I have seen the ads and people praise these Flaming River Steering boxes for several years now. since I had some bucks in the Pay Pal slush fund from ebay sales, I opted to get one from ebay. we put it in 2 days ago and I am very pleased with the performance! nice and steady steering all of a sudden!! I am pleased!
Dave, I have many questions for you. 1. Is yours the power or manual rack. 2. If it is manual, how is the steering effort and what size tires are you running. 3. What did you install it on. 4. Do you have headers and if so were there any problems. 5. Did you do the install your self, and was it difficult. I have been thinking of putting one on my 66 fastback which I run 245-45-17 tires but was concerned that steering effort would not be much improved as my car does not have power steering and I don't want to ad it. Thanks, any info you can share is appreciated.
I am running 225 15inch BF Goodies on the 67 GT500. Power steering removed and I am running one of those Adapter pieces so you do not have to replace Center link etc. the car obviously a 428 FE with Headers. we did the car in the air. unbolted the Motor Mounts and pushed it up with a Trans jack. My GT500 is a late model so it runs the rag joint. all in all job done in under an hour. the secure feel of a non floating side to side movement in your steering is awesome. makes driving the car a totally new experience and instills a greater sense of confidence. I had an original Box in another Shelby rebuilt and I was never pleased with the performance afterward. from what I understand, the FR Box is really the same appearance externally but it is the inside engineering that makes the difference. and it is a 16:1 ratio. tomorrow I have a nice run about 45 minutes away to a Shelby picnic!! got to get some sleep!-
Gosh you are one of the few with good things to say about them. We've had nothing but trouble with them. I would imagine with wider larger tires the steering effort will be considerable. I got rid of my 16 X 8 rims due not being able to turn the wheel comfortably.
Well I know the shop had problems with on center being right and an issue with smooth operation. I don't know how it resolved itself. I will ask. I know they only tried a couple of the FR boxes. And then they went back to finding good used ones and rebuilding them. I only help out part time there so I miss some stuff.
I am very interested in knowing as I had a Box rebuilt for a 68 GT500 I had and was not happy with the result. the FR box I used was just aquired and installed within the last few weeks so maybe they had an earlier product? it is conversation like this that helps us all with research and development of our cars! and hopefully parts mfgrs. are listening!!
Have a 68 G.T. 500 , power steering, did the swap to the F.R. about 4-5 years ago. Up to now it has been like a new car since I installed it, did not have to touch anything in the way of steering, exhaust manifolds etc. etc. The unit comes sealed, [ meaning you never have to adjust anything or add oils etc. ] It is the spitting image of the original I took off. I bought the unit from F.R. directly.---S.
I've always wondered how good the F.R. boxes were. I have a rebuilt box in my car (From Red Head Steering , Seattle, WA) since 2001 and have been very happy with it, though I run power steering in a small block 69. Bryan
there are so many variables to this archaic Power steering system on these cars that can make it steer good or bad, leak or not leak. I had removed the Power steering for weight purposes only and I am currently reinstalling it as I am selling the car. I had a Manual steering adapter on there and it worked very nicely as well. FORD used this slave cylinder up until 1977 I believe.
just being nosey David and reading between the lines......but have you found yourself a nice '65 mate ??? cheers.
actually I am making a deal on a 67 GT350. the 65's are just out of my price range. I am sure one day though, the right car at the right price will find me!! they usually do !
