Well it looks like my original post got locked.
gbodyforum.com
I didn't give up on getting power steering in the 57 Plymouth, but between healing up after my hand surgery and putting in a new house the PS conversion kit sat in the trunk for a bit over a year.
Of course you know any steering swap that requires starting out by pulling up the carpet and removing an access panel because the original steering gear and column has to come out thru the interior as a single unit is not going to be a real fun job.
PS 1 by M Patterson, on Flickr
The installation went pretty well. The kit wasn't designed for use with the factory clutch linkage (which I knew going into this). That required some extra time figuring out the mods I needed to make and then doing them. But overall other than being PIA it was pretty straight forward.
Overall it was worth the time and money to me. The steering has a lot better road feel than the original factory PS units. It does not make the car feel like a sports car by any means but it does at least feel like 60s car with PS. It sure makes turning the wheels under that old cast iron HEMI a lot nicer.
I also made my goal of having the car ready to go back for my 50th HS reunion .......of course now with the virus thing there is a good chance that it will be cancelled or postponed. Even if it is I still plan on making the trip back to Illinois sometime this year anyway.
Of course this was one of those kind of jobs that you spend a bunch time and money doing and when you're done and stand back and look at it, it looks exactly the same as it did before you started. At least I sure feel the difference when I drive it.
57 Plymouth by M Patterson, on Flickr
Revisiting the 57 Plymouth
I hate being bored. With the 37 Dodge PU on the road I decided to revisit the 57 Plymouth I built 10 years ago (with an eye on driving it back to Illinois for my 50th HS reunion in a couple of years). The car has a 1956 354 Hemi, Tri-Power, Overdrive 4 speed, and Chrysler 9 ¼ Rear end with...
gbodyforum.com
I didn't give up on getting power steering in the 57 Plymouth, but between healing up after my hand surgery and putting in a new house the PS conversion kit sat in the trunk for a bit over a year.
Of course you know any steering swap that requires starting out by pulling up the carpet and removing an access panel because the original steering gear and column has to come out thru the interior as a single unit is not going to be a real fun job.
PS 1 by M Patterson, on FlickrThe installation went pretty well. The kit wasn't designed for use with the factory clutch linkage (which I knew going into this). That required some extra time figuring out the mods I needed to make and then doing them. But overall other than being PIA it was pretty straight forward.
Overall it was worth the time and money to me. The steering has a lot better road feel than the original factory PS units. It does not make the car feel like a sports car by any means but it does at least feel like 60s car with PS. It sure makes turning the wheels under that old cast iron HEMI a lot nicer.
I also made my goal of having the car ready to go back for my 50th HS reunion .......of course now with the virus thing there is a good chance that it will be cancelled or postponed. Even if it is I still plan on making the trip back to Illinois sometime this year anyway.
Of course this was one of those kind of jobs that you spend a bunch time and money doing and when you're done and stand back and look at it, it looks exactly the same as it did before you started. At least I sure feel the difference when I drive it.
57 Plymouth by M Patterson, on Flickr
