jboweriii

I have upper and lower Tubular A arms from VanSteel as well as the chassis was done by them. I don't know about rack and pinionor whats out there to upgrade. Want something better than stock. Thanks for your time

Kris Tunetso

Generally there are 3 options for power steering on our cars:

1. Stock control valve and ram
2. Rack and Pinion
3. Hydraulic steering box

Stock power steering is generally used by those who have to have factory correct parts or whose power steering is in fine working order. It works fine when maintained but the control valves are somewhat notorious for leaking. I've heard it said that there are only 2 kinds of control valves: those that leak, and those that will eventually. You said you don't want stock though, and that's fine: we have other options.

Rack-and-Pinion is what most cars today are running. I can't say how well it compares to a stock steering box because honestly I've never really paid attention. My daily driver has rack and pinion steering and I don't notice it being any better than my Corvette's stock power steering. Others here more knowledgeable than me (meaning everyone) can probably comment more to it. That said, Flaming River and Steeroids seem to be the 2 names thrown around here most often with regards to rack-and-pinion upgrades. Some people have instead gone and pulled racks from junkyard cars and built their own. I think Grand Ams are a common source for that. There are extra brackets to bolt on (or fabricate) and changes to how the steering column attaches to the rack. I don't think I've ever seen a rack conversion that maintained the stock rubber steering coupler. Some say the coupler dampens vibration and makes driving more comfortable, and without it you get all the road vibration sent straight up the column into your arms. Again, I cant speak to that.

The hydraulic steering box is more or less a direct bolt in replacement for your existing steering box. Borgeson is the top name here, though I think some people have taken boxes out of mid 90s Jeeps and made them work. Jim Shea has a paper on this. The only thing you have to do is collapse your steering column a little bit (between 1 and 3 inches, I think), and change out the lines from your pump to the box. Otherwise, it just fits right in without extra brackets or anything. I've not done it however so it could be more nuanced than that, but I plan to go that way in the future when my stock system starts leaking. Plenty of threads here to read about it if you want.

Lastly, here's a link to all of Jim's steering papers. Well worth the time to read, in my opinion.

Hope that helps.