Ok guys here it is April 1 and its kind of cold and nasty here in comparison to how it has been the last couple weeks...(ok ok its in the 50's but its been in the 70's the last couple days and that was extremely nice) Last year I bought one of the Borgeson power steering kits from a seller on ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1970-71-72-...Parts_Accessories&hash=item1e5feed502&vxp=mtr the only reason I bought from him is he had one in stock. You know these are the kits that about everyone has hear about but nobody has installed and run one yet. (there is another install thread on these calling it a Borg unit (hence my post of a couple days ago) but he didnt run it, the car is still a work in progress.) Now the reason I was worried about it being in stock is my work area is a carport and the temperature is climate controlled(you know the climate outside controlls the temperature). I was hoping to get this done and installed last year but I failed miserably at that and it has been sitting in a box in the spare bedroom for several months glaring at me. I actually started doing this friday, got the car up on ramps, it was a nice 72 degrees outside, got called into work yesterday(saturday also about 72 degrees) otherwise I would have finished it yesterday and I got stuck finishing it today had to have the car done so my wife could have her parking space back(well that and this car is my daily driver right now)... raining and 50 degrees outside... So without further plesantries we should probably carry on right.. you guys probably wanna see pics after all I promised them right... Ok first thing I did was remove the tie-rods, center link, the power steering valve, and ram, and about 15lbs of grease and grime. Here is the offending unit Now I will say this, no I did not have to remove the whole assembly tie-rod to tie-rod but you do have to remove the center link because the valve is stuck too it and the valve has to come off. I also left it all intact because it is all fairly new(i replaced everything when I put disk brakes on it so most of it only has about 5000 miles on it) and I want to keep the alignment as close as possible. Oh and for those of you that dont know, you dont remove the old ford power steering components with a pickling fork you remove the castelleated nut turn it over and screw it on 5 or 6 full turns and hit the nut once or twice with a hammer and the component pops right off. Next thing I did was remove the steering column, yes you have to remove the steering column it has to be shortened. And then I removed the drivers side header, this was to take out the old gearbox and put the new one int. Was the drivers side header required to come off well I dont know you could possibly remove the brake master cylinder and the shock tower brace and pull the gearbox out through the top but I had a few reasons pull the header. I had a leaking exhaust gasket and a nice remflex waiting to go in its place. I changed the other side last september, I was holding off on this side because I figured I would pull the header when I did this... ok back to the task at hand... I didnt think you guys needed pictures of me removing the header or the steering column they are pretty common occurances. Ok so next the steering box comes out, here it is in comparison too the new box From what I have found out it is a Delphi power steering box and borgeson made the mounting point to fit the midsized fords, and resplined the shaft to fit the ford pitman arm. As you can see it is about an inch longer on the top, and it is about an inch wider then the original ford power steering box.(remember this I will complain about it later) So now all the old parts are out the fun stuff starts too happen, I started with taking the hydraulic cylinder and valve off of the centerlink, now I will say this, out of all the stuff I had piled in the box, the advertisements for the ebay seller whatever I recieved only one set of instructions and that was for the steering valve adaptor. Now I dont know if this was because Borgeson didnt put any in or the fact it got lost in transit somewhere because the ebay seller repackaged the unit in a smaller package to save on shipping. So I dont think I will need to go into that into depth too much but I will say this clean the grease off of the centerlink before you go removing components, because there is this stupid little roll pin that gets covered up really really easily. I didnt even realise it was there untill I could see the full thread(yes the instructions mentioned it so it was my bad) but it screwed off really easily so it might have even broken off, but I did have to drill what was left out of the centerlink. Guess I better show you what else came in the box so you can see what I am talking about. it has a rag joint adapter, the centerlink adapter, the power steering hoses and the mounting hardware. And here is what it looks like with the adaptor installed.. The next thing I did was remove the pitman arm off of the old power steering box, you would think that if you spend nearly $900 on a unit they would atleast send you a stupid pitman arm with it. After that I installed the rag joint adaptor. So here everything is ready to go in... Surprising enough the two power steering gearboxes are a very similar weight, maybe the couple pounds of grease and crap on the old gearbox "weighed" in on the similar weight between the two units(pun intended). My next conquest was installing the new gearbox and torquing it down...Stupid me... but I will explain that in a min.. Here is a pic from the bottom so you can see it bolted in, no the pitman arm is not torqued down, you dont want to do that untill you can find the center of the steering box travel. My next endeavour was to install the drivers side header. Now at this point in time I had the engine unbolted from the mounts and raised up about 1 1/2" The plugs and wires were removed from that side of the engine so they would not interfere and I even removed the valve cover due to possible interference from the lip that hangs over the head... It should go in fairly easy right...wrong... stupid me.... Remember how I said the new gearbox is about an inch wider... well that inch would not allow me to get my headers between the block and the gearbox, I fought and I fought and finally I had a stroke of dumb luck and figured out how to get it in there. I removed two of the the three mounting bolts and loosened up the third so I could move the gearbox around.(dont want to remove all three, hate to drop the box on your head trying to fish the header up through there).. Oh and just for reference the bolt I left in goes in this hole.. yes it had to be that one the other two hold the box close to its final position this allows it to pivot and get the headers past it. Once I figured out that was the problem I probably had the header in and I was bolting the header too the block within about 5 min. Once I finshed that I bolted the gearbox back in and you know what.. It fits pretty dang good. Well for the most part this was where I got friday. Saturday when I got home from work I started on the steering column.(went in at 6:30 in the morning, I was half retarded since I am a swing shift worker right now) well anyways I drug it in the kitchen to do the measuring so I could see my kids a little bit before I ran outside and started working on the car again, even though it was really nicd My half dressed helper and supervisor John came in to make sure I was doing it right..(I think the only way he will say dressed is if you sewed him into his clothes otherwise he is either running around without a shirt or without his pants...thank god for pullups.. kind of makes me wish I were two again I wouldnt mind running around in just my underwear all the time.) I must have distracted him too much because I made one little mistake (explained later) I assessed the current position of the gearbox in relation too the original position of the car. I was able to see with the inner shaft bolted up that all the components would clear and I would be able to use the original cover plate for the steering column. I looked at where the original cover rode in comparison to the tube and I guestimated expecting that i left a little too much material and whacked it off. The steering column cut really easy I put a 4 1/2" cutoff wheel on my die grinder and just worked my way around, I cut through both the inner and outer tube in just a couple min. Oh before we get too far there is a little plastic plug in the end of the steering column. Pull it out before you go cutting on the tube, it just slides right out. Once you cut the couple inches off then it just slides right back in the tube, it helps keep everything from rattling around in there. From there I put the cover plate back on and reinstalled the inner shaft and viola its ready to go back in the car.. So here I pack it outside and install it in the car and ta-dah I find my mistake... I cut too much off, about a 1/4 inch too much, you can see the gap between the clamp and the tube, I didnt realise when I pulled it out originally I still had the firewall cover attached too it, and when I removed the inner shaft I pushed the clamp and the firewall cover down closer too the steering wheel. When I made my guesstimates and cut they were on the assumption that braket was locked in a single position oh well I will just have to seal it up later.. From there I finally was able to hang all my tie-rods and center links again and I finally got my pitman arm installed again. At that point I had to call it quits, stupid darkness. So when I woke up this morning (10:30 stupid swing shift people) it was pouring rain.... So after having a cup of coffee I pull my coat on and head outside, atleast the rain subsided. First thing I do is crawl under the car and torque everything down, and grease everything up.. Wouldnt be too bad but the cardboard I am laying on is damp(I threw an old box down to lay on since I dumped power steering fluid everywhere taking the old unit out). Then I re-torque my valve covers and run my plug wires and then comes the only part I am unhappy with about this whole install. The power steering hoses... Borgeson designed this system to run with a saginaw power steering box and thats what the fittings on the hoses match, my problem is I am running the serpentine setup off of a 89 Tbird. I contacted Borgeson via their forums and they told me as long as I run an adaptor fitting then I can use the new ford box with the lines..http://www.borgeson.com/xcart/product.php?productid=1650&cat=0&page=1 here is the actual tag on the box it came in Well guess what... it doesnt work... the lines bolt up to the power steering box just awesome and look really good. But the way the lines are made they run between the engine and the shock tower. Now this leaves no room at all to adjust the position of the lines. The return line screwed on just fine, it was a hair short but its not a deal breaker. The high pressure line was the one that ended up short. A couple inches short in fact. I got really luckey though the pressure line actually screwed into the old line that I had made to connect the new pump to the old power steering setup, granted I had to do some creative looping but it is all connected. So at this point in time it is running, car fires over, idles fairly good, a little fast but thats about it. My very first time around the block car had no power at all pops on acceleration, hesitates, shudders, coughs hacks, I was glad to make it home. Popped the hood and started checking everything out. All the lines are connected, nothing is binding timing is good got good fuel, then I decide that I should swap plug wire 7 and plug wire 8 to where they are supposed to be since someone put them on reversed and wow the car has a little power again. Again I took it on a test drive, took it on the old highway at 55, car ran great steering feels more like my wifes expedition now its fairly easy, it does have some resistance. The car doesnt wander like it use too and it doesnt dart like it did before. So then I took it on the freeway, running around 75-80mph car reacts consistently, steering is smooth no more erratic lane changes so then I decided I would have a little fun. Hit some curvy backroads outside of town and I figured I would give you guys a good pic to proove that it was a miserable day out. So for now my driving impresions are its doing good, I have to get a new power steering hose made probably next weekend, and hopefully that will be the only problem I have with it.
nice writeup/pics... "So for now my driving impresions are its doing good." now the million dollar question..." if you spend nearly $900 on a unit" ...is there $900 worth of difference between this and stock?
From what i have driven so far yes there is a big difference between stock. It feels allot different, its not as "touchy". It does provide allot more road feel over the stock unit but that being the case in the little bit I have driven it it doesnt have the wandering that the stock unit had. I could never seem to get away from that in the last year or so on driving the car as a daily driver.
Nice writeup! I am considering this upgrade myself. Now I have an idea of what's involved I'll be ahead of the game when I commit to it. Thanks for all the info and pix...
One thing I have noticed, as I have been driving it around it is getting easier to turn, i think I have some air in the lines but it does seem to be getting easier. Also one thing I have noticed some of the rattles and clunks I have been searching for for the last couple weeks have gone away, so either my old setup was just getting too worn out or there is just too much room for play in the old unit. Hopefully I can get the high pressure line replaced this weekend and all the air will be bled out of the system and I can give you guys a better impression on it. But I will say this to answer 71Golds question a little bit better Yes I am no longer afraid to drive the car at 75 mph on the freeway I would say that makes it worth it.
for note I did this install last year however I'm doing a total car restore so its not running yet. To save money I just bought the unit by itself. Used a mustang serpentine power steering pump. For lines, I had the local hose shop that makes hydraulic lines for truck and tractors craft what I need. I decided to rebuild the whole front end, so I in the process I swapped to manual steering.(was about the same cost(or less) of getting the conversion joint for the power drag bar). Overall I can't wait to try it out! Great write up btw! LOL yea the headers are tricky to get in!!!!!!! I manage to do it without the box removed/titled but I did pull off the pitman.
Yeah yours was the install I was referring too with this comment I was curious though did you buy the mustang box or the maverick box? I ask this because it looks like your box is sitting back further in your build then mine is hence the reason you had to cut the firewall cover plate but mine fit on there just fine... Of course now that I think about it the rag joint adaptor could be different too if you bought it all seperately..
My plate does not pull off like yours, its welded in a few spots. I have the maverick one and matching rag joint. Course who knows maybe the ebay vendor mixed up my order and sent out a mustang one. The unit would have cleared barely with the joint all the way down. I rather have the clearance to be on the safe side. Borgeson's answer for which side the return is annoying. I understand it but damn .. the wording. "The port closest to the rag joint is the return." You would think driver side would be easier to say.. .
That makes sense with the removeable plate, what year is your car by chance, I thought all of the years had the plate that pulled off like mine. And yes I agree with you on the retarded borgeson return line location description. I looked it up on their site when I was doing mine and apparently they re-worded it. But its not any better it now says... "Return Fitting: Closest to the input shaft" http://borgeson.com/imageCD/800114DIM
Good write up. I have been wondering about these units myself. I really appreciate the fact that you didn't sugar-coat it, just told it like it is. The main concern I would have now is, with my 351 swap, would the small bit of extra size of this unit be a deal breaker? The headers I had made are already a tight squeeze on the driver side. I take it you are running a 302-based motor ... what headers are you running? The extra width ... that would be primarily above the pitman arm?
Yeah I am running a 5.0, I am using summit headers...that might be part of my fitment problems, and yes the extra width is actually by the frame rail closer too the inner fender. Surprising enough when i got it all back together it fit in there better then my original steering box did. Here is a pic of when I first put those headers on now this is a crappy angle but you can kind of get a hint on the different distance between the headers. Hopefully that helps you a little if not let me know and I can post some pics as needed, I have too crawl under tomorrow and retorque everything, too make sure it hasnt loosened up after two weeks of driving.
Thanks for the pictures, and real world information on the system. I am so want to do this upgrade or similar when I get the $
