Recently bought a "55 210 with manual steering. Looking to convert to power steering before too long. Confused about having to shorten the stock steering shaft/column. Can a shortened shaft be purchased? Any advice on this conversion would be appreciated. Thanks!
*Power Steering Conversion
musser72
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Recently bought a "55 210 with manual steering. Looking to convert to power steering before too long. Confused about having to shorten the stock steering shaft/column. Can a shortened shaft be purchased? Any advice on this conversion would be appreciated. Thanks!
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248 Posts
Power steering conversion...
Hello:
There are different ways to go about this:
1) add the OEM power assist that came from the factory, which is an assist, using the same box you have;
2) Buy a new box from Classic Performance Products or the like, which is a bolt-in installation, with the proper hardware they sell, after you buy an end-to-end system;
3) Use a Saginaw 605 box, and follow these instructions, if you have a little bit of machinist-like abilities and mechanical ability, but you can do it at home... http://carnut.com/specs/steering/fpwr605.html This is the route I am going, it uses the original steering box "snout" and modified steering shaft / gear. The original "snout" extends the Saginaw 605 box with the modified original steering gear, and requires no new drilloing into the frame, etc, except for a small welded brace to fasten the 605 box to the side of the frame. It takes a little engineering; I've had my 57 since 1977, and I come from an era where you modified parts, because therre were no bolt-on modifications available in the 80's. If you're not in a rush for "fast-food", you can casually find a 605 box, rebuild it (not that hard, very few components inside, mainly a cast-iron cavity), and do it inexpensively. Then, you can mount up a steering shaft & column of your choice (junkyard / CPP / IDidit-type steering column) and yopu are good to go. I am still in the assembly of the entire system from pitman arm to steering wheel.
The primary factors are your budget (I have a 4 door-sedan budget, limited headroom on the $$ for resale), your level of mechanical and engineering abilities, and "when do you want it done by"?). My refurbish is years long, the car is down for a while, I don't mind, because I do not want to max out the budget just on steering.
If you have interest in option 3, take a look at the instructions in the link I provided, they are very complete, and way at the bottom, there are foot notes of the steering boxes, and how they fit with the various GM years. I did not write the instructions, but I used them & found them poretty complete. The Saginaw 605 box used is very common on the mid-size Chevy's in the 80's.
Once you get away from the OEM box, things become very manageable; whichever way you go, you can then dismantle the steering in components, because the later steering shafts either had a "rag joint" connecting the steering shaft to the box, or alternatively, you can use a steering U-Joint, which gives a more harder feel of the road, because it is a steel-to-steel coupling, as opposed to a "rag joint", which has a molded rubber in steel mesh" coupling between the shaft and the box. As you may or may not know, the OEM steering's shaft went directly into the box, making component-at-a-time removal impossible. Good Luck.
Hello:
There are different ways to go about this:
1) add the OEM power assist that came from the factory, which is an assist, using the same box you have;
2) Buy a new box from Classic Performance Products or the like, which is a bolt-in installation, with the proper hardware they sell, after you buy an end-to-end system;
3) Use a Saginaw 605 box, and follow these instructions, if you have a little bit of machinist-like abilities and mechanical ability, but you can do it at home... http://carnut.com/specs/steering/fpwr605.html This is the route I am going, it uses the original steering box "snout" and modified steering shaft / gear. The original "snout" extends the Saginaw 605 box with the modified original steering gear, and requires no new drilloing into the frame, etc, except for a small welded brace to fasten the 605 box to the side of the frame. It takes a little engineering; I've had my 57 since 1977, and I come from an era where you modified parts, because therre were no bolt-on modifications available in the 80's. If you're not in a rush for "fast-food", you can casually find a 605 box, rebuild it (not that hard, very few components inside, mainly a cast-iron cavity), and do it inexpensively. Then, you can mount up a steering shaft & column of your choice (junkyard / CPP / IDidit-type steering column) and yopu are good to go. I am still in the assembly of the entire system from pitman arm to steering wheel.
The primary factors are your budget (I have a 4 door-sedan budget, limited headroom on the $$ for resale), your level of mechanical and engineering abilities, and "when do you want it done by"?). My refurbish is years long, the car is down for a while, I don't mind, because I do not want to max out the budget just on steering.
If you have interest in option 3, take a look at the instructions in the link I provided, they are very complete, and way at the bottom, there are foot notes of the steering boxes, and how they fit with the various GM years. I did not write the instructions, but I used them & found them poretty complete. The Saginaw 605 box used is very common on the mid-size Chevy's in the 80's.
Once you get away from the OEM box, things become very manageable; whichever way you go, you can then dismantle the steering in components, because the later steering shafts either had a "rag joint" connecting the steering shaft to the box, or alternatively, you can use a steering U-Joint, which gives a more harder feel of the road, because it is a steel-to-steel coupling, as opposed to a "rag joint", which has a molded rubber in steel mesh" coupling between the shaft and the box. As you may or may not know, the OEM steering's shaft went directly into the box, making component-at-a-time removal impossible. Good Luck.
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1,281 Posts
Happy New Year.
CPP500 is the most popular, and from what I can gather, the best value. 14:1 ratio instead of the factory 22:1 so apart from the effort required, it makes quite a bit of difference. I've had it (with the shortened column for 8 years), no problems. The CPP500 box is longer than the stock box, at the top, so to get it to fit, the column needs to be shortened, or a shortened column purchased and installed. At $169.00 for a new shortened column, I know which way I would go
.If you are going to the trouble of adding power steering, I would recommend that you consider other upgrades at the same time. I did them piece by piece, should have done it all at once. Add top control arms with added caster and taller ball joints (0.9" are reportedly the best, I have 0.5"). Factory style upper arms are available from CPP for $199.00, add front sway bar (min 1"), and 2" lowered spindles. Add a wheel alignment, and you won't believe the difference, closest thing to a new (modern) car.
Steering boxes and kits here; http://www.classicperform.com/NewProducts/2006/NewFiles/Series500.htm
Shortened columns; CPP5556OSC-K for 55 and 56 cars, CPP57OSC-K for 57 cars. http://www.classicperform.com/fullsize.htm
Good luck.
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2,996 Posts
Welcome.
One more thing to add concerning the 550 gear (or any PS gear): it will not work on a column shifted manual transmission, unless you want to do a LOT of firewall modifications. Auto trans that is column shift and ALL floor shift trans are OK.
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50,408 Posts
Welcome from Tennessee ..... CPP 500 is great set up ..... :anim_25:
Cowboy :flag6:
:gba:
bowtie-trifive
Cowboy :flag6:
:gba:
bowtie-trifive
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6,926 Posts
Cpp 500 box is the way to go. I have one on my 55 and 57 with an ididit column and cpp rag joint. You won't be disappointed.
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3,589 Posts
No, it uses the std steering parts. You may need a new pitman arm if you can't get the stock one off. :bowtier:
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1,281 Posts
Two things to add;
If you are considering a brake upgrade, now would be the time to do it, when everything is apart.
If you are considering a brake upgrade, now would be the time to do it, when everything is apart.
Careful which arm you get; http://www.trifive.com/forums/showthread.php?t=168354
Thanks for the info, I am in the process of assembling a parts list and hope to start tear down this spring. I will endeavor to use the stock pitman arm in light of the possible aftermarket problems I see others are having. Currently looking at all options for drop spindles and a 11-12 inch disk brake setup.
This site is a gold mine of information thanks.
This site is a gold mine of information thanks.
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943 Posts
Power Steering
The conversions discussed in this thread come highly recommended so I have to believe are good upgrades. I was intimidated by the prospect of cutting the steering column and other required modifications so went with adding OEM style Power Steering to my 55.
My car is pretty much stock and the OEM style PS works just fine. It handles just fine in low speed situations as well as 75-80 MPH on the interstates. My car has modest acceleration so not sure what it would handle like with a lot of power to keep under control.
The OEM style PS is all bolt on and pretty easy to do.
Good luck with whichever direction you choose.
The conversions discussed in this thread come highly recommended so I have to believe are good upgrades. I was intimidated by the prospect of cutting the steering column and other required modifications so went with adding OEM style Power Steering to my 55.
My car is pretty much stock and the OEM style PS works just fine. It handles just fine in low speed situations as well as 75-80 MPH on the interstates. My car has modest acceleration so not sure what it would handle like with a lot of power to keep under control.
The OEM style PS is all bolt on and pretty easy to do.
Good luck with whichever direction you choose.
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522 Posts
Do you have a picture of your install ? Or any words on how to install it?
I have a ps unit with the original generstor/pump as well off a 57. The manual steering on 55 56 and 57 are the same so the gactory ps should bolt right up i think. Had to alter the power brakecassy install to get the generator to clear but thst was relatively easy with the offset bracket and a few extra mounting holes to get it where I needed it.
I have a ps unit with the original generstor/pump as well off a 57. The manual steering on 55 56 and 57 are the same so the gactory ps should bolt right up i think. Had to alter the power brakecassy install to get the generator to clear but thst was relatively easy with the offset bracket and a few extra mounting holes to get it where I needed it.
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943 Posts
Here are a couple of photos taken after the major components were installed. Essentially a control valve is mounted on the centerlink, an assist cylinder mounts between the centerlink and frame. When you turn the steering wheel it opens a valve to move the cylinder until it reaches the desired position. It had much better road feel than I was expecting.
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522 Posts
Did you have to replace the pitman arms with the ones used on the original power steering units ?
There is only one pitman arm per car. The side opposite the pitman arm (and steering box) has an “idler arm”. As you suggest, there are manual steering and power steering pitman arms.Also manual and power steering idler arms. To complicate things, aftermarket power steering uses the manual steering pitman and idler arms.
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522 Posts
I thought they were both called pitman arms. I see your passenger side looks like original. Then you just had to swap out the steering side?
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522 Posts
Looks like this unit basically just bolts in place of the relay rod and uses the same control rods.
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31,657 Posts
The power steering idler arm is different as Rick said. It just looks the same.
The left inner tie rod end is also different.
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522 Posts
So i have to order that somewhere eh ? I thought his idler was original cause it wasn't all painted up pretty like the rest of the stuff..lol
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522 Posts
But they sent the old power steering arms anyway. However the dumb assessment that removed this cut the rods off with a torch. S I don't have the left steering arm.
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