Tighter Steering??

[RI-Matt]

Is there a way to make the steering feel tighter on these cars? It doesn't have slop in it, the steering is just too easy. I thought I read somewhere that there is an adjustment screw that you can turn to tighten the feel. But before I mess it up I was hoping someone could help me out.

Thanks
Matt

 

[Blown&Injected]

I put all new front end parts on and still had some slop. Could seethe shaft move going into the box but no immediate movement of the pitman arm so I tried to adjust the box by turning the screw on the top of the steering box. I moved it several turns each direction from where it was in about 1/2 turn increments. It eventually made the steering wheel get tight, but the slop was still there.

I do not know, but I believe it got tighter because something was binding up in the box. The wheel would not return to center as fast or smooth as it should have returned. I can understand how some think they have made a difference in the slop, but in my case it was an illusion that was easily determined to have NOT cured anything.

 

[441120]

adjustment

The adjustment on the steering box is to tighten up play in the box.
If you want in increase steering effort the easiest way is to increase caster.
Other ways=$$$
With increased positive caster the car will want to go straight and you'll have to make it turn. Is that what you mean?

 

[GNVAIR]

You can also install a stiffer spring in the pressure regulator in the ps pump. This is what GM did on the F bodies to give the car more "road feel" which in actuality is more steering effort. Here is a good link to explain it http://jeffd.50megs.com/Pump_valve_mod_page.htm

 

[RI-Matt]

441120,
that might be what I'm thinking. I want to have to make the car turn. My old GN had a slightly lower stance and the tops of the wheels had a slight tilt in. My current GN sits higher and the wheels look straight top to bottom.(how's that for technical terminology )

Matt

 

[Blown&Injected]

The adjustment on the steering box is to tighten up play in the box.
If you want in increase steering effort the easiest way is to increase caster.
Other ways=$$$
With increased positive caster the car will want to go straight and you'll have to make it turn. Is that what you mean?

Did not work for me. The steering wheel got tighter but the slop was still there.

 

[Mad_Trbo]

increase steering pressure

There is actually an adjustment procedure you can perform. If you look down at the aparatus the steering column feeds into. It isn't the pump but the pump feeds into this, your notice a bolt with an allen head, kind of like a head stud. It will have a bolt, loosen the nut and use the appropriate sized allen wrench and turn making small adjustments. I think clockwise tightens the feel of the wheel, kind of takes away the luxo feel and gives it more of an import stifness. Tighten the nut holding the bolt steady with the allen key and you should be able to dial in the appropriate level of stifness.

 

[GNVAIR]

There is actually an adjustment procedure you can perform. If you look down at the aparatus the steering column feeds into. It isn't the pump but the pump feeds into this, your notice a bolt with an allen head, kind of like a head stud. It will have a bolt, loosen the nut and use the appropriate sized allen wrench and turn making small adjustments. I think clockwise tightens the feel of the wheel, kind of takes away the luxo feel and gives it more of an import stifness. Tighten the nut holding the bolt steady with the allen key and you should be able to dial in the appropriate level of stifness.

Please read the previous post before posting. The original poster already tried taking the back lash out of the steering box as he had already noted.

 

[Mad_Trbo]

Please read the previous post before posting. The original poster already tried taking the back lash out of the steering box as he had already noted.

Will do, thanks for pointing that out.

If it is alright with everyone else I will re-iterate the need to check the idler arm. I see where one poster indicated he changed all front end parts. Without a listing of what those front end parts are you can never be sure. Soooo if you are all clear on what they are then ignore this. But as far as my own experience, when I originally bought this car last spring I had considerable slop part which was due to the steering box another part was the idler arm. You can test this by chacking up the car grabbing the tire in a 3 and 9 oclock position and push on one side while pulling on the other side. See what kind of movement you get and watch the idler arm. I am sure GM has some sort of specific endplay that is allowable, but I bet if you use common sense you'll be just fine. The part is relatively inexpensive and not difficult to replace.

 

[SavageATL]

Do you mean increase effort?

I think I understand what the original poster meant, he wants to make the steering overall more precise and have somewhat more effort as well as reduce slop.

What GM did on some of their cars in the '80's to make the car feel tighter, like the Celebrity Eurosports and T-type Centurys and Cieras was to install a smaller diameter power steering pulley. Anyone else tried this or has an opinion on how this would work?

 

[TurboBuickSix]

The adjustment on the steering box is to tighten up play in the box.
If you want in increase steering effort the easiest way is to increase caster.
Other ways=$$$
With increased positive caster the car will want to go straight and you'll have to make it turn. Is that what you mean?

The adjustment on the top of the box is for PRELOAD of the gears and does not help slop as noted above by Blown and injected.It could actually accelerate the wear on the gears if not adjusted according to procedure.

 

[441120]

Caster

RI-Matt,
The top of the tire "in" compared to the bottom is negitive camber, a little negitive camber helps the tire on the outside during a turn have a better foot-print on the road. Caster is upper to lower ball joint relationship, if the upper ball joint is rearward of the lower that is positive caster like a motorcycle. Upper ball joint forward of lower in negitive caster like a shopping cart. If you align the car with positive caster it will go straight, negitive will lead to wander and loose feel. Like you said you had NO slop I just think a better alignment would help you out. That P/S pump mod sounds interesting, less assist might help.

 

[RI-Matt]

Guys this thread seems to be getting off track or misunderstood. Originally when I posted what I was trying to ask was for tighter steering feel, making the wheel harder to turn. I believe I stated that the steering DOES NOT have slop in it. I don't think it's a issue of worn components. The adjustment on the top of the steering box might just solve my problem, so I will give it a try and see how it feels.

Matt