No Power Steering on E-Body

[Mark_B]

Hi All,

Just wondering if there's anyone out there who has an E-body without power steering on their car?  My car doesn't have it and it sure feels heavy to drive.  Are there any advantages to not having it, handling? 

I've been thinking maybe I should get power steering fitted some day, make life easier.

[Chryco Psycho]

Mine is factory without PS or PB , I prefer the feel , the power steering was over engineered & really has no feel to it , the only downside with PS is parking with wide tires IMO

[Cudagirl3406]

@Mark_B I have no PS in my AAR. 

Never any driving issues/handling... I agree with @Chryco Psycho about parking.  When there's a crowd at a car show and I am parking; they definitely know I don't have PS but I never have an issue. 

[Chryco Psycho]

 BTW PS is much better if you run a stage 3 Firm Feel or Steer & Gear box as it reduces the assist & adds more feel to the steering

[JS29]

My gran coupe has A 383 in it, and  with what has been said. I do like the feel of the road with manual steering! the trick is to get the car rolling before you try to turn the steering wheel.   

[rebelyell]

Mine has neither power steering nor power brakes. I'm going to add both eventually. Driving that car is akin to going to the gym for an hour. I love it, but it's work.

[6Pack70]

I'm building an AAR currently and I was wondering if I should convert it over to fast ratio power steering instead of manual.  Over this past summer I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to drive two freshly, fully restored T/A Challengers in the same day.  One with fast ratio power, one with manual. Both cars had all new made in USA Moog suspension pieces and perfect alignments.  Honestly, I hated the power steering feel. Especially at higher speeds in the turns. Felt like I was constantly rocking the wheel to keep the car in my lane.  Manual car on the same road felt smooth and tight with little effort to keep the car where I wanted it.  My opinion?  Power steering is for parking in tight spots.  Other than that, I think its useless.

[RUNCHARGER]

Firm feel box and proper alignment are what's needed. As said the manual box is fine if you don't have to parallel park.

[Claudia]

  I also was worried about not installing power steering initially.  I ended up having Steer & Gear rebuild my manual steering box and upgrade to fast ratio gears / pitman arm . . . while it does take a little effort, I can turn the wheels when parked with no issues.  While the car is moving, it is fairly easy to turn as well. 

[Mark_B]

Thanks for your feedback.  Very useful.  Sounds like the power steering's not what it's cracked up to be.

[HP2]

Power steering is the schiznit  if your running 255 or larger front tires with 6* of caster.

The biggest issue with mopar power steering of the era was its over assist and resulting loss of road feel. Reduce the pressure to increase the road  feel, add caster to increase the effort, and power steering can feel significantly better than original without the sacrifice in low speed steering ability.

BTW, fast ratio is different than power or manual steering.  Fast ratio is a ratio of how far the tire turns relative to the angel of the steering wheel. Fast ratio can be added to manual or power steering. Power is a hydraulic assist to the steering effort. Manual steering may save you 8-10 hp over power steering.

Also, most nascar cup cars run power steering these days.

[dodj]

Convert to PS in my opinion. Unless you are drag racing and need every tenth, there is no advantage to manual steering.
Had a Steer n Gear unit installed a few years ago and it is fun to drive and park.
My car had manual steering it was the second thing I changed. The first was the manual brakes. Changed them to power too.

[Shane Kelley]

Mine was a manual steer car. I ended up converting to the Borgeson fast ratio power steering set up. That parking lot maneuvering with manual steering and a manual trans sucks. It didn't take long for me to get tired of that. For me the car is much more enjoyable to drive since I installed the PS. Road feel is pretty darn good with the Borgeson set up. IMO

[floorit426]

I was all set to convert mine to power steering, until I put bias ply tire back on the car. The steering effort required seems to be substantially better, as a result. My wife had a T/A and it had a really large turning radius. I'm not sure if that was the result of having the fast ratio power steering box, or not. All I know is that a lot of u turns turned into y turns.

[redgum78]

A lot of castor angle will add to the steering effort. The higher the castor angle the more the vehicles weight tries to force the wheels back to center. This is great for high speed stability but means you are fighting against that weight at low speed turns.

If you have lots of caster angle you might be able to have that reduced a bit.