Vintage Mustang Steering Upgrade

When we learned about the new Flaming River steering box for vintage Mustangs, we were more than interested. Until now, there have been few options available to those who wanted to upgrade the steering on their early Mustangs. Rebuilt steering boxes were available, but they used all original Ford parts, so when you're done, you're still running the original equipment box with its cavernous on-center spot and built-in play. We've always wanted a steering upgrade that would bolt into the car without radical changes, unlike rack-and-pinion. That upgrade is now here in the form of a brand-new steering box from Flaming River. Designed and built especially to fit early Mustangs, the Flaming River box contains all-new components, with nothing rebuilt or reused. This goes even for the steering box casing. Until now, even new old stock parts had to go into an old casing because there was no alternative. Whatever wear was present in the casing was what you got in your rebuilt box.

Currently, Flaming River offers only a 16:1 steering ratio, but it feels quicker than it is because of the tight-as-a-drum quality. We’re going to show what’s involved in installing the Flaming River box on a 1966 Mustang, but allow us to jump ahead a little and tell you about the end result. All of our expectations were exceeded when we first drove the car with the new box installed. Gone completely is the slop in the steering where the steering wheel is moved from side to side but the car still goes straight down the road. Now the steering is accurate and concise. Any movement of the wheel results in a change of direction. The steering now has a tight feel, very much like the rack-and-pinion found on newer Mustangs. The car doesn’t feel flighty, and there is still a nice on-center feeling at the wheel that a rack-and-pinion setup completely lacks.

We also noticed a substantial reduction in the steering effort. However, the greatest benefit, at least from our perspective, was not noticed until we got out on the freeway and began to stretch our Mustang's legs. High-speed tracking is dramatically improved. Gone is the car's tendency to wander and the need for constant correction. The car tracks like it's on rails at high speeds, giving us a sense of confidence previously lacking during high-speed use. Windsor-Fox Performance Engineering, where the conversion was performed, is often our location of choice for projects that may be technically challenging. Installation of the Flaming River box turned out to be a straightforward affair with no surprises, although our EFI fastback has JBA shorty headers, which we had to remove for clearance during the installation. Other than that, installation should be no different for your car.