Monday, November 3, 2008

Steered Wrong III: Parts is Parts

The 1957-60 F100 steering setup has another small inherent problem- the center tie rod. The original is a hollow unit that likes to bend under pressure, absolutely destroying any sort of front end geometry when you need it most.

Classic Performance Products makes a "heavy Duty" replacement unit that is guaranteed not to bend- here it is with new Tie rod ends:















Finishing off the new steering setup are these machined C-blocks from Classic performance- they effectively "drop" the steering geometry to avoid bumpstop (from the tie rod hitting the oil pan among other things) when lowering the front suspension More on that later....






















The existing power steering pump has that unmistakable 1970's Impala look to it, and is most likely a turd- along with every other component that came on the truck.
So since I'm going for an early sixties 'Vette motor swap look, I got an older style (pre '66 Impala/Biscayne) pump from rockauto.com:






















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