I am considering putting the borgeson power steering box in my 72 with floor shift auto. I understand you have to shorten the steering column a couple inches since the new rag joint sits closer to the firewall. But I have searched the forums quite a bit and haven't seen any discussion about what is done with the wheel lock shaft/lever. With the floor shift I could probably do without it. In some cases it seems the column needs to be shortened so much that the rag joint is almost right at the firewall. That wouldn't leave room for the lock lever, right? So how have you dealt with this?
Yes, rag joint fits close to firewall, in order to keep bolts from destroying foam firewall isolation, I reversed and welded to metal plate. Lever removed from column. Only thing I didn’t do was put some kind bearing in bottom of column, have no negative issues w/o it. I had to remove slight amount of metal from floor plate.
Member Tody (Thomas) goes into great detail of how he solved the issues, starts on his post #714..... http://mmb.maverick.to/threads/72-mercury-comet-gt-in-germany.55285/page-48 David
When you removed the lever from the column did you have to do anything at the top end to keep it from locking the wheel? I haven't taken the column apart so not such how all that is actually connected.
I did see that thread but didn't read it as closely as I should have. Seems like it was quite a bit of work to fit it.
It is not as bad or difficult as it may seem, see my posting/pictures on replacing rag joint with U Joint. http://mmb.maverick.to/threads/what-did-you-do-to-your-maverick-or-comet-today.75605/page-832 If you are going with the Borgeson conversion, I would highly recommend replacing the large rag joint with U Joint and would allow the outer column tube to still extend past the firewall, plus it gives a more cleaner look. Tody (Thomas) has a nice write up in his thread. Also, in my above mentioned posting, you can purchase the lower bearing/retainer for our steering column(https://www.ebay.com/itm/284911147647), so basically all you would have to do is cut both the column and inner tube. Yes, you would still have to purchase U Joint, and 1" DD tubing (borgeson p/n: 409536) which would replace the existing OEM. U Joint would be 3/4-36 spline by 1" DD. (https://www.ebay.com/itm/294926114680) Where the neutral safety/back up switch is located at the bottom of the column, underneath it, the column has a slot with a "lever" to activate the switch. When either the column shift lever or floor shift lever is in park it is rotated to one side and key can be removed. When in drive it is now rotated to other side and key can not be removed. So once the lower portion of the inner tube, where the linkage is attached is cut, you just have to make sure that the inner tube is rotated either CW or CCW to the "park" location, so key can be removed and then the steering wheel can be locked. There is approx. 1/8 th rotation of the inner tube. I think member Tody "pinned" the inner tube to column in the park location......... David note: if you use 1" DD tubing, will have to get correct bearing for it, the link is what I used with 3/4" DD.... here is bearing for 1" DD tubing, but OD maybe too small to fit above mentioned bearing/retainer........ https://www.ebay.com/itm/401220085015
Still really no ideal way (that I've seen) to route the hoses with the spring towers in these cars...
Cometized "Chip" on the forum has IIRC has installed a few in his cars and routed hoses through wheel well.
I have not done this conversion, but when contemplating it, that is how I envision running the hoses, soft line from pump to apron, hard line in wheel well through rear apron into gearbox.
That's a great idea. It would look clean, keep the lines away from exhaust heat, and maybe you could plumb a power steering cooler in as well. https://www.chevyhardcore.com/news/quick-tech-is-a-power-steering-cooler-necessary/
