formula91

Well, my car is showing its age. Lately the steering has been very loose and the car actually gets scary on the freeway. It feels like its floating.

So I took it in to a local shop that inspected it for $15. They discovered the steering box will need replacing as well as the idler arm. They quoted me a total of $642 for the job including parts and labor, and an alignment. They wanted $311 for the steering box alone.

Is this an ok deal?

I don't have much cash around these days. Unemployment doesn't cover much

Thanks.

Kevin91Z

iTrader: (1)

Juan, why dont you take it to my dad's shop? He will give you the best price, the best parts, and treat you right.

Tribe

Really, how much does a steering box cost?

formula91

After doing some research I found steering boxes available from Autozone or Kragen for around $150. Kragen had that price if I brought in my old one otherwise they'd charge $150 core charge.

So apparently the place I went to was gonna charge me for the box including the core and then pocket it. Punks. That's why I can't trust anybody.

I know Dyno Don does good work. I just happen to be unemployed at the time and can't really afford it. Believe me, I'd LOVE to drop it off and come back in a few days confident I'd get a good job at a good price. Heck, I have shocks/struts and SLP runners he could do too. But I don't have the cash

Also, its not very convenient for me, his shop is like 25 miles away from me. The logistics just don't work out.

One day though... once I get my life in order... he'll have my car for a Dyno Don special

I have a friend who's a very capable mechanic (he bought instead of rented an engine hoist just to change the motor mounts on his car!) and him and I are going to tackle the job next weekend.

bluethunder28

iTrader: (1)

You get what you pay for. Kragen, Pep Boys, Auto Zone, etc all sell the regular rebulit steering boxes and not the quick turn. Lee's Power Steering does and excellent job of rebuilding boxes. Not the cheapest around, but very good.

BretD 88GTA

Juan,
I concur with Glenn. Pep Boys or Kragen will sell you the standard steering box. Your GTA came with the quick ratio box. The ratio should be 12.7:1. I'd follow Glenn's advice and have your box rebuilt.

james_85Z28

where is lee's located at?

FWIW, pepboys/kragen/ect. do sell the quick ratio boxes and have them listed as being for car swith performance suspension or something like that. But the problem is the valving isn't the same and wheel feel is too light and feels like a typical overboosted chrysler steering unit. I currently have a pepboys unit in my car but kept mine until I could find a place to rebuild it. I hadn't found a place I trusted to rebuild mine yet so hopefully Lee's prices are reasonable.

bluethunder28

iTrader: (1)

Lee is in Sun Valley.

11661 Pendleton St, Sun Valley Phone 818 768 0371.

Again, Lee is not cheap. He is very experince with power steering boxes. Use his fluid!!!

Also, just like these auto stores show the wrong front bearings for 88-92 f-bods. Every one will pop up A3 instead of A34. Before I went to Lee's, I called two of my autox buds that have auto parts stores and they both said to get mine rebuilt because all "performance" boxes are not the quick ratio and they change the pressure valve to either a 30 or 32 lbs.

I have 3 boxes, one with 34lbs (tight autox) one at 36lbs which I usually leave in because it feels really great on 95% of autoxs and one at 40lbs for open track events.

james_85Z28

which weight valve gives the more resistant feel of a genuine Z28 QR box (for my own reference)?

bluethunder28

iTrader: (1)

34 is the regular and 36 is the performance. 36 will feel heavier but has the best feel of all. That one was in a WS6 the 34 was in my '85 Irocz and well believe or not, the 40 in my 91 came from the Milford Proving Grounds. Oh yeah the car also came from there

formula91

Well, I went to several different parts stores today to check out idler arms (i'm gonna hold out on the steering box until later... no money !).

First one had an idler arm from 'Pronto chassis parts' for $45.

The other ones all had the same one: one from a company called 'AUP'. They had widely varying prices though. From $20 all the way to $40 for that same part.

In all of them I asked if they could get Moog and they could but it was going to be around $70 for it.

Anyone know anything about this 'Pronto' part? Who are they?

I know I can get a real Moog idler arm from rockauto.com for $49 but my friend and I are doing this on Thursday so there's no time for that Just wouldn't get here on time.

I have to go set my idle speed now. I sprayed some throttle body cleaner in the TB and my idle speed went up by 200 rpm!

bluethunder28

iTrader: (1)

Again you get what you pay for. Get the Moog now or you can get when the cheap one wears out a year or so depending how hard you use the car.

james_85Z28

I called and left lee's a message this week and the shop never returned my call. I'll try again next week.

Do you know the approx. price of a rebuild?

formula91

Just an update. I found a Moog idler arm locally (Clark's Discount Auto Parts in Bellflower) for $59 plus tax. My friend and I spent about 7 hours on the 3rd doing this and the Koni struts.

Would've taken shorter but we worked slow and we had to make a few trips to the parts store because he didn't have the right tools (sockets mostly, his cars are Japanese so he didn't have a 24mm socket for example, or most of the english ones).

Still need to do the rear shocks but the car sits way up high on the front. I think the springs are shot as well. Hopefully the rear shocks will even it up a bit but until I get lowered springs my car will look like a 4x4.

Just had it aligned yesterday and the shop said my balljoints were bad. So I guess I should just do my entire front end

No money though.