Bonus Built Dot Com | Since 1996

It's a sore spot for me. Or maybe it's just the ghost of Henry Ford punishing me for trying to put GM parts on a Ford. Either way it's just plain disappointing!

I had decided that power steering would be a neat thing to have on my truck. I knew of 2 tested and true ways of getting power steering without installing a new front clip. Method # 1 was to get a power assist setup for the original steering box. Advantage is that it's a very simple installation that can be done in an afternoon. Disadvantage is that the unit costs $600.
Method # 2 was to get a Toyota 4X4 power steering box and install that using an adapter plate. Advantage is that it's not too difficult to do. Disadvantage is that the complete kit costs over $400, and finding a steering box (if you buy everything individually) is difficult. Nonetheless, I was about to proceed with the Toyota swap when I found out that there was a kit to put a 65-75 General Motors power steering box in my truck. The concept sounded really simple--drill 4 holes in the frame and mount the adapter plate, then mount the gear box to the adapter plate. After that you just install a new tie rod (included in kit) and hook a new cross-steer rod from one of the tie rod ends to the pitman arm and you're ready to go. The kit cost $250
(minus the box, pump, hoses) which seemed a little pricey but reasonable. Unfortunately this project was one problem after the other. Here is a detailed list of all the headaches:

1.) The Sac Vintage ad said to use a steering box from a 1965-1980 car. That was a misprint. The instructions with the kit say to use one from 1965-75, and sure enough the bolt pattern is different on a post-1975 box. I know this because I bought a 1978 box before I got the kit. The box was $25 from the junkyard, non returnable. I had to go and buy another box, for
another $25.

2.) The actual installation of the kit is not difficult. However, the GM gear box is huge and it interferes with the stock exhaust manifold on my 351.

3.) The pitman arm on my gearbox was about 2 inches too long and it hit the transmission. A shorter pitman arm was needed.

4.) I ordered block hugger headers in an effort to solve my clearance problems. The headers, surprisingly, interfered more than the stock manifold!

The combined effect of these things was too much for me and I pulled the whole setup out of my truck and reinstalled the original steering box. It was a difficult and sad realization, but that was the only choice as the box could not be moved fore or aft to make more room for exhaust. The only solution I could see was to have headers special made and that would just add to the already ridiculous amount of money I'd put into the project.

This is one of many difficulties that I have encountered using the 351C engine. If I had a smaller engine (302, 351W, small block Chevy) I doubt I would have had any problems at all. Also, the way my engine is mounted contributed to the problem. But I could not move the engine back to make room because my mount would then interfere with the steering box.

So there you have my experience with the GM power steering. If you want to do this on your truck proceed with extreme caution!

If you're willing to do it, you can move your engine about 1.5" to the passenger side to make room for exhaust. I was not willing to do this.

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