FirmFeel Steering Boxes

[dannyho]

I'm going to be pulling my engine soon, so I thought this was a good chance to swap out the old steering box. I'm looking at firm feel's boxes. They come in stages, 1 through 3, and actually I hear there's an stage 4 that they dont advertise. I'm going to go with power steering, and I'll also upgrade the idler and pitman arms for a closer ratio, but can someone help me decide which stage box I should get. It's still unclear to me what the difference is going to be like.

anyone who has one of these boxes please post your opinions! thanks



it's going in a 1971 B-body mopar

[dannyho]

another thing I'm trying to decide on is what size torsion bars. Every post i've seen about this on other sites is for A bodies, which, aside from weighing a lot less than my 4000 pound behemoth have a different length torsion bar, so any extrapolation is moot. I'm going to have a small block, so I was thinking about 0.96" bars, but maybe i should be thinkin about 1". I'd like a firm ride, however I plan on street driving the car a lot, and would like to make that enjoyable.

[GMachineDartGT]

Firm feel boxes are nice. The stage 3 can be pretty heavy, as mine is. If you are doing a complete suspension our parts at XV Motorsports feature all matched components, which is the key to any good suspension system. I see many under sprung mopars with poor shocks, that result in a less than impressive result. Even with a small block you need t bars in the 1.00"+ area. However, the spring rate alone does not dictate the ride. The proper shock is the key, which is why our kits are so impressive.

Give me a call at the shop if I can help further.

[Nate K]

A friend of mine has a 68 charger with .990 bars but he has a 383. His car rides nice but I wouldnt say it is firm. I would guess you would want larger bars. I have 990s for my dart but I never drove it with them. I have not had any personal expierence with the firm feel boxes I would give them a call.

[High Plains Mopars]

A friend of mine has a 68 charger with .990 bars but he has a 383. His car rides nice but I wouldnt say it is firm. I would guess you would want larger bars. I have 990s for my dart but I never drove it with them. I have not had any personal expierence with the firm feel boxes I would give them a call.

.99 are an A body only size. For B/E bodies it would be 1.0.

In general, for a B/E body,I would say a .96 for a small block or a 1.0 for a big block. For most people, most of the time, this provides a decently improved wheel rate that is firm without being harsh. If you get into serious driving, like open track or autocross, then 1.16 or 1.22 is going to be needed.

As other have said, shocks do the most to make this ride feel great instead of simply better. Koni or Carrera non-adjustable will work nicely if you are a crusing type that lieks to power through an occasional corner. If going bigger or planning performance driving, then adjustable shocks in as high a range as you can afford are the best way to go.

Firm Feel are great boxes. If you have a later model car, their stage 3 is going to feel most like a new car box and provide just enough assist for parking while feeling like manual steering at speed. However, the stage 1 is a huge improvement over stock while still feeling like a power box.