Mopar Muscle Association UK

I fitted hilux caliper to my charger and a disc master cylinder with servo and the car stops on a dime. Didn't cost a fortune but did take a bit of time to sort out.

hello

first things first

i'm manual no power anything dude so what i write is based on what i read and a bit on assistance given to others with power steering....
i can't streess enough how good it is to have a manual.

factory manuals pop up on ebay sometimes.... and you can get scans on CD for about 10 bucks

sway bar is anti roll bar
sounds like you have the right torsion bars but measure thickness in inches of the thin bit to check
440 is probably gonna weigh the same as your current give or take a bit that doesn't matter.

Right

steering

2 types of pumps and boxes used on power steering cars
both work in much the same way
parts can be had for both from the US

it will probably be a 24:1 ratio linear box i.e it takes approximatly 100000000 twists of the wheel to go lock to lock
the performance cars got 20:1 ratio so swapping in a 20:1 box is a nice upgrade.

European Aussie and SA cars got 20:1 as standard and performance versions got 16:1. never seen a 16:1 power box mind..

3 things that i know you can adjust to make it feel better

firstly it sounds like it probably hasn't had much maintenance for a long time
will be worthwheile dumping the oil and re filling.

secondly it probably has 40 years worth of wear in it so i guess that sector shaft mesh with the ballnut will have play and the screw bearings will no longer have the factory specifed preload both of which make it feel loose and more like a rudder than a prescision steering gear.

sector shaft is the shaft that sticks out the bottom of the box and connects to the steering via the pitman arm.

the ballnut and screw assembly are the bit you twist with the steering wheel

ball nut runs on a screw the screw is just an extension of the steering column through the box
the rubber and cloth coupling (rag joint) between column and box should be renewed.

on the top side of the box i.e from above will be an adjuster its usually a allen headed bolt with a lock nut this adjusts mesh between sector teeth and ball nut teeth
both have gear teeth that are thicker at one end than the other. adjusting this adjuster rams the fatter parts of each teeth closer together.



jack up front of car
get wheels off ground
undo adjuster lock nut
wind adjuster out 2 turns
turn steering lock to lock
then back to centre
wind adjuster in until it starts to feel tight
wind steering lock to lock
check adjuster
nip it up slightly
is steering stiff in the middle?
if so
good

back the adjuster off so the feeling of stiffness is just gone
do up lock nut.

adjusting this will pull the sector shaft down into the box a tiny smidge which means its pre loading the screw aginst one of its bearings and lifting it out of the other i.e bearing preload will be even further out than it was before


to adjust this is a bit of a pig
you are supposed top take the box out and use a lever and spring balance to get a inch lb reading of force used to turn box but as the box is most likely worn screw that you'll get a few years out of it yet

the end of the box that connects to the steering column is made from an aluminum plug that screws in on a very fine thread
it is held in position by a massive hexagonal lock ring that will look like its part of the case...its not

use a long blunt implement and a hammer to give the lock ring a knock to loosen it. It usually has sections out of each corner of the hexagon anyway to help with this
spin it right up the theads applying wd40 to clean them off
next get a long bit of wood
wedge it into an indetation on the top of the alluminium plug and slowly tap it round to do it up tighter into the box
after each whack go and give the steering a bit of a twirl to help things seat
once it looks like it will go no further or the steering gets tight
give it a gentle whack back and do the lock ring up again.

or if you have Chrysler tool blaa blaa- blaaaaaa-blaa use it by fitting it into the holes in the alluminium plug.......


now you have adjusted the sector and ballnut mesh
and taken all play out of the screw bearings.
it should have a natural resistance that feels quite good and very littl slop i.e 1/2 inch turn of the wheel should make noticable twitch of road wheels

but its a power box....
they work based on hydraulic assistance to move the ballnut up and down the screw
and its kinda based on valves and a see saw (not an actual see saw but its easier to explain)

if you upset this see saw the assist applied to the steering will be weak in one direction and way too much in the other.

the adjustmenst we made may have upset this see saw

i.e with the engine running you may find the car now self steers and the wheel will spin round to either full lock left or full lock right

You can stop it doing this by adjusting the postion of the distribution block on the case where the pipes go in.
too far one way or the other and the steering goes mad
just right and it will stay in the middle and not favour one side or the other i.e you balance your see saw perfectly


There may be other things you can do to alter the ammount of assist that the box gives

but i'm not sure on that front.......

if the box is screwed

you can buy rebuild kits from the states
they are expensive

many of the seals and bearinsg can be had from your local bearing supply place

if sector shaft and ballnut and screw are worn

dress the sector shaft teeth.
dress the ballnut teeth.
polish the bearing surfaces
buy a set of new balls from here

http://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/index.php?cPath=23

and get secotor shaft, screw and ballnut hard chromed to bring it back into dimensional spec.

or just bite the bullet and go to flameing river

20:1 box with their quick action idlers and pitman arm will give you 16:1 ratio steering....

Dave

if you search the message board for "landcruiser"

you will find Antons Hilux upgrade
KevBs early landcruiser upgrade
and a couple of posts i made where i posted up what i'd Stolen wholesale off another messagebaord regarding using bits of Toyota to update A body brakes

you have a B body and your spindles won't have the disk caliper mount which adds expense to a relatively low cost upgrade

suitable calipers are 40-80 quid on ebay

if you got spindles with a caliper mount and are happy to grind and mess about a bit with the rolling diameter of the disks (need about 6 mm off) you can probably put some 90s landcsruier calipers on there running a vented A body mopar disk and still be able to run 14 inch wheels on the front if you wanted to.

these caliopers are 4 pot and much more efficient they are designed to stop a landcruiser with this smaller disk but a bigger rolling deimeter wheel and tyre so should be quite good at stopping a B body that has way less electrical and sound dedening equipmernt in it. i.e its heavy but its lighter than a modern truck.

The landcruiser uses NISSIN branded calipers more usually seen on landcrusiers Hilux Surf and 4Runner certain Nissan sporty cars in the Z and ZX range
loads of race spec pads

the pads also seem to match at least 1 of the wilwood calipers

anything form say 94-96 K reg will work but tracking down the right spindles that will fit your big balljoint car will be fun....

70s 73----> dodge dart swinger spindles might be the go. Think they used big balljoints had the disk brake caliper mount and take a suitable vented disk....US cars are not my strong point you'd need further input from US car owners to get the right combo of disk spindle that fits your ball joints and track rods

Dave

The only way to make a power steering box feel more positive i.e. "firm feel" is to add extra spring plates between the bearings in the input shaft.

As they are they will feel very light as they come from the factory unless your car is "Police Spec".

Front end alignment as the factory set it is also rubbish and designed to make the steering even lighter rather than better handling.

Welcome to the Board Al, its always great to see another MoPar in Sunny Dorset, I think we have spoke in the past, anyway best of luck with your Coronet, it looks great.

Nice big beast that

Its great to get so many encouraging replys.

That gives me lots to work on ,may take me a while though ! Dave, thats a real library of information ,better than a Haynes manual .I should have said I have fitted 15" wheels but I guess thats assumed.

Those Toyota conversions look good unless I can find the OEM bits. I suppose I need original parts anyway ,does anyone remanufacture any of them ?

Still, its good to have options .

I will keep you posted on progress .Thanks to one and all.

Good luck with the car. Looks mint.

Its a great car Al...i would go with OEM stuff otherwise when or if you sell later, i and others may be wary of a cobbled together system

Its also gonna be easier to swap the parts into the car....these were never the Best handling cars on the planet with the best brake ...you can upgrade but its never gonna be a modern WRX subaru in those departments.
..but with work it can turn tarmac to treacle easily and look a 1000 times better doing it

Thats true, would be better to keep it all Mopar.
I had'nt realized the MP was a copy/repro of the original ,just seems to be a big question on quality and price $995 without master.
I guess its down to finding parts, spindle,hub,caliper and bracket.
Either that or get the emery cloth out.

U.S e bay is best place to look or Moparts site

Another 66 in Blighty . Looks a nice old bus AL, original, keep the moonshine runner paintjob n steelies. Make a great sleeper.

Hi Chip ,it is a bit bashed on one side unfortanately ,but cant decide on a colour anyway.I did wonder if it could be sprayed to match the rest (badly !)
Big fan of steels, and stock looking . Oh and could use more power.

Al, try this lot for brakes for your car....go back to the Home page and search....you have to close the pop ups as someone is popping up over their site...its safe though

http://www.aajbrakes.bravepages.com/rproductinfo.html

AAJ, work with drum spindles, think someone else fitted these ? Like SSBC kit .

Would be nice to hear some good reports .