither has ever been as difficult to operate as the steering and brakes in the mustang. It would be straight up impossible for my wife to parallel park the car. I am upgrading to disc brakes with a manual booster and that seems straight forward, but I am not finding a lot of information on the steering. A lot of people seem to upgrade to power steering, or to manual rack and pinion, and I might go that route, but I am wondering if that is necessary. I feel like a little improvement would make a big difference. Has the steering degraded as the steering box has gotten old, or was it always this difficult to turn? After doing a bit of research I am pretty confident that I can rebuild the box, but will it reduce the turning resistance? there are a number of videos of folks rebuilding their steering box (typically to reduce lash) but none of them discuss the end result once they put it back in the car. Has anyone out there replaced or rebuilt their box and noticed a substantial reduction in steering resistance? I feel like the steering is fine while moving, similar to other manual steering cars I have owned, but when at a stop it is almost impossible to turn the wheels. it has a 13" steering wheel right now and I am replacing it for a 15", but I feel like it will take a little more than just the wheel diameter before it would become something that can be reasonably parallel parked. I am not sure of my ratio, but currently it feels like 4 full rotations lock to lock.
I would love to hear people's experience with steering boxes.
Thanks
Thanks in advance.
I recently got a 69 302 convertible with an AOD. It is a sweet car, I love it! It is a driver and I am fixing it up while driving rather than doing a full restoration all at once. While I love the car, I am not loving the brakes or the steering. I have had numerous cars in the past with manual brakes and manual steering, but neither has ever been as difficult to operate as the steering and brakes in the mustang. It would be straight up impossible for my wife to parallel park the car. I am upgrading to disc brakes with a manual booster and that seems straight forward, but I am not finding a lot of information on the steering. A lot of people seem to upgrade to power steering, or to manual rack and pinion, and I might go that route, but I am wondering if that is necessary. I feel like a little improvement would make a big difference. Has the steering degraded as the steering box has gotten old, or was it always this difficult to turn? After doing a bit of research I am pretty confident that I can rebuild the box, but will it reduce the turning resistance? there are a number of videos of folks rebuilding their steering box (typically to reduce lash) but none of them discuss the end result once they put it back in the car. Has anyone out there replaced or rebuilt their box and noticed a substantial reduction in steering resistance? I feel like the steering is fine while moving, similar to other manual steering cars I have owned, but when at a stop it is almost impossible to turn the wheels. it has a 13" steering wheel right now and I am replacing it for a 15", but I feel like it will take a little more than just the wheel diameter before it would become something that can be reasonably parallel parked. I am not sure of my ratio, but currently it feels like 4 full rotations lock to lock.
I would love to hear people's experience with steering boxes.
Thanks