Exorcised the steering gremlin from my Demon

So I had replaced all the steering components with the exception of the steering gearbox and my Demon drove horribly down the road. Center slop in the gear box was beyond excessive. After being on the waiting list for about 3 months to have mine rebuilt by Firm Feel, I got one in the mail a couple days ago. They give you two options; get a rebuilt one and return yours as a core or have yours rebuilt. I opted for the first for logistical reasons. They build them in 3 versions; stock, stage 2 (was described to me that it would feel like 90's rack and pinion) and stage 3 which was an extra $100 and I wasn't sure it would make any difference since all I wanted was to be able to drive the car without it trying to kill me... Which is an accurate description of how it drove. I opted for stage 2. In fact the previous owner had it for only 6 months and sold it because they thought it was the most dangerous car they had ever owned. Yes, my Demon was possessed.

Anyways the car now drives like a DREAM! I used to be afraid to go 60mph and the car was all over the road. Now, I got up to 80mph and didn't have to make a single correction at all. I think the car just graduated from garage queen to daily driver. Oh an here is a tip. If you get a rebuilt one, be sure to fully install it before you send back your core. I almost took my core to the UPS when I realized there was a manifold part and a fitting I needed to reuse.

I'm guessing power steering?

Thank you for your post.
This came at the perfect time because I'm facing the same thing, and was going to order a new p/s box from firm feel. (stage 2 like you did)
One question though, did you rebuild the coupler at the same time?
I'm tired of driving a car that ''hunts'' all of the time like it had bias ply tires on it...

When I was having this type of problem on my '64, I came across the proper method of adjusting the power steering box. My manual didn't mention ajdusting while the engine was idling. Adjustment section starts at minute 4. I found I could make the adjustment with the arms on jack stands without removing the center link and watching for tire movement.

Joey4speed said:

I'm guessing power steering?

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Yes

Dartnut said:

Thank you for your post.
This came at the perfect time because I'm facing the same thing, and was going to order a new p/s box from firm feel. (stage 2 like you did)
One question though, did you rebuild the coupler at the same time?
I'm tired of driving a car that ''hunts'' all of the time like it had bias ply tires on it...

Click to expand...

I actually had rebuilt the coupler last year along with the steering column. So now EVERYTHING is like new. If you rebuild your coupler and it does not have the wire clip to keep the seal in place, I would highly recommend getting the wire clip for it.

BobW said:

When I was having this type of problem on my '64, I came across the proper method of adjusting the power steering box. My manual didn't mention ajdusting while the engine was idling. Adjustment section starts at minute 4. I found I could make the adjustment with the arms on jack stands without removing the center link and watching for tire movement.

Click to expand...

I wish I would have seen this before I replaced mine but I'm still very happy with my outcome.

Firm Feel does a great job. I have a stage 3 and my dad has a stage 1 on his Coronet. Glad you like it.

I put a stage 2 FF in a car 20 years ago on their advice…should have went stage 3…also it was sloppy just like the factory box after 50000 miles…unless you want it to look factory I would go with an aftermarket box