Went for ride tonight with steeroids my first impression was this thing steers too easy.I haven't had power steering for while now,but I'll tell you this when you turn the wheel the car turns no delay.I think I still get an alignment,I thought I could get away with putting the car up on ramps then install the kit
the tires were locked in the ramp cradles,if anything the alignment should be close. It felt darty doesn't take much wheel input to make the car move.The install went ok I had to enlarge the holes on the Gusset bracket on the drivers side not a big deal to do I'm sure all frames were not welded the same from the General way back when,I still have to line up the steering wheel a little it's off maybe 3or 4 splines on the steering colume.I have to also make an adjustment to the one set screw next to the #5 header tube if the screw was shorter or the set hole deeper it would clear ok,I'll probably drill the hole deeper.Overall right now I'm happy with purchase,quality of the kit is great looks like top grade stuff. :D :D :cheers: :cool:

 

:cheers: I have been thinking of adding that to my Vette... but have not made up my mind as of yet. :cool:

 

The dartiness might be from wide tires and a slight misalignment. Even with perfectly setup steering (of the old C-3 type) would feel darty with wide tires and misalignment, so I wouldn't be surprised that it would feel pretty much the same with the steeroids.

 

Glad to hear someone got the kit already installed. :cheers: How long did it take you to install it? I believe Corvette Fever also had to enlarge the holes on the driver side bracket. They said the install was two days. Install time won't really bother me as I plan on having the vette off the ground for about a month while I do LOTS of work over the Christmas break.

 

OK, is the Steeroid system a power steering system? If so, is it a retrofit for power steering or for people without power steering? My '69 doesn't have power steering and I like it once I get up to speed. The road feel is great. What I don't like is parking the car and low speed corners (like right hand turns on RED going 5-10 MPH). Is there a retrofit for non-power steering that improves the ratio of something to that nature?

 

:cool:

 

Captain,the install took me 6 hours that includes a new pump that did not have resvourI still have some adjusting to do to get all of the binding out of the steering knuckles that has taken the most time to do the rest is very easy.I still think that the system is over boosted,I wish there was a way to cut back on the pump pressure it's nice to park with but after that it's not needed.

 

69, Steeroids is a rack and pinion system, which means less moving parts and smoother steering. Look at it this way, manual steering= good, power steering=better, steeroids= best. You would be making a major improvement in steering going from manual to steeroids, for probably near the cost of going to conventional power steering.

 

I have been waiting for inputs on this handling issue with rack/pinion conversions.... as some of you may recall, I did my own setup last winter, about a year ago...while steeriods was developing/testing their setup....
we both use the same rack...from a '92 Grand am...as just ONE example of car that uses that rack....
I bought my car with stock tires/wheels....and it was sloppy, really sloppy, in the conversions, I rebuilt everything in site...if it moved, it was new..from wheels inward, miss nothing, front or rear...t=arms, the bunch...
and added wide wheels/tires...17x9.5 '92 vette rims....255 up front and 275 in rear....
with stock steering the car followed rutted roads, and was very twitchy over the pavement....bear to drive....allright at slow speeds....I never felt it was 'darty' though....
nor do I now...maybe I"m just used to it by now...but getting rid of that follow the ruts twitchyness feeling of constantly fighting the wheel at high speeds....that is worth it's weight in gold far as I"m concerned....

but the MOST curious thing is....the two comments above about the car wheel 'touch' feeling like too much assist...and I totally agree....even in parking lots....jeez, with arthritis and all, I"m not mr Armstrong or anything, but yeh, the assist needs cut down quite a bit....

but the 12:1 ratio is much better than that old 16:1 of the stock system....much better....car actually turns now then the wheel is commanded, not when it damn well feels like it....

I LOVE it....but am wanting a way/suggestions how to reduce pump pressures....gotta maybe cut/replace that internal bypass spring....or is it better to reduce the valve opening size to reduce flow???

what to do????

Jim Shea...any suggestions??? what parts to use???

GENE

 

69stingray,
Steeroids is a power rack and pinion system, so you would need to find a P/S pump unless you wanted to use the manual version. Here is a link to the website:

STEEROIDS for 63-82 Corvettes

And here is a link to a thread on the group purchase:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zero...=403191&page=1

 

Thanks Captain. I looked at the website but couldn't find anything that talked about the manual version. I assume the manual version would have a better feel then my '69 linkage, wouldn't it?

 

I would imagine it would have a better feel than your original linkage in the '69, but the best person to ask would be Speed Direct themselves. Try e-mailing eric@speeddirect.com Hopefully he can answer your questions. I'm not positive as to all of the aspects of the setup, and if Eric doesn't know the answer, I'm sure he can find it for you. :cheers:

 

When I put my wider 17" tires on the car went all over the place. The new width just magnified the problems.
I would guess that you have a bit of a toe-out on one wheel and that means one or the other is always fighting to go in a straight line. Once you get the alignment done it will be much better. If you still have problems, ask for a small amount of toe-in on each wheel. Don't know if this works on full size cars, but a 1/2 degree toe in corrected some problems with my RC cars.

 

Well got the alignment done and 95% of the binding out of the steering shaft assy.The car tracks 100% better than before with the roads I've been on,I'll know more when I go I-95 in the constuction zones where there are uneven pavement sections that will be the ultimate test,for this $1000.00 directional device to keep me out of the woods and on the right path. :)