I have a stock '81. As seems to be the case, the stock Ram and Control Valve are leaking.
I am looking at converting to the Borgeson Kit.
I have stock tires and wheels. I just cruise or daily drive. I don't race, drift, slalom, or do any hard driving. (Those days are long behind me.)
The info says that the brace is for wider tires on the front.
Do I really need to add the brace if I just drive normal?
Thank you

 

You have an 81, which already has a thinner frame than a 79 or earlier. You most likely are running 255/60-15's??.
You will need to collapse your column to install the jeep steering box in your Vette.
If you really think it's a great idea to put a jeep box in your Corvette, and you have a later C3 with the thinner frame and also because it's a later C3, likely fairly wide front tires.
Why would you not put in the brace?
Seriously, if your looking at saving money, just fix the leaks.

 

The Borgeson has been brilliant in my 79. No leaks, faster ratio, and fixed the sloppy steering!

I added the brace. I'd suggest you do the same, especially on the slightly thinner frame of the 80-82 cars. Just know that the inside of the left tire will want to rub on the bolt heads in tight turns (unless you restrict the steering angle). You'll not see this on the street, but perhaps in parking lots.

Good luck with the swap! It completely transforms the car, for the better.

*(If you want to save money, and eliminate leaks, you can also convert to manual steering).

 

When I did mine, I went from manual steering to Borgeson power. Tires are only 225 section. I thought about the brace but decided against it. My thoughts were that all the forces were the same. It was a very simple statics equation. The peak force on the box occurs when you are at a stop and crank the wheel hard. The force at the steering box output shaft needs to overcome the resistance weight of the car, tire contact patch, and coefficient of friction. This directly relates to the force at the mounting position. Since the tires and all the geometry that had any bearing here was going to be the exact same as it was with the manual steering, I quickly figured I did not need the brace. No free body diagram or math needed.

Then I installed the Borgeson. Bleeding the system, my helper turned the wheel a few times. I hated how much the box moved.

Realizing that the height of the Borgeson from the mounts is greater, this results in more movement at the top with the exact same flexing of the frame. It just looks like more movement. That said, I didn't like that movement. I ordered the brace immediately.

It wasn't too bad to sneak it in afterwards. I justified it three ways:

1. In my case I was going from manual to power. I may be be doing more frequent and aggressive parking maneuvers only because it would be easier on me.
2. I would be prepped if I ever did change tires.
3. The C3 doesn't have a great steering feel at center. If I could limit the flex and increase the response even minutely, this would be an added benefit.

I would order the brace.

 

I reused the factory bolts.

 

4-vetted,what year Jeep for the swap on a 1981,

 

Same here, works great on my 79' also. I used the brace.

 

Hi all,

What brace do you speak of? Doing the Borgeson on a 69 in a few weeks.

Thank you,

Tony

 

Ridetech makes it, Borgeson sells it, along with Jegs, Summit, and the usual suspects.

https://www.borgeson.com/Ridetech-C2...Box-Brace.html

 

post up the results of the install, I have been thinking about this change to get rid of the ram and lines that always seem to eventually leak on my ‘69. Plus clean up the underside of the car a little bit. My steering works decent but a bunch of slop I don’t like and it seems like this swap will fix that. I run a 275/50/15 up front, have for years. I think I’ll do the brace for good measure!

 

I would add the Borgeson brace.
Even with the oem steering box the area of the frame at the box is known to be a place where cracking can occur on many 70’s -80’s GM cars and trucks.
The Borgeson steering box is bigger and weighs more which was the reason for the brace, not for any performance upgrade.

4vettes is referring to the Borgeson steering box as a Jeep box, because it is the same steering box originally designed and used in many Jeep vehicles.

 

I switched mine to Borgeson on my 81, I have the brace but never installed it. I see no flex in mine so that's why I didn't install it.

 

No brace, lots of caster, 275 tires and obviously not going anywhere

 

I bought the brace because it's cheap insurance. Just make sure you use your stock carriage bolts to install it and not the bolts included in the kit.

 

If you can get the stock bolts out without cutting fiberglass, you are very fortunate. I had to cut one or two bolts instead.

 

You did it wrong. Should have let a real mechanic screw it up for you...lol

 

I seem to recall a note in the Borgeson instructions that said something about having to trim the inner fender. I guess I was lucky on my 79' all the bolts came out with any cutting.

 

Yeah, I could have taken the body off the chassis, like GM did when they first installed the steering box.

 

My concern is clearance, the Borgeson unit is bigger than the OE. My clearance right now is very minimal, I run 2 1/8” side pipe header and it’s really tight!

 

mine looksalmost the same, I have the borgeson, brace and cp1 adapters for the lines waiting to go in. From a couple videos I saw on this with sidepipes theres actually more room somehow with the dimensions of the borgeson. I want to say one of the videos was a guy that goes by lawdog and it was a 74.