Fast ratio pitman and idler arms

midnight340 said
OK , here’s my experience. First, I have a Firm Feel stage 2or 3 power steering box. (Police box level I can check which one.) I also run the Imperial length pitman arm from Firm Feel. As far as exhaust goes, I have home made headers that do clear. I’ve now run these for close to 10 years.

This gives me 12:1 ratio. I absolutely love this set up!!! Also with bigger sway bars. It’s great to be able to make what I sometimes call “Porsche lane changes.” I have run a little SCCA autocross and other amateur autoX for fun ...quit because I can’t afford to eat up tires that fast!!

Here I give credit to Rick Ehrenberg and his road race “Green Brick” Valiant articles. I run only the long pitman. Save your $ and skip the idler. (As I’m told the Trans Am cars did!)

Depending on tires and such this can give you a shorter turn radius as well.

Personally I’d give up some manual box driving ease for a little quicker ratio, but that’s a very personal choice.

With a power steering box the faster ratio would be nice. The Borgeson steering box uses a 14:1 ratio, and people seem to like that swap.

The other way to get the faster ratio would be a steering quickener. That’s what the Hotchkiss Challenger uses. A 1.5:1 steering quickener installed into the steering shaft. That also gives a 12:1 final ratio, which is mentioned in a couple of the articles. Here’s a quickener

Howe Racing 5225 Basic Steering Quickener, 1.5:1, 3/4 Inch 36-Spline

The issue with the longer steering arms on an A-body is really clearance. Not everyone has custom headers or wants to run manifolds, and that makes the longer arms a problem.

On my car I don’t mind the 16:1 fast ratio manual steering, even with 275/35/18’s and +6.5* of caster. But I don’t think 12:1 would be a good idea with a manual box.