1966 Ford Mustang Borgeson's Power Steering Equipped Gearbox Installation

The Borgeson box uses through bolts with lock nuts, so you'll either have to two-hand the hardware install, or enlist a helper to hold the bolts while you tighten down the lock nuts.

Once the gearbox is secured to the framerail, the factory pitman arm is reinstalled and secured with the new nut and split washer supplied with the box. The Borgeson remanufactured steering gearbox uses the same pitman arm splines/diameter as the stock Mustang box.

The complete kit includes an application-specific rag joint and AN hose adapters for the steering box. Hindsight being what it is, we'll tell you it's a lot easier to install these fittings and the joint on the box before the gearbox is installed in the car. Hold our sign so we don't lose it.

The complete kit utilizes a Saginaw power steering pump. Yes, we know it's a GM-based pump, but in all fairness Ford did use them too. The mounting bracket used here is a first-generation design and mounts to the water pump, so a few pump bolts need to be removed and the bracket slid under them.

The bracket also uses a 3/8-inch threaded stud to secure the top most part of the bracket to the cylinder head. This is where we finally ran into a problem (nothing goes perfect for us, really). The hole in the cylinder head was a 7/16-inch hole because it was a modern cylinder head-the car had been upgraded with a crate engine. Suffice it to say, we got lucky when Classic Creations' Merv Rego dug through his bin o' bolts and found us a proper-sized stud.

The pump and adjusting bracket can now finally be installed with the larger stud (which passed through all the hardware without having to enlarge any holes) so we could secure the pump.

Borgeson includes a length of shaft to replace the old steering shaft that was removed with the old gearbox. It's splined on one end to mate with the rag joint (it's being secured in this photo), and the other end is splined to match the stock Ford steering wheel setup.

The latest design pump bracket is shown here. Borgeson redesigned the bracket to bolt directly to the cylinder head only, allowing 289/302 and 351 deck heights, as well as 3/8-inch and 7/16-inch mounting holes all to be used with one bracket and one hardware package. Another bonus is this bracket allows the use of the factory A/C bracket if you have A/C on your car already.

The stock steering column tube will need to be shortened before it can be reinstalled. Take careful measurements to determine how short it needs to be. This is one case where it can be more beneficial to sneak up on the right length than to cut too much off. Reinstall the column tube in the car using the supplied firewall support plate.

The Borgeson kit comes with brand-new pre-made pressure and return line hoses. The hoses simply thread onto the AN adapter fittings (the return hose is the one closest to the rag joint) and then they can be routed toward the pump.

The hoses are just the right length to pass over the exhaust and hug the shock tower. The return hose is made from the same reinforced hose as the pressure hose, which can make installing it on the return line nipple a bit of a chore, but you know it isn't coming off.

With the hoses secured, we noticed the return hose was a little closer to the header than we liked. A simple rubber-cushioned clamp....

....was installed with a self-drilling screw into the bottom of the shock tower to secure the hose away from the header.

The only items not included in the conversion kit are the proper crankshaft pulley for your engine's accessory drive configuration, a power steering belt, and fluid. A two-groove crank pulley is a pretty common find, and they are reproduced as well, so just hit your favorite Mustang catalog. For the belt, we slid the pump to the middle of its adjustment range and took a measurement. A 44 1/2-inch long belt was perfect for our setup, though yours may be different.

Finally, check the upper shaft length by reinstalling the steering wheel. If you come up a little short on retaining nut engagement, you can loosen the set screw on the rag joint and carefully push the shaft and rag joint assembly toward the firewall a bit (we had ours seated too deeply on the steering box). Just make sure you have enough spline engagement on both sides of the rag joint for safe use, otherwise you'll have to pull the column tube and take another cut.

The final installation looks clean and the steering box, hoses, and pump clear everything great. While we didn't drive the car ourselves (Classic Creations took it to have the alignment double checked), we did hear back from Classic Creations after it drove the car that the steering effort is very modern feeling; saying it felt very close to a rack-and-pinion setup. There also wasn't any over-boosted wandering at highway speeds like the old non-integral setup is known for. Pump pressures are also spot on with great assist at low speeds and not a hint of noise.