fastback1965

Hello everyone my name is Rick from Northern, KY... I am a total newbie when it comes to this message board stuff so please bare with me.... Just about one year ago I bought a 1965 Mustang Fastback 289ci 4 barrel 4 speed. The car had been stored in a barn and had not run for almost 20 years. I now have the car running, and drivable. I had to rebuild the entire front suspension and found it very difficult to get many of the parts for a car that was equipped with power steering. The biggest problem so far has been with the steering. The car wants to wonder left to right while being driven. It seems the steering is always trying to correct itself one direction and then the other. Its almost dangerous. I have been working with a neighbor who is a car enthusiast and a damn good mechanic. We have not been able to solve this problem. Below are his comments as to what we have done to date. I would greatly appreciate help from anyone who has experienced similar problems including what you did to resolve it. The car has a factory Ford power steering pump and as part of the chassis rebuild the steering valve, cylinder, and all other components were replaced....

The V8 front end has been completely rebuilt with new parts, All new except the spindles and the PS pump.

The problem is that I cannot get the power steering to work correctly. below is the work tried...

When I installed the new parts "as is" the steering would pull hard to the right. Adjusting the nut on the out side of the valve only made is worse. I modified slightly the length of the valve to help mechanically center the valve in the valve body. This worked well and the system is balanced. car drives well. But the power assist is almost non existent! It's there but you still need to muscle the wheel in a parking lot. Installed the rubber bumpers from the old valve into the new valve. They were about .015" thinner than the new ones. This provides great balanced power assist. But now the car drifts terribly on the road. Hunting constantly. My thoughts are that; When the valve is loose enough to move and provide power assist, it also promotes "hunting" on the road as the steering is not ridged. Pitman arm is not tight to the drag link. Instead it moves the steering valve first..This causes one to constantly fight the wheel. When the valve is set up tight, the pitman arm is ridged to the drag link and provides good steering on the road. But it no longer moves the steering valve enough and there is little of no assist!

The car was never driven before the new parts were installed. So I cannot compare how the power steering should perform. The wheel alignment has been and checked verified to be good twice. A local "Mustang" shop tried to fix it but they only made it worse!