Critter1

The black coating was applied after the steering gear was assembled.

emdoller

kenba

I stand corrected. I looked at a picture of my friends 67 435 coupe with only 2600 MI & the steering housing including the CI cover & bolts were painted. Looked at too many restored Top Flight cars with non painted ones. LOL

emdoller

Critter1

I think the restoration crowd is still having a hard time accepting the fact that the steering gear was, and is supposed to be coated in black to be correct. LOL

Disc brake caliper halves were painted the way you describe though. Painted first (with real paint) then machined.

Powershift

Ed:

Sorry for not getting back to you earlier. Busy working on my 1967 car and my friends 1969 Corvette.

1. I would loosen and remove the two bolts holding the halves of the steering coupling together. They may be different size (diameter) bolts......but should have a 9/16 nut on each one. Reproductions have two different size bolts, and unsure about originals without more checking. If bolts are the same size (diameter) use a paint stick to match mark the two coupling halves to aid in reassembly. This is a good practice, but is not mandatory for later reassembly and realignment.........

2. I would also loosen the special 12-point bolt on the steering column side of the coupling and pry the joint slightly apart........then tap it with a smaller hammer to drive it up the steering column. You need some space to separate the coupling halves as they are sort of "locked" together with the two safety pins on the coupling. Removing the bolts in step #1 will not allow the coupling halves to be removed without additional gap. Do not loosen or remove the coupling 12 point bolt on the steering box side..............or if you must, then use a paint stick to match mark the alignment between this coupling half and the steering box input shaft splines.

3. Reomve cotter pin and castle nut from Pitman arm to steering linkage ball joint. Install one or two regular Grade 5 nuts on the threads, but allow about 1/8 inch gap between the bottom of these nuts and the steering linkage. These nuts are to avoid damage to the Pitman arm ball joint threads when you hit the joint with a hammer to separate it from the Pitman arm.. LICS sells replacement rubber boots etc for this joint in case you tear it or it needs replacement. You may need to support or have a helper steady the steering linkage as you separate it from the Pitman arm, as the linkage assembly will otherwise try to move a bit and make the separation more difficult. Once the joint breaks free, remove the nuts and allow the steering linkage to drop down.

4. Loosen and remove the three carriage bolts holding the steering box to the frame rail. Hopefully you can now remove the box from the car. It may be a bit tight due to the coupling halves not having a lot of clearance between them to clear the safety pins, but hopefully you can get the box removed without doing anything to the steering column in the car.

Avoid removing the Pitman arm away from the steering box............but if you must for some reason, it requires a special puller and some muscle to separate this joint...........and also you NEED to match mark or punch mark the alignment of these two pieces before disassembly. If not, reassembly will be more difficult...............although still possible.

The Chevrolet Service Manual has some advice also in Section 9 on Steering. Note that many of the instructions for both PS and manual steering are in the manual steering section in the front, with only SPECIAL PS instructions in the second half of this section.

Let us know if problems.

Larry

kenba

I worked & later owned a Pattern shop starting in 1964. We made a lot of the patterns for foundries that made the castings for the steering gear housing & coverfor Saginaw Steering & master cylinders & disc brake calipers for Delco Morane. A lot of the castings were sprayed or dipped at the foundry before shipping. ASSUMED the steering gear casting was also. Spent a lot of time in the foundries in the day. Wish I would have saved some of the Master wood patterns.

Critter1

I think many castings from Delco were coated with that thin black paint prior to machining.

A good friend (who just passed away last week) did the very same thing. Along with being a die sinker trimmer maker for his entire career.