1963 Power Steering; Remove and Replace

[Richard P.]

I'm going to have my regular mechanic remove, and replace with new parts, the steering box, the p.s. control valve, the p.s. cylinder, the p.s. hoses and the idler arm. This car is a July '63 built, 81 thousand mile driver. The mechanic is not a Corvette specialist. Are there any special '63 Corvette considerations that need to be addressed to make these changes or is it pretty straightforward? Thanks in advance to all you helpful folks.

[Edward J.]

Re: 1963 Power Steering; Remove and Replace

Rich, a few things I like to do is center the steering wheel first before dissy. that way you'll have a relationship of the rag joint . have him count the number of turns on the control valve as he unwinds after the removal of hoses.

the new steering box,you'll want to turn the shaft from lock to lock and count the number of turns then split it in half (3.0TURNS TURN BACK 1.5 ) , this will get you on center with the new box.

When finished you may want to get a front end alignement to make sure you have centered the steering wheel.

If i missed something - step in guys. Ed

[Russ S.]

Re: 1963 Power Steering; Remove and Replace

SAVE those valuable parts!!!

[Timothy B.]

Re: 1963 Power Steering; Remove and Replace

Richard,

What's wrong with all the original power steering parts? Keep as much as possible, send parts like the steering box to Gary Ramaldi and let him overhaul the original box. The valve and pump are easy to overhaul, keep in mind 1963 parts are hard to find.

The adjustment bracket that bolts to the motor mount and front of block is also a 63 only part, it's configured a little different that the 64-up bracket.

[Richard P.]

Re: 1963 Power Steering; Remove and Replace

To All. Thanks for taking the time and trouble to reply. I appreciate the help, I will save the old parts and someday they will go with the car if and when it gets sold. I decided on new parts for the ease and simplicity of getting the job done. I thought that finding rebuilders, removing the p.s., sending the stuff off for service, then trying to get it all back in was more than I wanted to tackle in my home garage. I have discovered that my coupe has many one year only parts and the prices certainly reflect that fact. You gotta love that split-window to choose a '63 rather than, say, a '67.