How many of you out there running manual steering?

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chaditotx

chaditotx

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Have a 71 Demon which has power steering. I am in the process of dropping a 408 aluminum headed Magnum in the car, and it would be nice to have a little more room on the drivers side area of the engine compartment. Will end up running TTI headers anyway. I have a spare K Member with a manual box on it and I am considering converting to manual. Those of you with manual steering what do you think? This will be a Saturday Sunday car, and occasional trips to the strip. I have driven tons of vehicles with manual, the last was a 1959 Ford truck, but that is a completely different animal.
 
chaditotx said:
Have a 71 Demon which has power steering. I am in the process of dropping a 408 aluminum headed Magnum in the car, and it would be nice to have a little more room on the drivers side area of the engine compartment. Will end up running TTI headers anyway. I have a spare K Member with a manual box on it and I am considering converting to manual. Those of you with manual steering what do you think? This will be a Saturday Sunday car, and occasional trips to the strip. I have driven tons of vehicles with manual, the last was a 1959 Ford truck, but that is a completely different animal.
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I haven't had any problem with it. You're too busy trying to keep all that power straight to worry about the steering wheel being to easy or not.
 
I have manual steering in a 33 Coupe, and a 65 Valiant -- no problems.
 
d150 with strong arm p/s its fine down the road,but corners and parking lots make ya wanta quicker easyer box! wanting to put wider rims and tires on it but i know thats gonna ad to my issues.
 
I have standard steering as well. I'm a pretty big guy so I have no problems but in a paved parking lot it does take some effort to turn. Once you have the steering box adjusted right it is great driving down the road.

Jack
 
Here as well in my 70 swinger, no problems at all. Until you back into a parking spot at a car show, but its not terrible !
 
I have never driven an A body with power steering so I can't compare it, but I have never had problems with manual steering.

I daily drive a 68 dart (my only transportation) and parking lots and everywhere is fine.
 
I have a bb hanging over pizza cutters in my duster and have zero issues. Also have a 13" steering wheel.
 
Manual steering with a 20:1 box here and I don't even think about it until I'm pulling into the sharp turn for the garage to put her away!
 
My 66 is manual, but it's such a light car, even the bride doesn't complain! I like the feel of the road with manual, you don't get that with power!
 
Swapped from power to manual 16:1 last summer...I don't have too many miles on it but it's totally fine. Yes, with wider than stock front tires, it demands considerable steering effort in parking lots, etc. On the road it feels great...well worth it for the clearance and to save some weight and a little bit of power.

My advice would be to swap the steering NOW before you drop the engine in. It will be vastly easier with some room to work.
 
I have it on my duster, it had power steering, I changed it over, I just like it better.
I did add a larger diameter steering wheel off a e-body to make it turn easier at slow speeds.
 
Biggest issue with converting is the steering column, the adapters are expensive and buying a manual column for floor shift cars is even more expensive.
 
switched to manual about 10 years ago - way better on an early A-body ... especially when driving on a bad road (lane grooves etc) with more than 96 mph
 
I can find manual steering column shift columns everywhere for a lot less money, then you have to convert it or just take off the shifter and it never looks right.
 
I converted my scamp to manual for the big block swap and it is just fine. I had parts laying around and found that the shaft out of a 70 plymouth B body power steering column was the perfect length for my 71 scamp manual box. Both were column shift auto columns
 
67 Dart manual steering and manual brakes. No problem, even my teen age daughter can drive it with out issue. Its all in the gear ratio. 23:1 (as I recall) is like 5-6 turns lock to lock while PS 16:1 ( again as I recall) is like 3-4 turns lock to lock. You turn the wheel more but the effort is about the same. Not to mention less hoses and devices on the front of the engine.
 
Add me in,Go to manual on all my cars EXCEPT for my Full Size Chrysler and truck.
 
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