are there different sized steering couplers?

[mshred]

just wondering about this....

i have a slant 6 power steering box and column in my car and now have a 340 that i bought some heddman headers for...they are supposed to work with smallblocks with power steering and 4 speed linkage (both of which i have) and theses same headers have worked fine for other members ive talked to , with no dented tubes...however, one of my tubes hits the steering coupler pretty bad to a point where im going to have to dent the tube....as much as this pisses me off, im just wondering if couplers were different sizes, or if i just have a bad header, or bad luck...theres no way these headers are going to clear without beating em in

 

[fourspeed]

Check your motor mounts. Just a little shimming can sometimes make a big difference.

I'm not aware of different couplers for power steering. You could go with the Flaming River coupler, which is round.

http://www.flamingriver.com/index.c...ategory_id=-1/home_id=-1/mode=prod/prd214.htm

 

[mshred]

i didnt think there were different couplers for power steering...maybe i have the lemon of hedman headers, because the other guys running them dont have any problems...thing is its hitting severly, so im not sure its the motor mounts...which side should i shim and how much? i may aswell try it to see since id really rather not bang in the tube

 

[DART3404]

i didnt think there were different couplers for power steering...maybe i have the lemon of hedman headers, because the other guys running them dont have any problems...thing is its hitting severly, so im not sure its the motor mounts...which side should i shim and how much? i may aswell try it to see since id really rather not bang in the tube

Hey there, we did the same changeover and found that a thick washer under the drivers' side motor mount helped, and we took out the steering column and rounded the coupler so it now looks more like the after-market ones you can get. We used a die-grinder and took off all the squarish tabs that you don't need on there. That coupler is grease-filled so when the lid became a bit loose, we used some 3M Universal bond and once it dried, ground that down too. Then spray-painted it black and who could tell? You wouldn't want to weld it cause you'll melt all the grease out, but the 3M stuff worked really great! We also installed a high-torque mini-starter which works fabulously! As for banging in your headers, well, good luck with that! We tried that first and not even a huge sledge hammer would made a good enough dent for the problem to be fixed! All you need is an 1/8th inch clearance and when you re-install your steering column, you can move it over a sixteenth inch or so to clear. Give that a try. Good luck!

 

[mshred]

Hey there, we did the same changeover and found that a thick washer under the drivers' side motor mount helped, and we took out the steering column and rounded the coupler so it now looks more like the after-market ones you can get. We used a die-grinder and took off all the squarish tabs that you don't need on there. That coupler is grease-filled so when the lid became a bit loose, we used some 3M Universal bond and once it dried, ground that down too. Then spray-painted it black and who could tell? You wouldn't want to weld it cause you'll melt all the grease out, but the 3M stuff worked really great! We also installed a high-torque mini-starter which works fabulously! As for banging in your headers, well, good luck with that! We tried that first and not even a huge sledge hammer would made a good enough dent for the problem to be fixed! All you need is an 1/8th inch clearance and when you re-install your steering column, you can move it over a sixteenth inch or so to clear. Give that a try. Good luck!

Hey man thanks for the advice! about how thick would you say that washer was? Do i need to grind down the coupler, or will adding the spacer be enough? also, just out of curiousity what size heads are on the header bolts you are using and who makes them? I will definatly try this method as i really dont want to bang in my header tubes...oh and one more thing- is it possible to do a starter change with the headers in if you have a mini starter?

and by the way i see you are in ontario too....sweet lookin dart brotha!