The rag joint on my 67 is shot. I did a quick Google search and came up with new ones for over $100. I've never paid anywhere near that much for a rag joint before. Are they really that much for these cars?
Bought a $20 rag joint and with the wheels off the ground, turning the steering wheel stop to stop I could feel a pretty good bind. Couldnt make that go away as much as I tried adjusting things. Bought the $100 one from Ames and no bind at all. I still dont know what the big difference was between the two but know the one from Ames is correct. For $80 more it was worth sound mind on a critical part like this. JMO
That's one part where paying a bit more can make the difference between life and death. I remember back in 2001 when we bought our bird, replacing this part was one of my very first projects. Replaced it with a cheap one from local parts place. One day while at a local car show in Lancaster, PA a guy at the car show says "have you looked at your rag joint lately".
I looked down at it and almost crapped myself. Dam thing was torn through one side. I mean completely through. How it is that I couldn't tell is beyond me. That joint had only been in the car for a few months at that point and had slid apart, torn one side and was down to just one rubber side holding everything together.
I actually had the car towed home I was so scared to drive it! Ordered the "good one" from Ames and it was still on the car when we parted it out ten years later and looked perfect!
Sometimes it just isn't worth trying to save money on a part IMO...
The guy who started the project cut corners everywhere. The car right now has a little over 300 miles on it since it has been driveable, and half of those have been by me. The steering has always had a lot of slop in it, and I'm guessing this was one of the reasons. Anyway, either he used the original rag joint, or that thing only lasted 300 miles before it fell apart like you see. Either way isn't good.
Keep the comments coming, I'm really thinking about going the Ames way since like I said I hate cutting corners, especially if it makes a difference. Where's a good place to get the Ames from?
My car has well-over 500k miles on it, with me putting 300k miles on it. (Could have been much more, possibly well over 300k miles, because I used a very conservative judgment of the wear pattern on the factory-installed windshield.)
Anyway, I replaced the original one a year ago this spring. Ames is my only source; even so, all vendors sell a little snake oil, boasting theirs is the best of the best. I checked at a local chain, Salvos, and the counterman said that it was available locally, but they did not sell it. When someplace that did, took it home, and lined it up. Although it didn’t take the force in one would question the mechanical soundness of a hammer fit, it did take an ever so slight tap to marry the splines, and it went on smoothly. Barely tightened the bolt and it snapped on the backside.
I looked at the internal area of the metal, and it looked similar to pot metal, so it was obvious the reason why Salvo refused to sell the part. After all, they are not big fans of leaving money on the table.
Before I took it back, I ordered and received one from Ames. Absolutely no comparison, with enough difference in durability that even the lady who is supplementing her Social Security check could see the obvious difference in the three rags on the counter, the one that came off the car, theirs, and Ames’s. When I installed it, guess what? Slipped right on!
I bought one from the local auto parts 'help' section and thought it was too soft. I noticed it had a lot of deflection when I turned the wheel with the engine off (so no power steering). The bolts looked like they wanted to pull out. I was uncomfortable with it so I replaced it with a polyurethane one which seems to be holding up fine so far.
Here are pictures of the Rag joint I bought from Ames. The quility is excellent. Right click and save to your desktop and you can enlarge for more detail.
Is there anything wrong with the Ididit rag joint? It's not cheap, more than the Ames even. But, I've decided to get an Ididit column because the column I have is not tilt wheel and the bearings or bushings inside are shot. Since I do not have a car that's remotely stock, I'm not worried about having a stock column. We have put Ididit columns in other restorations we have done and have liked them for the most part. The only one we haven't been 100% happy with was the one we put in the 58 Impala, it was a little too long and sits a bit too close to the chest. The other thing I'm concerned about is the rag joint matching up to the column since I'm replacing it, so I am thinking the thing to do is get it all from the same source.
We have a local shop that specializes in early Camaros right down the road from me, and they also cater to us Firebird owners, even if they don't advertise it. If you want to look them up, they are called Firewheel Classics in Garland, TX.
Just want to make sure I'm not going to get something that'll fall apart in a few months, it was such a pain to get the steering gear out of the car to begin with!
Oh, and PSC Performance Steering hooked me up big time on the rebuild on the steering gear. It looks great and I finally expect no leaks or slop!
So the local store thought they had it in stock but they didn't. So I have to order it tomorrow. If it sucks I will take it back, and I will make it known to the store when I buy it. If nothing else, I'm an honest guy I will just let them know if it doesn't fit like the factory unit I will want to bring it back (remember what I said about my dad's 58).
EDIT: In our experience there is no difference between Ididit columns and Flaming River. There is a difference in price though. If you know of a specific problem with Ididit, please post it up. I know nothing of Acme, never bought anything from them, but Wile E. Coyote has.
I'm headed there tomorrow to get it all ordered. I will stay in touch.
I need to post the pic of my new steering gear. Looks great!
OK, I have some confusion, and in fact my local shop does too (they are a first gen Camaro shop, but these parts shouldn't be any different)
Their first quote was for $470. Then they ask for $750. I think I found the confusion based on what I see on Summit. Any idea which is the correct output, and why it matters as long as the coupler is correct at each end?
Almost done with the install. As you can see, I went with the Ididit chrome tilt column, as you can't see there's a new PSC steering gear and an Ididit rag joint (or as they call it, a coupler).
Of course while I'm doing the work, I notice the ball joint on the passenger side lower A frame has fallen out. Time to take that apart and press in a new ball joint.
Also found my carb is leaking around where the accelerator pump rod enters the bowl. I knew I was going to have to pull the front bowl to install the new power valve, but didn't expect the leaks. I hope I can find the gaskets for this Demon carb.
It's all pretty bling, but it fits the car. The old column was shot, the bearings moaned when I turned the wheel. The wheel bearings need preload set right too. Between the slack in the steering gear, the ball joint loose, the bad column bearings, the wheel bearings not preloaded right... no wonder this thing was a handful on the street!!!!
Last night we finished up a bunch of stuff. Pressed in a new passenger side lower ball joint. When we removed the old one, we found both the upper and lower ball joint castle nuts were loose. The cotter pin was in, but the nuts were not torqued down. Also, the brake caliper mount was loose. So we fixed all that back up and checked the driver's side. Yep, all nuts loose, so we fixed those too. Fixing all the loose components, along with the new steering column, steering gear, and rag joint, the car drives like brand new. The shop sent me home with the wrong horn kit, have to go exchange that this week, then all the steering related stuff is complete.
I tore down the carburetor twice. Found a bad accelerator pump diaphram, so replaced that. Changed the power valve from a 6.5 to a 2.5. Did some mods to the Idle-Eze after talking to Barry Grant (glad they are back in business!). It idles a lot better, but still not high enough RPM. Idles about 750 right now. Bumped up the timing to 22 at idle, still need to determine the max advance, have to put a tape on the flywheel because the gauge over the flywheel only goes to 16. Took it for a test run up and down the street last night, no hesitation anywhere, no surging, no pinging (predetonation). Runs better than I've ever seen it run.
Noticed one of the high/low headlamps is out, have to replace that, and while I'm at it I'll align them. Currently the beams look like Marty Feldman.
Glad you are making improvements Robbie, should be alot more fun to drive with that stuff fixed. I bet it does drive like a new car with those improvements. Hey I hope thats a typo about the 2.5 power valve? Rule of thumb is you want a pv with about halve your idle vacuum. My lumpy idle provides between 10-12 inches of vacuum and I run a 6.5 pv which seems to work ok. I'd try a 5.5 if I had one laying around. Get a Mighty Vac, you can use it to measure idle vacuum, bleed the brakes, check vacuum diaphrams, ect. And get a dial back timing light, even a cheapo from harbor freight seems to work fine, at least with a points ignition its as accurate as my sunpro.
My car only pulls 6 inches at idle in park, 5 in gear. I used a vacuum gauge for that, and to set the curb idle adjustment screws.
The cam is somewhere north of 250 intake duration at .050" lift on a solid roller lifter setup. The only vacuum line on the whole car is from the back of the carb to the PCV. The power brakes are run by an external electric pump. The engine just doesn't make much vacuum.
I have an MSD Billet dizzy and MSD 6AL ignition, so no points here. I have a good timing light, but here's what is funny. I didn't even think to use the dial back function! It's been so long since it has seen the light of day, I forgot about that! So, now that you've jogged my memory, I can get my total timing without worrying about the marks
I think it'll be a lot better with the right torque converter too. I admit I know dang near nothing about setting them up, I'll have to leave that to the experts. I'd really rather put a TKO 600 in it, but I don't know if that's in the cards anytime soon.
Man that must be a rockin' idle at that low of a vacuum reading. Cool! Whats the compression ratio? Iron or aluminum? In that case I'd give it as much initial advance as you can,all the way up to your total or until you get run on or hot start issues then dial it back, limit or lock your mechanical advance accordingly to get the total you want. I gotta check that car out, looking forward to it Robbie.
Some of the specs I don't know. The guy who did 80% of the work to the 'bird left town and never turned over the receipts or build sheets. I believe the compression to be up around 12:1. It won't run on premium gas without engine ping under acceleration. It is an iron 383 with aluminum Brodix heads. Mighty Demon 650 carb on top of a Victor Jr. intake. I want to take it to a dyno soon, it should push close to 500 hp at the rear wheels. Comp Cam's online computer estimates (at the crank) 569 hp at 6500, 516 torque at 5000. The MSD 6AL has a 6500 RPM limiter pill installed, which based on the estimated curve should be just right. The factory 10 bolt is spooled and has 4.11 gears. I'm not sure what all has been done to the 700R4, it shifts hard, but like I said the torque converter is not correct for the engine or car. 3" duals through Flowmaster 40s.
Now that you mention it, I was having run-on issues before going through the carb. Haven't had any run-on since, although last night was the first time I've run the car in weeks. It's going to be hard to get much more advance without some thought, I'm having distributor clearance issues against the firewall when turning up the advance more than it is now.
Luckily, the rear tires are not sticky, otherwise I'm afraid I'd have a twisted body or broken rear axle. I need to get those subframe connectors done soon! Also, I have a line on a 12 bolt out of a first gen Camaro, offered $200, waiting on a response.
If the weather is decent this weekend, I'm sure we will at least get it out for a while.
Here's the final result of the Ididit install. It was a perfect fit. The install couldn't have gone more smoothly. The only issue I had was I had the wrong adapter kit to put the Grant steering wheel onto the Ididit column.
I finally fixed my visors too. They wouldn't stay up. A couple of new hinges and new bushings and all is well.
I have a good timing light, but here's what is funny. I didn't even think to use the dial back function! It's been so long since it has seen the light of day, I forgot about that! So, now that you've jogged my memory, I can get my total timing without worrying about the marks 
