[Young Pontiac Guy]

Good morning all,

My 62 Catalina has the softest steering ever. With modern tires (17") it really wants to grab the ruts in the road. It has the stock Pontiac steering wheel which I think rivals my shoulder width! Cool as heck but its a big girl.

I have done searches and looked at a lot of threads without a specific answer.

My questions: I want a steering setup that has a little more feel and requires a little more work to turn the wheel.
Do I need to change the PS box and the pump out to make this happen?
Which one is best? I read that a 2nd gen will work or any later box.

Thank you guys as always, I appreciate it.
Joel

[Sirrotica]

One way to get more steering feel is to put more caster in the alignment, to the tune of at least 3 degrees, more is better, if you can get there with stock suspension pieces. Ditching the stock alignment specs and going to something more aggressive, will make the car feel completely different. If then you then feel you want to change steering gear, that's fine, but I would try a non stock alignment first.

The more caster the car has in it the higher the steering effort will be. If this doesn't get you what you feel you need, indeed a second gen T/A box will make steering quicker and provide more steering effort too.

[Young Pontiac Guy]

Thank you for the reply!

I wanted more caster but couldnt get it with the stock suspension I have. Limitation of the stock suspension...

[Stuart]

There have been some discussions here about using a steering box out of a Jeep Grand Cherokee as well, you could try the search function to see if any of them turn up (some discussions were in this section, others in the suspension section). There have also been references to these places: https://leepowersteering.com/ and http://www.powersteering.com/ They can rebuild steering boxes with better feel.

[Sirrotica]

Originally Posted by Young Pontiac Guy

Thank you for the reply!

I wanted more caster but couldnt get it with the stock suspension I have. Limitation of the stock suspension...

Three ways around this would be, first, offset upper control arm pivot shafts. The second alternative is, sectioning the upper control arms and offsetting the portion of the upper A frame attached to the chassis back towards the firewall and welding the 2 halves back together. Third would be cutting the upper control arm mounts from the frame and re-welding them in a more favorable position so there can be adequate caster gain.

The later model box will make steering quicker while providing less assist, I'm doubting it's going to give you what you're desiring as in road feel like in a more modern car.

[Young Pontiac Guy]

Thanks Sirrotica, Stuart. I did look through the threads but some people just said it was better, not as much improvement in the steering feel and increased steering effort.

I think the challenge is going to be in getting offset arms for any reasonable cost. Me rewelding is not an option.

I will work on a 2nd gen box. Is there anything that can be done with the spring in the pump? Any spring that will help increase the effort there?

[mgarblik]

Good news for you on the pump question. You can keep your current pump and brackets. There is nothing in the pump that will change the feel of the power steering. It's just a fluid pump. The valve and spring you reference is the flow control valve and maximum pressure bypass valve and spring under the small nut. The flow control valve and spring allows and controls flow to the steeering gear spool valve which DOES effect feel through the tiny torsion bar and the ratio. But the valve in the pump directs flow back to the reservoir or to the spool valve. The high pressure blow off valve, the little one under the nut limits the internal pressure in the pump so it doesn't blow itself apart when the steering wheel is against the stops. You can hear this valve work when you force the wheel against the stops and sometimes the V belt will slip a little. Typically, 1400-1500 PSI. Changing the steering gear will make a world of difference going to a Jeep or second gen F car box. I have also noticed the idler arm, center link and tie rods are really wimpy on the 62 cars. They really beefed up all those linkage parts in the 65 and newer models. Don't know what you can do about that. My 62 also doesn't drive and steer nearly as well as my latter mid 60's big Pontiacs. If you change the box please report back. I am considering doing the same to mine. Pontiac called that steering "Wonder Touch" by the way. It feels like a Ferrari compared to the Chryslers of the same era. They wrote the book on zero effort steering.

[Sirrotica]

If you can't do the sectioning of the A frames yourself, you may have to sublet it to someone with the skills to get you where you're happy with road feel with increased caster.

Back to the steering gear, changing boxes is definitely going to get the steering quicker, however in my years of swapping steering boxes the road feel is going to be impacted more by changing caster angles than steering boxes. Although quicker steering IMO is paramount in a good driving road car, I feel you're going to be disappointed with how the steering box swap will change road manners.

I.E. I have taken the steering box from a 1973 Grand Am and transplanted it into a 1973 Jeep truck, the steering was much quicker with the Grand Am box, and I've owned several 73 Grand Ams, so I'm well aware of how nice they handle and have good road feel. The steering feel was much the same with either steering box, albeit faster. Until you get better caster angles, I doubt you're going to get what you're after, my

[marxjunk]

i put this in my 66 Cat....bolt in..no special hoses..faster than a T/A and the stops are in the right spot...its firm and tight..but easy to turn in a tight spot..it turns pretty short for a boat like mine...i havent seen any diff in the turn radius..but its impressive on tight curvey roads...love it

its impressive..i would think if the 62 has a saginaw box..its a bolt in..i know nothing about 62s...if this isnt right contact them..

https://www.ebay.com/itm/64-76-AMC-G...UAAOSwUKxYkq3O

[61 389-348]

I just replaced the box in my 63GP a couple of months ago with a Lares 970 box. Ended up being a little more expensive than planned because I got a defective remanufactured box from Ames that had already been returned and repackaged then reshipped to me. I initially questioned it because of the number of staples holes in the box, but kept it and installed it. Something was noticeably not right and making a banging noise near lock when turned in one direction but not the other. Plus, it felt strange all of the time.

Talked to Lares and send a video with sound. They said to not drive and immediately return to sender and replace box, which I did. The system had to be flushed out because of a bunch of metal in the system from whatever came apart.

Second box was fine. Quicker at just less than 3 turns lock to lock versus almost 4 for the original box and definitely higher effort, but not much of an increase in road feel other than what one would get through the higher effort. It's still variable ratio so its not antsy on center like my 2017 Lacrosse is with the 20" wheel and tire package. Road feel also is much better than on my new Buick Too bad I ended up with two $429.00 labor changes to R&R the box twice, but ended up with a very balanced package. So yes, I'd do it all over, except for getting the bad box the first time.

[AROWHED]

I did the described mod in this link to my 65 GP, since it only requires drilling new holes, and can be put back to stock if desired. But it now has tons of caster, camber varies less, and with an Addco front sway bar and poly control arm bushings, and a 69 Firebird PS gearbox, handles likes it's on rails.
http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/cha...BEwvMny69KRc0E

[Marv]

As I'm in Australia I had slim pickings for steering upgrades. I went with a quick-ratio box from OPGI - https://www.opgi.com/bonneville/1964...nents/C200005/ - and have also changed to a remote-mount electric/hydraulic power steering pump. I haven't driven the car on the road yet but I am able to power up the pump without the engine being on and the feel has been great.