<VV> Product Announcement - Corvair Steering gears

[Sethracer@aol.com]

New Product announcement     March 20, 2004

Silicone Wire Systems (SWS) is announcing the availability of three new
products for Corvair High Performance. Two of the three were announced and
displayed at this years Corvair Performance Workshop in Dayton, OH.

Today's Item: Fast-ratio Quick Steering Gearbox for all years of Corvair.

Manufactured by Flaming River Industries, this new gearbox is a faster-ratio
direct replacement for the slow steering gearbox in early model Corvairs
(60-63). With a selection of adapters, it can be made to fit ANY year of
Corvair
car. The original standard Corvair steering ratio was described by one
reviewer
as blike winding an alarm clockb. There have been bquickb arms
available for
many years, but shortening the arms to reach an acceptable ratio (by
themselves), causes some goofy steering angles, and hurts your overall turning
radius.
The factory did it right, shortening the arms a little, and changing the
ratio inside the steering box. If you have a Corvair with the original slow
steering, you will be amazed by quicker response of the faster-ratio box.  The
factory quick boxes have become hard to find, ($$), at least in good
condition.
Flaming River Industries, at our behest, completely re-designed the steering
box
for the Corvair, adding needle bearing where sleeve bearing once lived and
generally made a slightly beefier design, but one that interchanges with the
original. No Corvair parts are used in the production of the new box, it is
all
new parts, nothing rebuilt.

Steering gear tutorial
Over the years of Corvair manufacture, Chevy produced six visually different
Steering box designs. Two of them were available with regular or quick
binnards
b, but were visually identical.

The six are:
Type One  60-63 b Short shaft, aluminum housing b slow ratio
Type Two 1964 b long shaft, all the way to the steering wheel
Type Three 1965 (early) b long shaft, all the way to the wheel (different
than 1964)
Type Four 1965 (early)  -Telescoping column - solid steel double-splined
coupler.
Type Five 1965 (late) - through 1966 Large stamped coupler b Available slow
or quick ratio
Type Six 1967-1969 short shaft again (allows collapsible column) b Available
slow or quick ratio

All coupler equipped Corvair boxes (types One, Four, Five and Six) use the
same column spline .625b x 36 b But only the 60-63 Type One, uses a full
36
spline tip. The others have a flat edge ground onto the splined tip to
borientb
the coupler onto the shaft when it is installed. The Type Six box is virtually
the same as the Type One, but with the added bflatb. The type Four and
Five
are almost identical to each other, they also have the ground flat on the
spline. But the column shafts are much longer than the Type One and Six. On
the
Type Five box, the column shaft extends about 15.25b out of the box, on the
Type
Four, about 14.25b.

The Flaming River replacement boxes are Type One direct replacements. To
replace a Type Six box, the flat must be ground to properly orient the
coupler.
(The coupler expects a flat, and wonbt slide onto the shaft without it.) To
replace the Type Four or Type Five box, an extender shaft must be added to
reach
the stock coupling; the splines on the extender must also have the flat ground
onto it to mate with the coupler.  I am working with Flaming River to produce
extension shafts. They already make all the component parts for it.

Types four and five are interchangeable, as long as the steering column is
also changed over. Either complete system can also replace a Type Three
installation.
If you have a Type Two or Three steering gear and you decide to race your
car, (at any place that you could actually hit something) you should seriously
think about replacing it with a type that has some type of bolt-together
coupler. The bfront of the wheelsb location of the Corvair steering gear
and the
proximity of the steering wheel to your chest is not a good combination when a
solid shaft is added. Although a 60-63 column might be swapped into the 1964
(Type Two), the solid coupling used in the early models simulates a solid
shaft,
with all the same drawbacks.

Steering arms

Chevy only produced two designs of steering arms for Corvairs, regular length
and shorter length. All were machined from forgings. The faster arms were
only available as part of the fast ratio steering option for late-1965 through
1969 models. There were several aftermarket shorter arms available, and some
are
still available. All are machined from steel castings. In his book bHow to
keep your Corvair Aliveb Richard Finch described how to shorten the factory
forged arms to achieve a faster ratio steering. In order to fully realize the
Fast
Ratio steering option exactly as Chevy designed it, you will have to find or
build shorter arms. For an autocross or racing car, the quick box can be
combined with even the aftermarket cast arms b but it is very btwitchyb
on the
street, and I do not recommend it. At least replacing the slow factory box
with
the quicker Flaming River box gives you somewhat quicker steering and keeps
your stock, factory steering alignment and turning radius.

The fast ratio Steering boxes are available from Silicone Wire Systems and
other select Corvair Performance dealers. You might be able to order one from
Jeg
bs or Summit too. But wouldnbt you rather support your Corvair vendors.
Silicone Wire Systems is introducing these boxes at a special price $299 plus
shipping. Just to prove I do not discriminate against non-racers, brand new
b
standardb ratio boxes, identical except for the ratio are on sale for the
same
price. These are an all-new heavy-duty replacement at about the same price as
a
rebuild! b Seth Emerson

So b E-mail me for more information at  Sethracer@aol.com