Hey guys/girls

I have a 67 mustang coupe with a 289 auto tranny all original and the steering is extremely "light" i could turn it by breathing too hard. now i heard a couple different ways of fixing this just wanted your opinion.

1. supposedly theres a nut on the steering box that you could loosen a bit.
2. you could get the wheels aligned and ask for +3 caster.

which one would be better?

whats the average cost of a wheel alignment?

Edit:
heck ill go for manual steering if its easy/cheap to do.

thanks much.

 

I have 67 manual rack and 64.5 power.

Pros and cons to each.

I think it's fun... the feather touch vintage ford power steering..smile on my face.

Wrong box adjust leads to steering wheel play or box wear. The worm gear steering box must be adjusted to spec. Involves shaft bearing preload plus top adjust gear preload. Best not to touch box until familiar w/ proper adjustment procedure.

 

Is it power? And is the steering just sensitive, or is it mushy and wanders?

 

The Ford/Bendix power steering has this one flaw, that it has plenty of power boost. I prefer manual steering in a Mustang, but I have repaired plenty of Mustang PS, and it is truly excellent when properly maintained. Ford used it for about 25 years, and if it was a warranty problem the'd have dropped it in about a week. The stock PS, properly set up, has the accuracy and sensitivity of the flight controls in military aircraft, and in fact operates on the exact same valve principle. If your system is sloppy, get it repaired.

Oh- and if you do anything other than the exact Ford procedure on the nut on the box, you'll destroy your gearbox and maybe get yourself dead in the process.

I agree. That setting is part of this modification. If he doesn't do this, there's no point in talking about the handling of the car, manual or power.

Arning/Shelby Suspension Drop

 

nice, thanks for all the answers, so if i take this to a wheel alignment shop they should be able to tune this properly? my neighborhood is practically swimming in auto part/repair shops so i could probably find someone who knows how to work on older cars.

 

I take it that it's PS? you didn't mention.
Have you done the Shelby/Arning 1" drop that 2+2GT posted? This will give you more alignment adjustment but needs to be set to the new specs not the original car specs or it'll drive like our economy.

First move would be the alignment, as mentioned if you misadjust the gear box you'll wear it out in short order and cost yourself more $ and aggravation.

I installed a larger PS pulley on my '67 to 'dumb down' the steering input a little, seemed to help slow down the pump and lower pressure/input on the steering. I think it came from an earlier year? I'll have to look it up but it's an original Mustang '65-'70 PS pulley just a larger diameter one.
Jon

 

yep its has PS, car is all stock no drops or nothin.

 

You steering is all good except you don't like how easy it is to turn steering wheel?

No problem with play or straight line tracking?

Caster is adjustable on 67; however if you want +3 or more caster I would recommend installing 1/16" shim under each front UCA before taking it to alignment shop.

1 hour away is a shop that still uses shims and knows old cars; charge is $30 for good alignment.

Few minutes away is a shop that doesn't have shims and took 4 hours to dial in wrong settings; charge $80.

 

not much play in the steering, wheels are misaligned, the steering wheel is turned to the left when going straight. the most annoying is the light steering.
is the shimming hard to do?

 

Increasing Caster to +3 or more will increase steering effort which is what you want. Increased caster will also improve high speed stability. If caster is more than +3 or + 4 verify LCA moves w/o binding. I'm running +4 caster on my manual 67 and I like it.

I would tune Camber to -0.5 which differs from ford fiberglass radial spec.

I would tune toe to + 1/8" toe in.

Shims available most auto parts stores. Get two 1/16" alignment or body shims. Support car frame.
Loosen two UCA bolts per side. Slip 1/16" shim over front UCA bolt inside wheel well. You want the front of UCA to separate from car 1/16" (ford max spec); many install 1/8" which is more than ford spec.

The steering wheel should be centered unless Gomer's baby girl did the alignment. Before going to shop verify steering wheel is centered to the factory shaft mark. Just have to pull horn ring. This must be done prior to alignment.