may be looking at another Mav... the manual rack-n-pinion I have now is an option. Mojo... "BTW: The steering effort has a lot more resistance to do the same thing as the OE setup. Takes some getting use to. Things I cud do w/ one hand on old setup easy, sometime, takes two." "I had to have them send another pwr steering pump." Bryant,,, "the 3 things im not really happy about is the power steering hoses, the steering column modifications, and the ratio." "i have also ran into the fitting for the pump being wrong. that ended up being that the pump was from a different year of the car but borgenson was not willing to exchange the hose becase it had already been installed on the steering box end." and...you still have a pump and lines to leak/make noise at some point later. any positives for $900? I converted to stock manual steering...more resistance to do the same thing... positives...no hoses/pump/steering column mods. my Wife could still drive the car...used parts...less than $100 anyone used or seen this used...ttp://www.ebay.com/itm/New-2-1-Qui...ers-/200594230227?hash=item2eb4590bd3&vxp=mtr
I agree w/ Bryant on the things he has pointed out. I think the hoses should be 6" longer; I had the pressure hose made 6" longer using the ends that came w/ the one's w/ kit. I don't see where the ratio is any better than stock ps. I didn't mind the steering column mod's, cept it puts the rag joint right at the firewall. So far, the positives are - no leaks, tighter turning ratio, elimination of all the hardware associated w/ OE p/s. If you don't have p/s I wud say it is an improvement. In my case, I had noisy pump, leaking dry hoses that were going to need replacing -- so may as well get rid of all and try this setup. That 2-1 ratio changer may not work so well for street driving, and surely make the car harder to steer - I wud think. It's still to early to make an overall evaluation, have not got the alignment right, tracking poor and won't self center on a turn. Driving the car w/o pwr steer is not an option for me, regardless of cost....
just asking... your reasoning..."In my case, I had noisy pump, leaking dry hoses that were going to need replacing." so far you have already replaced the borgeson pump (noisy) and hose. you say "I don't see where the ratio is any better than stock ps. and tracking poor and won't self center on a turn. ...so where can it go from here to get any better for the $900?
It probably wud have cost me 2/3 of the $900+ to rebuild the stock setup and I wud still have the ram, control valve and all the hoses. Also, said, can't make a overall assessment until I get alignment right. Stay tuned!
I rebuilt my valve & cylinder for around $75 and approx $85-$90 for all the hoses(all parts were from various eBay vendors)... Luckily my P/S pump was a fairly fresh rebuilt when I bought car... I drove Fords from mid '60s to mid '80s with the factory P/S(and manual) setup, no reason I can't do so in the 21st century...
No argument on that! Just wanted to try something different. " I know 71 Gold can relate to trying something different", When all is said and done -- may wish I had done that too. I have all the parts that came off the OE setup cept the hoses. We'll see. Got old school classic car shop doing align nx week.
Good luck on the alignment I hope it works for you, if so I'm soon going to have mine aligned to similar specs... BTW I did look into a Borgeson unit for my Fairlane but it's four speed so that wasn't going to happen... One of these days I'll add the factory system to it(it's never had P/S)...
Alignment spec's will be different for you w/ the OE setup. The Borg needs abt 3+deg positive caster over stock. I hope it works out for me too -- got a lot of time and money invested in it. I haven't driven a non PS car since 1973 Tom, to old now to give up the amenity. If they make it -- I want it. I can't envision me driving a manual steer -- It would take the joy out of it. If this don't work out will move in another direction.. The important thing now is to get the alignment rite, so the car tracks w/o a lot of corrections. Other than that, I am getting use to driving it.
Doesn't mean I can't have mine set to +3* as well, the greater the positive caster, the better stability and return to center is... Basically Borgenson is using additional caster to overcome (for lack of better term) the unwillingness of the unit to return to center, the wheels have no idea whats being used to guide them ... Without P/S, additional caster will generally increase steering effort, some cars have different specs with & without P/S...
I think the solution to your return to center is going to be a good alignment with as much positive caster you can get. I would also verify it steers easily with no binding (weight off of the wheels, alignment shop can and should do this) I am still up in the air about whether to go this route or rack and pinion, but like you, power steering is a must.
