S 10 manual steering gear box

[itsnotanova]

The guy I'm buying it from said he had it on his elc and it sucks in parking lots or anywhere you do a lot of turning. I'm personally going with manual because I'm going from pro-touring malibu to 1/4 mile malibu. In a 1/4 mile car there's no reason to be turning a lot but a big reason to lose weight.

 

[3XBrownCutty]

I just read on malibu racing an 82-91 s-10 manual box will work, that is a non-power box. Pitman arm is questionable.

What about boxes from a camaro or 'bird? I've heard of those swapped before. Now are these power or non power boxes on the F-bodies (82-92)?

got that info here http://www.darklair.com/monte/howto/howto.susp_steer.html but cant find whether its manual or power (7th paragraph)

Just thought, I got a 1 1/4" swaybar off of a '78 cutlass, would that have a quicker ratio box?

Sorry, just clearing everything out because the junkyard by my house has s-10s f-bodies and g's, and I don't want to "float" down the road this spring :lol:

 

[Blake442]

The benefit not only comes from the difference in weight, but there's less drag on the motor with no power steering pump to turn.

The F-body boxes are all power, but offer some more "performance" oriented turning ratios.

Manual steering really isn't that bad. Sure, parking takes a little bit more effort, but not much.
Try driving a car that has p/s, but it's not hooked up. Now that's hard. I put 6,000 miles on my 442 like that when it had the 350 in it and I was too lazy to find the correct p/s brackets... :lol:

 

[itsnotanova]

I picked up my box today and weighed it at work with two different types of scales and both said the box without the pitman arm was a c**t hair over 20 lbs. It will be a long time till I can tell you what's the difference in handling is.

 

[grayghost]

I picked up my box today and weighed it at work with two different types of scales and both said the box without the pitman arm was a c**t hair over 20 lbs. It will be a long time till I can tell you what's the difference in handling is.

thanks for the help 😀

 

[itsnotanova]

No problem. I pretty sure you'll find one if you keep looking. I got mine off craigslist and just today I saw someone selling a rebuilt one for $75, about an hour from my house. I also have noticed some in junkyards but have been to lazy to grab them. Some people have said that only the 82-93 S10 boxes work, but i would bet a large sum of money that all years of S10 boxes will work. I have owned several S10's and the front suspension doesn't really change over the years. ABS is the biggest difference between the years and even that isn't that much....maybe the spindle/hub also but not the steering box.