We installed the gear last night, and as you might suspect everything wasn't hunky dory, but it was all fixable.
The coupler kit we got from
Bergman Auto Craft was nice, the powdercoat was great. We polished the inside of the coupler a little to get it smooth. Coupler kits are always a pain, and we had to use parts from my old one, parts from the new kit, and parts we had. I ran into this the last time I rebuilt my column, the single spring clip has always been a problem, so I used my old spring clips then, like we did last night. The kit was included with Bergman's coupler, but I could tell that it wasn't his own kit, but a packaged kit that someone else puts together. I have gotten the same kit before and had problems even though the person who puts the kit together swore that it worked for "all early Mopars". It didn't.
The gear we got from
Borgeson is the same that Bergman sells, Borgeson has remedied their fitment issues with regards to the brackets that are welded on. The housing needed a little more grinding on the housing, not much, but in order to get it to mount flush it was necessary. We could see where this was done before, but it needed a little more work. Otherwise, it was so easy to install and so much lighter that the tech didn't mind that he had to take it out a couple of times for modifications before he was comfortable with it.
The fittings that we got from
Bergman Auto Craft were great, they provide the fittings for your standard pressure hose (early or late) to fit the new box, and also provided AN fittings if you want to run -6 line and fittings - which we will do later when we add a hydraboost unit. We have a '65 with a Thompson pump, with the larger 5/8" return hose, but we installed a later steering gear with a larger sector shaft, and it's important to remember that Bergman has fittings for your application, but you need to tell them what you're doing. our return fitting on the pump fit great, but since it's a later application I should have told him we were using the early pump with the larger return hose.
The alignment is getting done today, then I can really test it out. One thing I can tell you is that firm doesn't begin to describe it. It has a manual steering feel but it's not hard to turn. It's just much firmer, and the turning radius is tighter than before - went from 3.5 turns lock-to-lock and now have about 4, but a 90 degree turn is a one-hander now, where it was a two-hander before, meaning: the quicker ratio is evident.
We're racing this weekend, and I'll let you know how it feels on the track, and of course I'll do a full write up for the install and give you the link. (I'm and editor for an online publication - so if it's okay to post the link I will when the article goes live.)
Oh.. and header clearance? LOTS of it now!