This is a typical Street Stock...
This is a typical Street Stock steering column setup. A straight shaft runs down to a Borgeson u-joint that ties into the steering box. There&8217s lots of room for a quick steer box in the typical Street Stock or Modified.
D & M Performance Manufacturing...
D & M Performance Manufacturing offers two types of mounts for the same gearboxes. This one mounts the gearbox in a horizontal position.
We decided to use the vertical...
We decided to use the vertical mount in this application. We felt it gave the shaft a straighter shot through the firewall and stayed a little more out of the way of the driver&8217s legs.
We wanted to build a very...
We wanted to build a very solid place to mount the quick steer. What we came up with was basically an extension of the square tube that holds the steering bearing. We notched the end to fit on the horizontal roll bar in our driver&8217s compartment.
We welded the extension to...
We welded the extension to the horizontal bar after determining the correct length and placement to line up the quick steer with the existing steering shaft.
With the square tube in place,...
With the square tube in place, we clamped the vertical quick steer mount in place to make sure it was properly positioned. The steering shaft is dropped out of the way for now.
With the mount secured we...
With the mount secured we installed the quick steer onto it. This is really a pretty piece of hardware and it&8217s solid as an anvil.
After measuring four or five...
After measuring four or five times and then measuring all over again, we cut the steering shaft at the point where we wanted it to go from the steering wheel to the quick steer. Next, we trimmed the rest of the shaft for the proper length from the steering box to the back side of the quick steer.
We put a Borgeson coupler...
We put a Borgeson coupler on the splined shaft (on the front of the quick steer) and then tack welded the shaft to it. We double-checked that nothing was binding before finish-welding the coupler. We must point out that this is not the method of attachment Borgeson prefers because they are concerned about the welding causing cracks. On the other hand, Street Stock racers throughout the country have had successful results with this technique.
We used a Borgeson u-joint...
We used a Borgeson u-joint on the steering shaft from the quick steer to the steering box. This portion of the shaft now has u-joints on both ends.
We took the steering system...
We took the steering system out of the car to finish-weld the coupler and also weld on the u-joint. You should weld in short bursts and keep the heat managed with wet rags.
You definitely don&8217t...
You definitely don’t want to weld the u-joint to the quick steer. You don&8217t want the heat to get into the unit and you want to be able to get it out at a later date if necessary. We used the set screw on the splined end of this Borgeson u-joint to hold the shaft on.
Here&8217s a view of the...
Here&8217s a view of the entire steering system out of the car so you can get a better idea of how it works.
This is where the steering...
This is where the steering shaft connects to the steering box. We already had a Borgeson u-joint at this location and, actually, nothing has to change from the firewall forward.
With our Grant quick release...
With our Grant quick release steering wheel in place we were ready to race. It took a few laps before our driver got used to the quick steer but it proved to be extremely valuable in the search for quicker lap times.
Let's be blunt. If you're driving a stock-stubbed race car without quick steer you're hurting your chances of consistently driving at the limits without making a lap-time-diminishing mistake.
Saturday Night Buildup driver Bob Carpenter has been competing at Ventura Raceway's 1/4-mile dirt track for almost four years now and he's never used a quick steer. "I can't tell you how many times people have told me I'd be a whole lot better off with a quick steer," Bob said.
With a new car ready to run this season we felt it was the perfect opportunity to see how quick steer compared to standard steering. The result was a resounding success. When using a quick steer, the driver expends far less energy driving the car. Hand movements are reduced dramatically to the point where you will feel like you're giving micro inputs to the steering wheel in comparison to the stock system. You will most definitely need power steering as the effort required to turn the wheel without it is substantially greater.
The real value to quick steer, however, is when you find yourself in trouble. Let's say you over-cooked it into Turn 1 and the rearend swings out waaaaay too wide. With quick steer you can whip the front tires to the right in less than a heartbeat and gather the car back up. If you overdo it with the counter-steering and have to whip the wheel back to the left again, it's a simple flick of the steering wheel away. You will never again find yourself sawing away at the steering wheel and wasting the first 30 feet of the straightaway trying to get straight instead of trying to accelerate.
Of course it will take a night or two of racing to adapt to the new sensation of quick steer. After running a heat race we added a piece of light-colored tape to the top of our steering wheel so Bob could double check himself and ensure that the tires were pointed straight. In the beginning he was moving the steering wheel further than he needed to and this visual aid helped solve that problem.
Installing a quick steer gearbox is actually rather simple and can be retrofitted into your existing steering system. We worked with the crew at D&M Performance Manufacturing in Dumas, Texas, to install one of their quick steers in an '81 Camaro Street Stock. Follow along as we install a D&M unit.
This article originally printed in the August 1997 issue of Circle Track