Power steering vs Manual steering for racing/ street

[KKLEVEN]

has anyone tried autox with manual steering? I ask because my dad has a manual box and its lighter than the stock box and then I wouldn't need all the pumps and everything going along with it.. Am I going to far with weight reduction and power? I've only driven one car with manual steering back in the day on a circle track.. Whatcha think?

[andrewb70]

has anyone tried autox with manual steering? I ask because my dad has a manual box and its lighter than the stock box and then I wouldn't need all the pumps and everything going along with it.. Am I going to far with weight reduction and power? I've only driven one car with manual steering back in the day on a circle track.. Whatcha think?

I think it would not be fun on an autocross. Not just not fun, but not really functional. Most manual steering boxes have a very high ratio and this would make steering very slow to respond.

Andrew

[Rod]

I have seen a few try, manual boxes have crappy ratios, there is a lot going on a autocross and to add windmilling the steering wheel around a course is not fun

[KKLEVEN]

Good point fellas! I was doing some measuring and the manual pitman arm is 3/4" shorter than my stock monte one so I started thinking.. Good thing there are so many of you guys to help a newbie like me out! What would be better for center link, idler/pitman arm setup? Im pretty sure that 68 chevelle center links are better for bump steer and they also have a shorter idler arm/ pitman arm. Any truth to that? What would be a better setup for faster steering? Im trying to do this on a relative tight budget so Im not afraid to make something work.

[Randy67]

I autocrossed my 67 El Camino with a quick ratio (16:1) manual steering box. I did okay with it, but it does wear on you. As I got better with the car, I noticed that the box was slowing me down, especially in slaloms. Just couldn't turn it fast enough. Switched out to a 12:1 power box, quite an improvement.

[KKLEVEN]

I autocrossed my 67 El Camino with a quick ratio (16:1) manual steering box. I did okay with it, but it does wear on you. As I got better with the car, I noticed that the box was slowing me down, especially in slaloms. Just couldn't turn it fast enough. Switched out to a 12:1 power box, quite an improvement.

That's exactly where this manual box came from a 67 elcamino my dad just built.

[David Pozzi]

My buddy switched from manual to power, & picked up five seconds! Had a six turn lock to lock box though.

[OldTimer]

Never autocrossed it, but I bought a new corvette in 1969 with manual steering. It's been many years, but they had a two-position link which changed it from normal to "quick" steering. It wasn't anything like power quick steering and it took some effort... but my wife drove the car (4-speed) until her 8th month of pregnancy in '71 when she couldn't fit behind the wheel. One of our neighbors had a '68 with power steering and he couldn't figure out how she could handle the manual steering. I told him she was a tough Sicilian LOL ��!

[Cyclone03]

I did 3GG events and a season of local Autocross with a 16:1 manual box in my Mustang.
The first GG event with power steering I was in 5th at lunch on Friday,(that was a big deal to me) I ended up 11th for the weekend and never ran Saturday.
Locally I no longer ran long swoopy lines,I can now pull the car around the apex and get the wheel back for the next turn.
The "feel" thing changes for sure but now when the front pushes I can again feel the wheel go light it's just not "gone" like with a manual.