66 steering stabilizer usage

[Brian K.]

I got a buddies 66 L79 corvette here with a bad steering box, which I removed and sent to Blairs Corvette for a rebuild. I noticed he has no steering stabilizer installed and has the tie rods attached to the spots for power steering on the steering arms. This car was restored by a X-friend of his, my first question don't all small block cars except solid lifter 6qt oil pan cars and power steering cars have the stabilizer? Also by having the tie rods attached to power steering holes on the steering arms it does no harm except give him fast steering? Thanks Brian

[Greg T.]

Re: 66 steering stabilizer usage

66 L79 should have a damper. The tie rod end location swap will allow faster steering with greater effort.

[Brian K.]

Re: 66 steering stabilizer usage

Thanks for the quick reply Greg! Do you think I should swap back his tie rods back to the right location? I'll talk to him about getting a stabilizer and brackets. sincerely Brian

[Joe L.]

Re: 66 steering stabilizer usage

Thanks for the quick reply Greg! Do you think I should swap back his tie rods back to the right location? I'll talk to him about getting a stabilizer and brackets. sincerely Brian

Brian-----


I would not use the inner tie rod attachment points on the steering arms except for a car with power steering or, perhaps, a manual steering car used for racing. A Corvette with manual steering is hard enough to maneuver, let alone add the extra effort generated by the "fast steering" position.

From a functionality standpoint, the stabilizer is not absolutely necessary. However, I'd still recommend installing it. The stabilizer is still available from GM and the brackets are available in reproduction. I think that most of the reproduction parts vendors carry the GM stabilizer, so you might just as well get all the parts from one of them.