Steering Boxes

Ok, I'm looking for a recond steering box. No power steering for me (had it, and intensely disliked it), so I'm after a manual box The one i've got at the moment is pouring oil out from its belly, a day after scrubbing oil off it, theres a nice little bead sitting on the base of the pittman arm. The only thing about the standard 6-cylinder steering box is that theres so many turns from lock to lock, which brings me to my point;

Is there a steering box thats a direct swap for the XE, that brings the 20:1 (5 turns lock-to-lock) ratio down to something like 12:1? I know the XA-XB Falcon GT had a 16:1 (4 turns) unit, that'll be acceptable, but only if theres no drilling, welding or cutting involved. Did the XD-E ESP come with power steering as standard? If not, what was the box ratio on that? Finally, has anyone bought a recond box lately? If so, what would a reasonable price be to pay (exchange is fine)?

cheers

probably not quite what you want but running an XG-XH Ute power steering pump puts a bit of feel back into the way too light power steering. I beleive there is a restrictor on the back of the pump when compared to the EL and EF. Using this restrictor on an older pump yeilds better results so I have been told? has anyone done this?

Good luck finding a 16M box out of a GT.

Ask about a 16P from XW-XY Falcons/ZC/ZD Fairlanes. Same box, different cover. You can buy a rebuilding kit or pay a couple of hundred exchange. I bought a 16P for $80 but I understand that's quite cheap.

A Genuine MoFoCo P/arm is in order, a new idler/bush kit, too, and radius rod bushes - so much improved feel, it's amazing.

Cheers!

I had my power steering box reco'd for $NZ 250 in 1998. It got a roller top conversion, rather than the stupid bush the sector shaft butted into. The roller top conversion was about $NZ 60, but I'm not sure that it is done for manual steering gears. I moved the bumper forward 12 mm, and spread the wings appart another 40 mm each side with some old steel school chair frames to push the base of the air dam out, and dialed in as much camber as the alignment shop could dial in. It's pretty damn good for an over assisted system.

I just posted a reply to another question on steering gears for alloydave. The XD ESP ran the same standard 16:1 ratio 4 turns lock to lock steering gears that Adam describes. Wheels and Modern Motor said it was too heavy with a 4.1 and ER7014's or whatever they had on the last of the Falcon Cobra Globe Bathurst wheels they ran, but that it really improved the response. Steve Cropley at Wheels drove the last XC Falcon Cobra Hardtop, and said that the 16:1 steering was fine. (Mind you Cropley was well over 100 kilos, and was the size of Jona Lomu!) He drove the one which had the XP/Mustang- style spring tower braces homologated for Bathurst. They fed in a lot of vibration through the firewall, but they made the steering much steadier.

XC spring tower braces don't fit Blackwood XD-XG's because of the extra 32 mm of track Ford placed in these modles. The centres of the XD-on Falcons were about 795 mm from spring ower centre to centre, while the XA-XC's were more like 780 mm

Bearing in mind there is a 12.3 metre kerb to kerb turning circle with the power set up, and some thing like 11.5 or 11.8 metres with the non-assisted, I'd go for the manual steering. Work out, disco'!

Ok, so its possible I'll find an ESP box in good nick. Or failing that, an older Fairlane's will suffice.

I'm not all that fussed about the weight of it. I'm not all that far behind the Cropley dude in terms of weight, and I ain't exactly short, either!

I've had an XD wagon that took 5 lock-to-lock turns. A reduction of that would be great. I noticed my LPG XE took waay more turning circle, so I hear you on that one

I've told myself its going over the pits monday morning, its been unlicenced for more than a year. I've still gotta scrounge a few miscellaneous bits for the gearbox (exchange late XF BW503 box into early XE 503 equipped vehicle..), put a new rear end in, and get a work order for the car. I dont want to have to be told what I already know, hopefully it'll go over first time..

I want to tell everyone that the bit that your looking for is around, usally when your not looking fot it. When I was into Minis, the rare 12G207 Cooper 998 casting heads were rare as hens teeth. I found one on the block of my school mates Morris 1100. Howszat! Ever heard of an E48? I saw one outside the pub in Alexandra, NZ in 1984.

Then we get told that 2V's are rare. Well, down the road my old house had an Aussie TE Cortina 4 with a 170Hp 2V in it (2000). Then Kevin across the road had a 1972 XA Fairmont 250 2V Hardtop with Top loader(1993), and when I was getting the gas hocked up after making my adaptor for my Falcon in 1998, there was a Fairmont XA 250 2V in getting the Stromberg set up at the garage. So there are always things around. It comes down to getting knowledge on what you need, and springing for it when you see sometime on your build plan. Those three ESP's (one six, and two red 351 FMX autos with rego plates only two numbers different) that I have seen are possibly the tip of the ice-berg.

Adam and Aussie6 are right, though. Often its better to just spring out on good new old stock or later model stuff. It may almost break the bank, but its more than likely the best time to get these things sorted with new stuff, as that 15 year old hump harbouring old ESP bits just give you more grief!

Makes me wonder if an XH rack and pinion power set-up would fit

Ok, to recap;

I dont want to go to the effort to install power steering, I like manual steering just fine. I know a wrecker who will sell me a good steering box (albiet 20:1) for $50. I want less turns lock to lock. I dont care about the extra weight on the wheel, In fact I'll probably enjoy it when I'm shitfaced in the back seat, watching mates wrestling with the wheel

I think I'll pop into GT Fast Ford sometime tomorrow, see if theyve got any compatible NOS stuff sitting around..

Early boxes, after 65 and pre 72 are all bolt up, the manual box is 20:1, the PS and GT boxes are 16:1, the PS systems uses a hydraulic ram, and by removing the PS pitman arm and fitting the manual arm you can use them to speed up the steering. PS is common in the XR-XY Fairlanes.
Rememeber that pre 69 the steering column is NON collapsable, but colapsable can be fitted, so best bet is to fir XW on box from fairlane with collapsable column, GT steering.
XA on is easier because they use integral PS.
A7M