Muscle Car Upgrade - Borgeson Quick Ratio Steering Box

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Borgeson Street & Performance Power Steering Box

Replace that old spongy feeling Saginaw for the new Borgeson Street & Performance quick ratio power steering box.

Borgeson Universal started in 1914 making U-joints for lathes and mills, then in 1920 started making u-joints for Ford. In 2001, they acquired Mullins Steering Gears, then in 2012 acquired all the rights and equipment to Saginaw steering boxes.

If you open the hood to most ‘65-up GM musclecars, you’ll find a Sagainaw//Delphi 800 series power steering box. And, there’s a good chance it’ll be leaking. Borgeson is making a brand new replacement for these Saginaw units dubbed the Borgeson Street & Performance quick ratio power steering box. This is a 12.7:1 ratio that provides firm feedback, much like modern sports car.

This new box, while it’s not a rebuild, it still fits directly in place of the old Saginaw unit. We installed this on our ‘71 Oldsmobile 442 project car. This is one of the simplest reaplacements/upgrades you can do to your musclecar. The fenders and fender-wells were off our car, but the installation is nearly as easy with the fenders on.

We started by setting our steering wheel to 12-o’clock, then we set off to remove our old, leaky and greasy Saginaw steering box. First up was to remove the power steering lines at the steering box, which can be done with a 5/8” and 11/16” flare wrench. Since we’re replacing all the steering linkages, we separated the pitman arm from the steering links, leaving the pitman arm on the steering box. If you’re leaving everything in place, then you can just pull the pitman arm off the old box, using a puller. Next, we removed the two nuts from the rag-joint, then used a small pry bar to slide the steering shaft back.

With the power steering hoses removed and the rag-joint separated, the only thing holding onto the old box is the 3 bolts that go through the frame, into Saginaw Steering box. We used our Milwaukee M18 Impact Wrench and a 5/8” socket to break things loose. In matter of seconds, we had all 3 bolts out, and the old box was on the ground.

Before installing the new box, or installing the Pitman arm on the box, we made sure the input shaft was clocked in the middle. It’s about 3-turns, lock to lock, so we set the shaft at about 1-1/2 turns in. This is not too critical, since the pitman arm can only be indexed every 90-degrees. We applied a little grease to the splines, then slid on the pitman arm. We used the impact to run the nut on and seat the large lock washer.

We were able to use our old Pitman arm, because our car already had power steering. If you’re going from a manual box, you’ll need to purchase a Pitman arm for a power steering box too.

We reinstalled the old bolts, going through the frame, since they were in good shape. Then, we installed the new rag-joint, which has to be used when installing on anything older than 1977. The steering box has the later model 3/4”-30-spline input shaft.

Next, we slid down the steering column shaft to connect to the new rag joint. This is a good time to re-confirm the “clocking” of your steering wheel, in relation to the steering box. Two new nuts and bolts, included from Borgeson attaches the new rag joint to the steering shaft.

Finally, we connected the existing power steering hoses. The new Borgeson quick ratio box is setup to receive newer O-ring style hoses, or you can install the included brass adapters to work with Flare-style hoses. Now, with everything in place, next up is to pour in the power steering fluid and go for a test drive. Since we’re not yet complete with our project, we couldn’t take that test drive.

Before driving, fill the power steering reservoir and turn the wheels from lock to lock, several times (without the car running). This will purge any air from the power steering box. Refill the power steering reservoir, and you should be good to go.

We look forward to our first drive to feel that firm wheel without that sloppy play in the steering. You can purchase the Borgeson Street & Performance quick ratio steering box for about $450 online. The simple install, use of existing hardware and hoses, and the added safety and performance make this an easy recommendation to all you GM musclecar gearheads.

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