[gtopont]

anyone know if a standard steering box can be made into a quicker ratio ? I do not want to go to power steering...I heard they can be rebuilt somehow..somewhere..does anybody out there have any ideas ?

[olde-goat]

Not sure if this helps but from time to time there is a company out of Minnesota that I have seen on ebay that rebuilds and sells all types of steering boxes. Sorry but I do not have a name or link.

[Dick Boneske]

Pontiac offered a 17.5:1 manual steering box on the '64 GTO. I had the standard ratio manual box and it steered VERY HARD. I couldn't wait to get power steering on it. Luckily, I found a '64 Tempest in a junkyard as a donor in 1966. When summer arrived, I removed power steering for the drag racing season, then reinstalled it for winter. The belt always spun off when drag racing.

[John V.]

Dick, just one correction. The base Manual Box for '64/'65 was 24:1.

The optional Quick Ratio Manual Box was 20:1. It wasn't just offered for the GTO, you could order it for any A Body.

The optional Power Steering Box was 17.5:1.

I'm not positive, but I think there would be no difference between the regular and Q.R. boxes except for the internals. But there in lies the rub. Not sure where you would find internal hard parts to do a conversion except if you found a complete Box.

Most of the "conversions" I've heard of were to convert the Power Steering Box to the later 12:1 quick ratio Box, I believe the Grand National and others used such a Box. The conversion can be done to retain the stock external Box and install the necessary internals. I don't think that conversion is available for a Manual Steer Box.

The Q.R. Manual Box wasn't a real popular option but I'm guessing you could find one from a parts vendor if you searched around. But even in the day, it was still considered "too slow".

You might check with Flaming River to see what they offer.

[gtopont]

Flaming River..parts ..good idea John.V.

[aceaceca]

I don't think you will like the fast ratio manual box ratio. For a street driven car you will need gorilla arms. Same goes for manual metallic brakes and close ratio gearbox. All are non driver friendly except for die hard racers. Been there!

[zbuickman]

I will differ with you on thew close ratio 4 speed...... for city driving and light hyway driving. I prefer the close ratio box with appropriate gears(3:90 and up). I also dont have "normal" driving habits/preferances either. but to each there own. I also dont mind manual steering and prefer manual brakes... (but not the quick or metallic)