Borgeson Universal Power Steering for ’50s and ’60s cars

There’s sort of a holy trinity of comfort: Power brakes, air conditioning, and power steering. We mastered the first two long ago but the third still gives us trouble.

In the first few decades of cars heavy enough to warrant power steering, we got a kind of makeshift arrangement. It consisted of a combination valve, hoses, and a hydraulic ram that mounts between the draglink and chassis. It almost always leaked, despite best efforts. And because it kind of hangs off the bottom of the draglink, it rubs things like speedbumps if you lowered your car. Not cool, man. But because it was an easy retrofit, dealers could order cars with manual steering and add it if the customer stepped up.

But as demand for power steering increased, the economy of scale justified a better design for less cost. By the mid ’60s the OEM suppliers got help and developed boxes with the assist mechanism integral to the box. Without the valve, ram, and hoses hanging under the car they didn’t drag things and for the most part didn’t leak. And because those boxes were designed with assist in mind, they had faster ratios that made steering more responsive. And that was cool, man. That was cold comfort for anyone with a car not designed around one of those boxes, though.

As ’50s and early ’60s cars became more popular in the ’90s, savvy enthusiasts noticed something: some of those integral-assist boxes looked like they could fit cars that they weren’t intended for. A little trimming here and a bracket welded there and voilà, an integral-assist box could bring responsive, high-clearance, leak-free, easy steering to most cars from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s.

That first generation of steering boxes truly changed the market but not without a downside: not all conversion specialists knew how to properly remanufacture steering boxes. In fact, there was no way to know until you actually installed the system and drove the car, whether or not the box would work properly. And it was anyone’s guess how long they’d last.

Then came Borgeson Universal, a century-old steering-component manufacturer that produced shafts and joints for the OEM. It made a mark in the street-rod community with those parts and remanufactured Vega steering boxes. In fact the Vega-box business got so brisk that Borgeson bought OEM tooling to reproduce them.

More recently, the company began adapting integral-assist boxes for Chevrolet passenger cars. As word spread, more enthusiasts appealed for boxes to convert their own vehicles. As of this writing the company offers part numbers for full-size 1955-1964 Chevrolets, C2 and C3 Corvettes, 1962-1972 Chevy II/Novas and their variants, 1965-1970 Mustangs and Cougars, full-size 1952-1964 Ford and Mercurys, midsize 1962-1977 Fords, 1962-1972 Mopars, all Broncos, and even Jeeps, and Chevy and Dodge trucks. And demand is so great that Borgeson bought the tooling to reproduce those steering boxes, too.

Recently Thun Field Rod & Custom in Tacoma, Washington, got a prime candidate for a power-steering swap, a 1957 Ford Fairlane. Its owner wanted to enjoy the experience with his granddaughter. Despite the fact that this particular car enjoyed a rebuilt steering box, it still required manhandling at slow speeds.

Obviously the Borgeson conversion bestows easy steering and increased response, in this case 14:1, compared to the roughly 23:1 ratio that this car came with. Furthermore, as ordered, this kit includes everything for the job, including engine-specific brackets for the Saginaw-style pump, the hoses to connect everything, and even a retrofit coupler to connect the existing steering shaft to the new box, should you retain the original column.

Thun Field’s Gary Woolery took some extra time to show us just how straightforward the installation was. To underscore how versatile the system is, the kit accommodated the non-stock (302) engine in this particular 1957. In fact, the only bothersome part of the installation was temporarily removing the clutch linkage to get the original steering assembly out. However, the new box goes in and out with the clutch linkage intact.

If there’s a downside to the kit it’s that it forbids the use of the factory manual-transmission column shifter. Marshall Woolery says it’s because the more complex linkage goes too far down the column. He did note, however, that the shift mechanism for an automatic should work as it doesn’t protrude as far down the column.

But these are small issues in a balance of effortless, high-performance power steering. By completing the holy trinity of comfort, Borgeson’s integral-assist power steering conversions are simply divine!

When asked how easily the car steers with the Borgeson integral-assist steering conversion, Gary Woolery, a man of efficient communication, gave us the most concise description.
The job begins by removing the old steering box. Because the shaft is one with it, it has to come out through the floor. Ford provided an access panel but the clutch linkage had to temporarily come out.
Demand for these kits gave Borgeson the justification to buy the OEM tooling originally used to produce the steering boxes. From this side the only outward difference is the smaller broach for the Ford Pitman arm.
The yonder side tells more of the story. The plate welded to the sector-shaft housing has the pattern to match the existing steering-box mount. The new box literally bolts in place of the old one.
Though bigger than the old manual box, the power steering box has no shaft. Therefore it can go in from the top, with the clutch linkage intact no less.
Installation happens from the bottom side. Gary snugged up the fasteners for the time being.
The modified sector-shaft broach means the existing Pitman arm bolts right up to the box. That eliminates the need for supplying Pitman arms, of which there are many variations.
This kit included everything for the job, including a Saginaw-type pump. Borgeson makes brackets to fit most engines, certainly the more popular ones. This one fits the 302 in the car but it also offers them for the Y-block that it originally came with.
It includes all the hardware, including sleeves to mount it to the engine. The only thing the system needed was dual-sheave crank and water-pump pulleys and a new belt for the pump.
Naturally the kit comes with the lines. Borgeson preassembles the high-pressure line but leaves the return line long, giving the installer the opportunity to cut it to match. Gary left that long until he was good and sure that he didn’t need to change anything. Use a universal column and the whole deal is a bolt-on installation. No joke, it’s that easy and complete.
In this case the owner wanted to preserve the original steering column. That required a little bit of fabrication. Borgeson offers this coupling. One side has a broach that matches the steering box’s input shaft; the other side has a smooth bore to fit a steering column.
Gary held the coupling on the input shaft while Marshall measured the distance from the bottom of the coupling to the column mount in the dash, a point consistent with one on the column.
Marshall then measured back from that column point to the end of the coupling.
He marked a point about 2-3/4 inches back from the end of the coupling (2 inches for the coupling plus 3/4 inch, which we’ll explain next) …
… then 1/8-inch of that extra 3/4-inch mentioned above is for the flange of a bushing that he made for the end of the column. Note that this is entirely optional. But Marshall says he feels it’s a good idea if only to stabilize the column and keep fumes from pushing up the column into the passenger compartment. We still have a 5/8-inch deficit, which we’ll explain in a the step after next.
Marshall cut the steering shaft as close to the box as possible; the idea being that it’s easier to cut more off the shaft than cut more on. Then he attached the steering wheel to the shaft and slid the shaft into the mast jacket.
This explains why Marshall cut the column 3/4-inch shorter than the length of the 2-inch coupler. As explained earlier, 1/8 inch of that is the bushing. But the remaining 5/8 inch is a stop collar that keeps the anti-rattle spring from pushing the shaft toward the top of the mast jacket. The mark on the shaft indicates where Marshall has to cut the shaft (it slides an inch into the coupler).
The steering shaft has a slightly larger OD than the collar and coupler’s 3/4-inch ID standard. So Marshall turned down the OD on the lathe. To maintain square between the shaft and coupling he made the fit just loose enough for the shaft to push in with a little bit of force.
Here’s the bushing, collar, and coupler tentatively installed on the base of the steering column. At this point he test-fit the column in the car to ensure proper fit. Good measuring meant that the steering wheel landed in the same spot as before (naturally this would be a good opportunity to alter the steering wheel location, if necessary).
The assembly came out of the car and the shaft came out of the tube so Marshall could weld the collar to the shaft. Important: if you’re not 100 percent confident in your skills, farm this job out. Your wellbeing is too important to risk an ineffective weld.
Marshall’s a belt-and-suspenders kind of guy, so he went one step further and pinned the collar to the shaft. He went so far as to weld the pin in place. That coupler ain’t coming off. Ever!
Because of manufacturing variances and tolerance stacking, Borgeson attaches the bracket so the column lands to the right of center on most cars. That way the steering box can be easily shimmed to center it if need be.
Borgeson instructs to shim only the bottom-most bolt in the bracket. And for shims, just use washers (you can get thin ones for finer adjustment).
It took only two standard washers to center the steering column with its original bracket. There’s just enough play in the mounting holes to let the box tilt up or down to align the column vertically. We pulled the wheel down for this to show the column bracket. At this point Gary needed only reattach the column and replace the garnish.

We’ve Temporarily Removed Comments
