Winter upgrades/ Pwr to Man Steering saga--Done !

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Started doing some "upgrades" on the Sebring Plus. I'll never use the A/C probably, and it needed charged anyhow, so i removed all the engine compartment pieces [ yes i kept them ] to clean up the engine compartment.

Well, Big block, A/C ,+ Power steering equipped cars use an idler pulley for the water pump, and a 4 groove crank pulley. 1 belt for the PS, 1 belt for the water pump, 2 belts to go up to the A/C + alternator. Could not get belt to go directly from crank to alternator [without A/C] because it would hit the water pump idler pulley.
So now my choices were to try and piece together Non-A/C big block brackets / pulleys, or go with new conversion Bouchillion pieces. Smarty me decides instead to put in an electric water pump, and get rid of the the whole belt driven fan / water pump assembly . Ohhh, fits nice, looks nice.

Hmmmn, bought new radiator and dual electric fans also. Whoops, didn't think to ask, and the new style aluminum radiator i bought has its tanks side to side, instead of top and bottom, so had to make up some -6 AN style hoses and buy new fittings since the factory tranny cooler lines would not fit anymore. Put a 2 quart bigger trans pan on, and a Melling high flow oil pump while i was down there. Tuff Stuff brand mini-starter and 100 amp 1 wire alternator also.

Can't get the power steering belt to not hit the electric water pump, would have to have some sort of custom bracket made, don't own a welder, and to drop the PS pump lower which it needed to be, would pinch off the lower radiator hose. Decided to go convert to a manual steering box. Bought the Flaming River 16 to 1 manual steering box and conversion shaft . Will swap it over in the next week or two, should be straightfoward, hopefully do not have to remove exhaust manifold to get the power box out.

Ordered a recurved distributor + electronic ignition kit from local vendor , whom i had used before....... 5 months later still waiting on those parts, [ car came with points style from factory ] ---got fed up waiting and bought an MSD distributor, Digital 6A box, plug wires, installed those.

There is some moral to the story here about laws of unintended consequences. When you just jump into a project without thinking it thru, things tend to snowball.... . Well anyhow, got some cool new parts, blew my car project budget money [+] for the year, before April is done, and haven't driven it since October.
But Damn it still looks good sitting in the garage !

[gcoupe72]

If we stay with it for any length of time we'll all be where you are!

I've had a little experience with the manual box. The stock 24-1 box is too slow for anything, ok for drag racing. You'd get to an intersection and practically have to stop just to catch up on your steering, so you could make the turn.
The 16-1 is great once you're moving, you have to be very patient to parallel park!
My favorite manual for street use, is the 20-1. Mopar performance used to carry it. Keep your eyes out for a used one. It makes normal street driving a lot more fun than the stock box, yet not too bad when parking.
Any manual is wonderful compared to PS if you're running headers on a big block, lots more room for starter access.
I'm glad you're keeping everything, you may want to switch back to A/C and or power steering one day.

Let us know how the water pump works out for summer street driving.

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Thanks gcoupe72 !

Well, did not get the conversion done yet. Busy week, and getting another car ready for drags on friday.

Anyhow, The power steering box did fit out the bottom, did not have to remove the exhaust manifold. Had to pull the full steering column out, because there is a solid steel pin driven perpendicular to the factory steering shaft-coulumn, through the factory column shaft, that the factory coupler shoes center on. That pin needs to be removed for the Flaming River coupler to mate up [ and it needed to be driven out with a press / vice ].
Also there was a small pin at the top of the coupler that needed to be drilled out as well.

So , have to do some drilling, cutting, fitting and measuring, to mate the pieces up.

as far as weights go ......... Factory power steering gearbox weighed 36 pounds.
Factory power steering pump / mounting bracket / hoses --weighed 20 pounds

........... Flaming river manual gear box + coupler shaft weighs 20 lbs.
So basically it will pull about 36 pounds [ plus some fluid weight] off the car.

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Well, I should update. I got the manual steering box bolted in, and put the steering column back in with the "conversion shaft" pinned [5/16" roll pin] onto it - too see how much has to be cut off the "conversion shaft " [ 3/4 " round to Double D ]. The conversion shaft comes with a ,Double D to 36 spline round ,universal joint, which slips onto the steering box input splines.
Looks like it's going to have to have the 'conversion shaft' shortened , expected that, but also will have to shorten the stock power steering column as well. Hmmmn, that wasn't mentioned anywhere i read up on this, nor in the instructions.
Pulled steering column, unpinned conversion shaft. Will have to re-install stock power steering column and do some measuring to figure out who needs cut where. Hopefully this weekend i'll have time.

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Got it completed
Had to cut about 2" off the stock steering column , and about 7" off the conversion shaft.
Learned a thing or two about the steering column and the best way to put it in. [ seperated from the 3 bolt bracket with the 'plastic crash crush shoes' ]
Luckily the electric connectors pulled apart ok.
Darn thing even installed with the steering wheel aligned correctly think i got lucky.

Definitely will not be parallel parking, i never do anyhow but definitely not now.
16:1 ratio means using both hands/arms at slow [ less than 20 mph] turns.
Definitelty feels tighter, and more connected to the road.
Happy with it so far.

the other stuff ---
MSD ignition cleared up a part throttle stumble the car had. Definitely starts quicker also !
Electric water pump + fans work good, still only 70 degrees here though.
100 amp 1 wire alternator, bypasses the voltage regulator, and amp gage in dash, will have to figure how to wire that.[dash gage]
OIl pressure is showing about twice what it used to, with new Melling pump.
MSD ignition bypasses the factory ballast resistor.
HAd a good drive in it today