anyone do the manual steering conversion with an s-10 steering box? Is it hard? any special tools needed?

 

Use a late model box 84-92. Unbolt the power steering box and remove everything related to the power steering. Bolt on the manual box. Take the pitman arm of the power steering box and install it onto the manual box. They're different lengths so using the third gen pitman arm keeps the same steering geometry.

 

cool sounds pretty straight forward. didn't know if that was pressed on or not. Is there a huge weight savings and horse power gain?

 

You'll need a puller to remove the pitman arm. I never weighed everything to see how much saving there is.

Power box
Pump
Oil
Cooler if equiped
Hoses

Take all the off and install a lighter manual box. The only disadvantage is turning ability. A manual box needs a higher mechanical advantage to turn so to do this the steering wheel needs to turn more from stop to stop. A typical power steering systems is only about 3-1/2 turns stop to stop. A manual box is closer to 7. For normal driving, you probably won't notice it. It's the slow sharp turns in parking lots where you'll notice it the most. It's also harder to turn of you have large wide front tires.

Using a manual box is normally a race only option although many people seem to think it will work fine for street use.

HP gain is a little bit since there isn't a belt driving a hydraulic pump. Even in straight line racing where hydraulic pressure is low, there is still a little bit of power being used to turn the pump.

 

i used to have an 87 Fiero Gt that didn't have power steering. I don't mind it, actually I prefer it.

 

Ya but the Fiero was designed for manual steering. The S10 with manual steering was only available with the 4 cylinder engine. Third gens are nose heavy so manual steering was never an option.

I drive around the pits with no problems with mine. If I turn too sharp, I have more problems with the spool in the diff than I do with the steering.

My launches today at the track were violent. I'm not sure if both wheels were off the ground but I had to yank the wheel to the left to stay on the track and I only use a small steering wheel. It doesn't take much even with manual steering to straighten back out.