Manual Steering "feel?"

[Ray A.]

I am still getting familiar with a 64 coupe I recently purchased, and before I try to fix something that isn't broken I was hoping for some guidance here. The steering feels quite vague to me. Maybe this is the normal feel for a non-R&P vehicle, but I find that the car requires near constant steering input, moves off-line quite easily, and there is a 10 degree arc of free movement.

What say you? Should the C2 normally have pretty tight steering feel? Or should I adjust my expectations of 1964 technology?

[Jim D.]

Re: Manual Steering "feel?"

The feeling should be tight with zero play. If you have radial tires and the alignment is correct, it should go down the road straight without even touching the steering wheel. If you have bias ply tires, all bets are off and they are contributing to your issue.

[Frank D.]

Re: Manual Steering "feel?"

As Jim said, it should not be vague if all else is well.....my manual steering 63 had the same issue. Van Steel rebuilt the box to specs and it feels like a different car... Tiger Paw AWP-II radial tires all around... Aligned on an 'old school' Visualiner too!

[Gene M.]

Re: Manual Steering "feel?"

Be careful to not confuse slop with lack of response due to the slow ratio as compared to rack and pinion modern systems. More steering wheel rotation is required to attain wheels/tires direction change. This slow feel is further enhance with bias ply tires. But if you do have slop it could be bits that add up in all the joints and possible steering box or rag joint. Without knowing you experience working on and driving with these cars I can't advise any differently.

[Ed S.]

Re: Manual Steering "feel?"

If you have concerns you should carefully inspect all components for wear, especially the rag joint and steering box. These are easy to inspect - lust look down and have someone turn the steering wheel to the left & right - if the wheels are not moving to a degree that is consistent with the steering input you have a problem. I am speaking from experience here.

Also, Jim Durham stated, "If you have radial tires and the alignment is correct, it should go down the road straight". Keep in mind, if you have radials on your '64 and the alignment is set to specs for a 1964 it will wander around - even if everything else is perfect. The issue is the alignment specs for a 64 assumes you have bias ply tires. If you put radials on the car you need to have it aligned to different settings - there are a number of threads in this forum on this issue and they include the correct alignment specs.

[Gary R.]

Re: Manual Steering "feel?"

Ray,
Corvette steering boxes are actually very good- providing they are setup correctly, have good suspension parts and alignment. Once correct there is no play on center and track true. If you go back and search for Jack P's thread on the box I built him he put up a video on testing it- hands off the wheel at high speed. I DO NOT recommend you try this.

There should be little angular play in the box on center. If you have play check the rag joint for play and if that looks good - no play or rips in it and the ldler arm, bearings, etc are good most likely it's in the box.

Corvette Saginaw boxes get a bad rap on many forums today because of the absolutely lousy rebuilding practices on the open market today. In fact I would say the increase in popularity of the rack or jeep box conversions is because of the way stock boxes have been handled the past 15 years. Now part of the problem is with the quality of the support parts such as control valves and hoses today. Many control valve leak because of inferior parts used or bad cores to start with. I have seen new hoses shorter then originals with tighter radius's all leading to leaks. Many times guys have sent out their original boxes for an exchange box in worse shape then the original one was in. I have had boxes in from just about all the rebuilders out there to repair and setup correctly and can tell you they all had one thing in common- very little done to them other then a paint job and greasing. Most are no where close to being near correct setup spec settings. Ok I will get off the soap box now.

You can look at your box, see if there are any threads showing above the jam nut, if there are a couple you might be able to an on the car adjustment, not the ones often quoted on CF, but by centering the box, loosen the jam nut, and tightening the lash screw CW until you feel it snug up, DO NOT back it off 1/4 that is completely wrong yet often quoted. If you don't have any threads showing and the box is loose most likely the gears are shot. Another little known fact, the rebuilders don't have new gears unless they got them from me and only two have to date. Some go as far as welding the teeth or flipping the worm nut upside down in a dumb attempt to catch the taper at the bottom of the run which feel like turning a box of rocks. Ok I'll get off my second soap box now!

Bottom line - your manual or power assist corvette steering should and can be very responsive and tight.

[Ray A.]

Re: Manual Steering "feel?"

Thank you all. Great tips and an outstanding amount of detail will really help me plan my approach. I'll post a pic of my steering gear when I get back to the garage Monday. Thanks again.