'70 Duster - First MOPAR Build

barbee6043 said

it would be great if you could find someone's old mopars to take a drive in to see if prefer the PS or Manual steering. the PS of that era lacks road feel most would say, depends if city driving or country driving as to what you might like??. me I have always preferred MANUAL even in big block cars..
I think we all pretty much agree it is your car. you need not apologize to anyone do what you like with it. some will see you work and love it, others not. so is life!!

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They lack road feel because the pumps are waaaay overboosted to make the steering effort light. Get the box rebuilt, use C body idler and pitman arms to speed up the lock to lock ratio (old mopar trans am racers trick) then use a saginaw power steering pump, and pump the pressure down. This will give you enough assist for parking, and keep the box tight enough to feel more like a manual at speed, and the C body arms speeding up the lock to lock ratio will make it feel more like a rack and pinion setup.

Theres an article in an old mopar magazine called "pumping it down" about lowering the pump pressure to give the power boxes more tighter road feel of a manual box. The longer C body arms will screw up the ackerman angle but only at full lock, so its really a non issue.

Borgeson boxes are nice. Faster ratio, smaller, more compact and light. Great if you have the coin to afford one. If not the tricks i outlined will get you the faster ratio, and road feel you desire, without breaking the bank.

Hope this helps
Matt