did any 3rd gens leave the assembly line with manual steering?? I assume not but I just want to make sure. just a curious question more than anything.

 

I don't believe so, although the S10's did, which you may know.

 

negative.
the 84+ s10 is a direct bolt in. make sure you change the pitman arms. you MUST use the camaro one.
82-83 s10's work too, but some of the spline counts were different in the early years.
good luck.

 

The only S10's that had manual steering, had a 4 cylinder engine but not all 4 cylinder models were manual steering.

The early steering box has 3 bolts on the top cover. Although it may work, this isn't the one you want. The later steering boxes are slightly larger and have 4 bolts on the top cover. This is the one that is the direct bolt in.

Although the S10 pitman arm will work, it's better if you use the third gen pitman arm to keep the same steering geometry. The offset is the same but the length is slightly different.

There's always one or two available on Ebay. Prices range from $20-$100

 

well I already got a man S10 box earlier this summer and it was REALLY close to being a 100% bolt in swap with the power steering gear box.with the man one I had to cut a little groove in the webbing on the box and on the car I had to make a pretty small dimple in the frame in oredr for the box to sit flat and not rock on the frame. really I was just wondering if man steering was ever an option b/c I was trying to figure out if my 82 bird is as optionless as a car could get. the only option it had was a rear hatch shade and thats it.

 

All third gens including the 82-83 with the 4 cylinder engines came with power steering. It's hard to find any GM car through the 70's or 80's that came with manual steering unless it was something with a rack and pinion system.