At the end of the summer i bought power steering to put in my car. Its a complete package. My question is how hard is it to take out the manual steering parts and swap them with the power steering parts I bought. I'll be heading home for spring break next month and want to know if i can do it myself and save alot of money. Has anyone done it themselves before or does anyone have any advice?

 

I did the upgrade last spring. I bought rebuilt original equipment. In order to get the steering box and shaft out, the motor has to be out of the way. Some people will argue that you can undo the drivers-side motor mount, remove the oil pan, lift the engine a little, and you will have the room you need to get it out. I personally just removed the entire engine and transmission. After that, replacing everything was a breeze.

When you unbolt the steering column under the dash, make sure to disconnect the wires that are coming out of the column (turn signals & horn). They all go to one big plug. There is no aftermarket replacement for that plug, so make sure you don't yank the wires (like I did).

Having the engine out (and on an engine stand) allowed me to do lots of other stuff like:
Paint the engine bay
Cam, lifters, valve springs, timing gears & chain
All gaskets replaced
Engine painted

 

Another thing - Headers.

I added tri-y headers when re-installing the engine. If I were to do it again, I wouldn't have them. You have to buy a special bracket to lower where the ram connects. Also, the hose**** the headers. I had to make all kinds of ugly bends on my hoses to get them to where they don't touch any exaust.

 

first off, its great to hear that its easy. second i dont have headers yet and i wont buy any until i rebuild my 289. i also didnt buy a power steering box because i didnt know if it was entirely necessary. is it posable to have a power steering setup with a manual box?

 

I bought the entire kit from a guy who sells rebuilt steering and brake components on ebay. His name is Mr. Chockley. His phone number is 217-882-2083.Very nice guy.

I don't remember if the steering boxwasa "must replace" thing. I do remember the ratio between manual and power is different. Manual steering, I think, is 5 turns lock-to-lock. Power steering is less (4 I think). Having the tighter-ratio steering makes the car feel much more responsive.