Steering installation, part 1

Today we begin what turns out to be a saga of a steering rebuild. This car has a manual steering system, with an SMB-H code steering gear box; a rare gear box that was an 'experiment' for Ford and was only in 67's for a short run. That doesn't make it valuable, it just makes it a hindrance. So let's begin...


1. The story begins on a cold December day when I was initially trying to adjust the steering gearbox to fix play in the system. I then submitted to my wiser instincts that I should use this opportunity with an open engine bay to take the gearbox out and send it out to be rebuilt and do this the right way. After all, as I had not driven the car I had no idea of the condition the steering was in.

2. I sent the box down to Precision Products (www.stangerssite.com) in Texas. Randy is a very helpful, nice guy and is probably one of the best in the biz, specializing in rebuilding and repair of old Ford steering components but let me forewarn you that he takes a long time and can be difficult to get a hold of. I finally got my box back in April (I sent it down in December). It looked great when it came back but it was also frustrating. If you have lots of time on your hands, I would recommend sending it to him. If not, I'd suggest looking elsewhere. On these old steering gearboxes, as you can see in the pic, the box and shaft is one piece; the shaft does not come out so it has to be sent and serviced as one piece. It's a non-collapsible shaft. Consequently, if you're in a major front end collision, this thing is putting a steering wheel through your chest.

3. Before putting everything back in I wanted to do some sprucing up of the firewall for protection against metal deterioration. This area in the pic, where the shaft and column pass through is prone to rusting so it's important to get it well protected. I start by cleaning up the area well with a wirebrush and some degreaser paint prep...

4. I then apply some Miracle Paint...

5. ...and install a new column-through-firewall rubber seal, along with the freshly repainted plate...

6. and install the gearbox in the engine bay, passing the shaft through the firewall and sliding the column down over it. The column and dash have been repainted as seen here with black lacquer paint. Lacquer paint is the correct interior paint to use in these old Mustangs as it won't fill in the stampings Ford put in the metal to resemble vinyl.

That brings us to the end of this section. I'll post more on hooking up the steering in the engine bay as soon as I have pics.