Anybody using one of these power steering conversion kits?

Hi everyone! Been AWOL from the forums for awhile. Life just got away from us you know how it is. Just bought the Borgeson kit, I'm on the forums right now to pick up on any tips/tricks to help with the install. This car was a P/S car from the factory. I've had it for over 30 years now, and long ago I got tired of the leaks, and the play. I rebuilt the control valve, still drove horribly. Found an OE valve in the box on the shelf at a dealer and put it on-still loosey-goosey. Finally tore it all off, put on a M/S drag link and pitman-now it's all good.
Fast forward to 2021, I'm older and want P/S again but I still remember how the old system was, and now it has Flow-Tech headers on it which precludes the old system anyway, so I looked around and found the Borgeson kit. I'm going out now to start on the swap and I'll let you know how it goes. Shout out to markso125 for the post and all the pics!!

 

So I got it all apart. It took longer than I thought it would and a big chunk of that was working through "short cuts" I had taken in the past. Years ago I ran the capillary tube for the temp gauge, the line for the oil pressure gauge, the choke cable, and some miscellaneous wires though the toe plate gasket around the base of the column. So I disconnected all of it and pulled it back into the car and I will run it properly later. Once that was out of the way, I removed the column and measured the distance from the firewall to the OE box. I had hoped that I would be able to get the box out without pulling the drivers side header, but kind of knew it would have to come out. The headers had been in there awhile, so I have to redo some of the wrap anyway. The box came out easy after that. Now I just have to clean up almost 50 years of grease and dirt from the frame rail before I start to put everything back together.
One thing about this kit-the instructions are garbage. They are very vague, and Borgeson could do a whole lot better for $900!

 

I've had my Borgeson unit for about three years now and am very pleased with it. One thing I did to get the amount of positive caster they want for straight tracking was to switch to Mustang radius rods. They are a direct interchange and have more threads for more adjustment. Any questions, give me a note.
Lee 'THE MAV' RICHART

 

I got the new box in with some difficulty regarding the header. Fought it and fought it, then remembered something marko had said about taking all the bolts out but one-sure enough that did it! I even have decent clearance between the header and the box! I do have a question for those who have done this swap? I measured the distance from the rag joint to the firewall on the original box after I pulled the column. It was 3" at the bottom. Do I do the same thing with the new setup, and the difference is what I cut off the bottom of the outer/inner column tubes?

 

see post starting from #710, Tody (Thomas) has an excellent write up/pictures.......
http://mmb.maverick.to/threads/72-mercury-comet-gt-in-germany.55285/page-48
David

 

IIRC I took 1.75" from my column tube!

 

Thanks for the info guys! Tody obviously has more skill than I do, especially in the fabrication department! In the "instructions" that come with the kit it merely says that column has to be shortened with no details. Does the column need to be completely disassembled? The old rag joint was 3" from firewall at bottom, the new one is maybe 1/2".
I'm also thinking I need to shim the box a little to center the joint in the firewall better. I was also under the impression that the lower shaft would slide in and out some, but it is NOT moving.
I'm sorry to be such a pest, but I've never disassembled one of these columns before and I don't want to break it. It's a floor shift btw.

 

Yes the inner shaft should slide back and forth some. That is how the steering column was able to collapse in a collision.

 

Huh-that's what I thought. I'll try some WD-40 on it tomorrow. Pouring rain (again) here. Thanks.

 

Your most likely will have to clearance the firewall column mounting plate slightly to clear rag joint studs; that's what I had to do. I reversed bolts and tacked toward inside in case I have to remove for some reason -- one man job.

 

The column isn't supposed to collapse easily, probably require a bit of coaxing with a dead blow hammer.

Jump to 14:20 for collapsing shaft.

 

I got the shaft out, it came pretty easy with just a couple taps. Cut the column, and reran all the stuff that had previously come out through the toe plate of the column. Should have done it all right the first time, I knew better, but I was a lot younger then. I will run all the wiring through convolute when the job is done.

 

I was slight concerned about the fact there was no bushing at all at the bottom of the column. The steering shaft flopped around pretty good. I had a radius arm bushing for a '90s Explorer/Ranger with the perfect O.D. to press into the inner tube. I trimmed it a little and used a hole saw to make it 1 1/4" I.D.-fits perfect and supports shaft beautifully! Hung the column and it fits pretty good!
Next was the header on the drivers side. When I took it out I saw the pitman arm had been hitting the header in a sharp LH turn. I never really noticed with the manual steering being so heavy and I never really need to max the steering out anyway. "Tapped" on the header to give the pitman some more room and works now. I have never really cared much for the Flow-Tech headers on this car, they hang way to low and are way too close to the bellhousing on the DS. I will leave it to someone out there for a better suggestion for headers on this. I'm thinking a shorty, but I'm not sure. Regardless I'm about tapped out $wise on this swap, so that would be a project for next year. Right now I just want to get the P/S going and enjoy the car till snow flies.

 

I have Heddman shorty headers, they reduce my left turn approx. 25-30%; I going to muffler shop soon and have them crease/dent at point of contact for little more turn radius. I believe most shorty's interfer w/ p/arm.