1968 Nova Project Car - Steering Solution

Tighten everything up, starting with the three chassis bolts, then the two bolts mating the rag joint halves, and finally the pinch bolt where the rag joint coupler slides over the input shaft. Once you've got that under control, put your pitman arm back on. Here, Chaffers is putting on a new one.

Here, you're looking from under the car up at the frame and firewall. You want to guide the rag joint coupler onto the steering shaft while lining up the three steering box holes with the corresponding holes on the frame. It goes without saying-make sure your steering wheel is straight and the sector gear/output shaft is reasonably centered before this step.

One piece you'll need to get before installing the Series 500 steering box is a 3/4-inch 30-spline rag joint coupler. This will mate to the corresponding half already on the steering shaft. CPP sells these for $45 under PN RJC-730R. You'll want to slide it over the shaft before bolting the box in place on the Nova's frame.

The idler arm on the passenger side mimics the geometry and arc of the pitman arm on the steering box, keeping the centerlink parallel to the crossmember. While there's not a huge amount of stress on this part, it can cause a ton of problems if either of the two articulated joints gets worn. A new one from CPP is $49.

We cleaned and painted the original centerlink, and bolted it back on. These pieces are pretty sturdy, and unless it's bent, it can be reused with no problem.

Replacing your tie-rod ends is a good idea if the joints are loose like ours were (top). We got new ones from CPP and assembled them with CPP's billet aluminum adjuster sleeves (PN ES350SP-AB, $69). These hexagonal-shaped sleeves make alignment tweaks much easier.