1970 Camaro Z28 / RS Power Steering Conversion

[stoph8n]

I just purchased a numbers matching 1970 Z28/RS with manual steering and its a beating to drive on the street much less an autocross event. I'm trying to convert it to power steering and can find everything I need to do so except the pitman arm. Apparently the Z's have a specific pitman arm and linkage setup for the car and nobody reproduces the pitman arms for the power steering that came on them. So the way I see it is I have a couple options...wait for a pitman arm to pop up on ebay (not likely), switch out the steering linkage to the base Camaro's so I can use its power steering pitman arm or convert to rack and pinion. I am trying to keep the car as close to stock looking as possible so I guess option 2 is my best bet even if it loses some of its better than avg steering linkage. Any advice on this would be appreciated as I really want to get to do some autocrossing and would like to know the best route to go performance wise or any suggestions on how to keep what I have but improve the steering. Currently my left arm is getting experiencing massive growth compared to my right arm :confused:

[badazz81z28]

I just purchased a numbers matching 1970 Z28/RS with manual steering and its a beating to drive on the street much less an autocross event. I'm trying to convert it to power steering and can find everything I need to do so except the pitman arm. Apparently the Z's have a specific pitman arm and linkage setup for the car and nobody reproduces the pitman arms for the power steering that came on them. So the way I see it is I have a couple options...wait for a pitman arm to pop up on ebay (not likely), switch out the steering linkage to the base Camaro's so I can use its power steering pitman arm or convert to rack and pinion. I am trying to keep the car as close to stock looking as possible so I guess option 2 is my best bet even if it loses some of its better than avg steering linkage. Any advice on this would be appreciated as I really want to get to do some autocrossing and would like to know the best route to go performance wise or any suggestions on how to keep what I have but improve the steering. Currently my left arm is getting experiencing massive growth compared to my right arm :confused:


I'm no resident expert, but I believe there is no difference in Z28 steering and non-Z28 so all PS pitman arms should be the same. However, I'm parting out my 78 which has a brand new 600 series box (same box DSE and Hotchkis Sells) with less than a few hundred miles on it with linkage (its a drop pitman, Early Trans Am/Camaro set-up). If your looking for a PS set-up, I can hook you up with a complete auto cross ready kit.

[71RS/SS396]

Nothing unique about a Z/28 pitman arm, the difference is power steering vs manual steering. The pitman arm is not considered to be a wear part so no one reproduces it.

[stoph8n]

Thanks guys...you are right they are the same. I misunderstood what I was reading. I just got lucky and found a pitman arm at a local salvage yard. I understand that its a nonwear item so they shouldn't need to be replaced but why do they reproduce the manual arms and not the power ones? No demand for power steering on these cars?

[badazz81z28]

Thanks guys...you are right they are the same. I misunderstood what I was reading. I just got lucky and found a pitman arm at a local salvage yard. I understand that its a nonwear item so they shouldn't need to be replaced but why do they reproduce the manual arms and not the power ones? No demand for power steering on these cars?

As weird as it sounds, probably a lot of folks going to manual steering for racing and such. I think MOST second gens had PS from the factory.

[David Pozzi]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/70-81-camaro-power-steering-pitman-arm-/291298500755