Power Steering on '61

[Orange 01 SS]

Hi!

My dad has had this '61 Corvette for the last 30 years, and he ended up getting a nerve disease that makes it hard for him to manhandle it anymore. The car is original from the paint to the self-lubricating greasy chassis, so making a lot of obvious modifications or cutting things up isn't really what he's looking for.

Is there any kind of power steering that would "seem" right on this car? Does anything fit? Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks!

Craig

 

[JohnZ]

Neat car! Short of replacing the complete front suspension with a Jim Meyer unit with a power rack & pinion and re-mounting the engine from the side so it'll accept a power steering pump mount, I'm not aware of any C1 power steering conversion that I'd consider safe and reliable. There may be some out there that folks have fabricated without replacing the front suspension, but I haven't seen any personally.

 

[Orange 01 SS]

Thanks.

I'm not saying you're wrong, because I really don't know a lot about it, but I have heard about guys using PS pumps from things like '61 Impalas on these. Replacing the front suspension is out of the question, so I guess I'm just fishing for someone with experience with other types of retrofit.

 

[JohnZ]

Yes, that's a possibility too - the passenger cars of that era with power steering used a pump that bolted up to the back of the generator (same special generator with an extended armature shaft that Corvettes used to drive the tach drive gearbox); that approach would work (assuming there's clearance between the valve cover and fender inner for the pump), but you'd have to give up the tach (nothing to drive it).

 

[studiog]

I checked this out when I was restoring my 61 and decided against it. There are bolt on kits available but as John Z suggests there is a big question mark when it comes to safety. Seems there have been reports of third arm assemblies failing due to the additional stress ( from the PS unit) on these already old (and obviously fatigued) parts.

 

[Stemmer]

Great looking '61....

 

[firstgear]

Hi!

My dad has had this '61 Corvette for the last 30 years, and he ended up getting a nerve disease that makes it hard for him to manhandle it anymore. The car is original from the paint to the self-lubricating greasy chassis, so making a lot of obvious modifications or cutting things up isn't really what he's looking for.

Is there any kind of power steering that would "seem" right on this car? Does anything fit? Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks!

Craig

sweet looking car......hope your dad gets better......driving that car would certainly put a smile on my face......

 

[Loren Smith]

http://cranescorvette.com/corvette_power_steering_system_1956-62.htm

 

[Tyler Townsley]

This is a link to modern electric power steering units. The first one is designed to go on the column which would make it a natural for a c1. However I have unable to get anywhere with this company selling to anyone other than OEMs. Good luck.

http://www.koyo-seiko.co.jp/english/products/pro/steering.html

Tyler

 

[JohnZ]

http://cranescorvette.com/corvette_power_steering_system_1956-62.htm

That Crane thing is pretty scary - it's "cobbled", not engineered. They don't call him "Crazy David" for nothing.

 

[Orange 01 SS]

Thanks, guys. I appreciate the suggestions.

 

[Claude Edwards]

Currently one on ebay item #4623570733 may be what you are looking for.

 

[Loren Smith]

I saw that too - interesting looking setup:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...&item=4623570733&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT