Power Steering - Lose it?

[jerry]

Have power in my 68 Coronet, and don't like it. Too mich assist. How is manual in these cars?

 

[YY1]

The manual in my 67 Coronet was fine, but the power in my 70 Bee was great. Power in 66 Coronet was a little too much. We'll see how this one goes with the 87 pump.

 

[milit73]

I have read somewhere that there is a sping in the power streeing box to change how much the power steering helps you. Not wording this right but it calms it down and makes it not so "touchy". I hope someone can explain this better for you.

 

[70rr-brian]

You could always try firmfeel. http://www.firmfeel.com/

I hear good things about their stuff although I have never used it. But I imagine it would beat the hell out of making a full change over to manual from power steering.

 

[YY1]

The spring thing is for newer style pumps IIRC.

 

[Aussie Coronet]

I thought you could just change pulley diameter to make it less touchy?

I can steer my 69 Coro with my little finger and its too touchy like that.

 

[Cranky]

One finger steering is great for doing donuts!! There's a thread going on another site about the same subject but it was on a 76 Cordoba and the poster says

"Poor mans firm feel was featured in Mopar Action magazine.
You put a shim washer in the spring pack to increase the spring preload on the check ball in the power steering pump. This effectively reduces the pump's pressure output making you work harder at the wheel."

He also mentioned this story was in around Feb or April. Not sure if it only works in the later units tho....and I grew up with these 'touchy' systems and never had any problem driving them but I generally installed a smaller diameter steering wheel on all my junk too.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

I've had experience with stock pinky finger little effort power steering, slightly more, and slightly more still. Here's my feedback breakdown in terms of specs, feel, and handling

Pinky finger loosest feel -
Car: '67 Impala
Steering wheel: 16-inch diameter (larger wheel means lower effort)
Stock small diameter power steering pump pulley (since this is spinning and driven by the belt, smaller pulley means lower effort)
Feel: Loose as can be. Comfortable to drive, but lots of play in wheel and difficult to correct oversteer quickly. Tough to feel the road.

Slightly firmer feel:
Car: '68 Plymouth Satellite
Steering wheel: 13.5" diameter
Stock small diameter power steering pump pulley
Feel: A bit sloppy, but firmer than the Impala. Small steering wheel firms things up a bit.

Still slightly firmer feel:
Car: '68 Plymouth Satellite (same as above)
Steering wheel: 15" diameter
Steering shaft to steering box U-joint coupling swapped in to replace stock rag joint
Stock small diameter power steering pump pulley
Upgraded steering gear box to Firm Feel stage 2
Feel: Firmest yet, but not as firm as with the 13.5" steering wheel. Not sloppy at all. A bit too heavy in feel. I am also swapping my small block motor out for a big block and the OEM power steering pump I found has a larger pulley on it (meaning, it will feel firmer than now). This feels OK in steering at highway speeds, but around town from 0 - 40 it feels a bit heavy for my taste. I'm considering swapping out the Firm Feel steering gear box from the stage 2 unit to the stage 1, especially since my new pump will have the larger pulley.

Please note: The stage 1 unit from Firm Feel is not a stock feel OEM replacement. (I made that mistake). It states on their website that it's a bit firmer than an OEM police steering box. I think this will get me closer to the feel I'm after.

I imagine that a full manual steering would feel at least as firm as what I have now, but not as firm as rack-and-pinion.

Anybody else have feedback after installing steering box from Firm Feel? Anyone have a slightly used stage 1 unit from them that they'd like to trade for my stage 2 that has less than 1000 miles on it?