Questions On A 66 GTO
 

Been awhile since I have been on the forum and as usual I need a few questions answered on my 66 GTO.

1) When restored I added power steering and since then ever time you make a tight turn with it the belts squeal. I have tried the original belts from PY, both grooved and smooth belts, went 1-2 sizes smaller and it seems the ps belt still lacks a little bit of getting tight enough to stop the squealing. As I best remember all the ps parts were correct. Its a 389 4 speed 4 barrel carburetor car. Any thoughts here?? I am at a loss.

2) This to deals with the steering. To me it takes way to wide an area to turn this car. It has the standard ratio steering and I realize that due to their size the turning radius is not the best, but this seems too much. Are there steering stops that I can adjust or is this the way standard ratio is?

3) Correct speedometer gear in transmission, 4 speed (M21) & 3.73:1 positive traction rear end with 275/60/15 on the rear. How do I go about selecting the correct gears of the speedometer drive?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Larry

The belt can be too tight, this can also cause it to squeal, also look closely at the alignment of the power steering belt just a bit off and you get the squeal

as far as the turning radius, what size wheel and tire are you running the larger the wheel and tire the wider the turnig radius, remember the gto is a wide track car i suggest get with another gto owner and see if your radius is wider.

as far as the third ?? no idea:cool:
Mike

How many time do you have to turn the steering wheel lock to lock??

here is a site I found very useful with gear ratios and speedos, but there are a few basic things you need to know - trans gear ratio, (probably 1:1 final drive) rear axel ratio, speedo drive gear teeth count, tire diameter ( there are other sites that will calculate the tire diameter based on the tire size, just google 'tire diameter calculator' try a couple different sites to verify the calculation) plug it all in and it spits out the speedo driven gear tooth count....It's easy you see, but really just take it one step at a time and you'll get there.

http://www.transmissioncenter.net/sp...n_______va.htm

old blue 66 - really don't remember, will check it out tomorrow if the temperature gets out of the teens.

bammbam- I'll take the information I have and use that link.

As to the belts squealing, its not a too tight issue.

Larry

here is the actual link to the speedo calculator, it is buried in some text down the page a bit on the previous link

http://www.bgsoflex.com/speedo1.html

Ok on the turning radius- lock to lock is 21/2 - 3 turns depending on how hard you crank the wheel. Front tires are 245/60/15.

Put on a gates 7525 p/s belt and at still get squealing when wheels are turned all the way either direction, you can see the p/s hoses flex under pressure. Belt is what I consider just right on tension. Maybe its the pump or were these car noted for squealing on tight turns?

Will address the speedometer gear tomorrow.

Larry

I pulled the speedometer pencil gear today, it has 19 teeth. Now to figure the correct gear needed I used the link bammbam supplied, the only correction is the rear end ratio is a 3.90.

If I did the calculations correct I need a 17 tooth pencil gear. Tires are 275/60/15. Does this sound correct? Also do I need any information on what speedometer circle gear is in the transmission for this caculation?

Thanks
Larry

It would help if you knew the tooth count on the speedo drive gear inside the trans. I don't know if there is a standard or if there are variations. I have not had the pleasure of working this problem on my 4-speed yet. For the turbo400 auto there is a 15 or 17 tooth gear on the tail shaft, with the autos it depended on the gearing in the rear end which was installed in the trans. do you know if the speedo was fast or slow???

When you added the Power Steering gearbox, where did you get the PS Gearbox, auto parts store, junkyard, etc.

Different gearboxes have "stops" internal to the box that may prevent your wheels from turning fully, which affects your turning radius.

Bob

The power steering gear box came out of another 66 GTO from a salvage yard (if I remember correctly).