I checked this weekend, I believe my Camaro is equipped with the N44 option; Steering, Special; includes quick-ratio steering. It has 2.5 turns on the steering wheel from lock to lock.

Is there any way to verify that the steering was original to the car, unfortuneately the buildsheet on top of the gastank was in bad condition and basically ureadable :confused:

Maybe date codes on the steering box? Pit man arm ID ?

There is a Julian date code right on top of the steering box if you have manual steering, not sure if it's the same for power steering. Mine is manual and it reads 346. My car is an 02C '69.
The manual pitman arm is longer with the N44 option. It measures 5.750 inches from center to center. The forging number is 3953227.
Hope that helps,
Doug

Forgot to mention its Power Steering and build date of the car is 02C 1969 - like yours

Doug,
Does that mean your box was made December 12, 1968?
Mine is 45 for 02D build. Is that Feb 14, 1969?

Gary,
Yes, that sounds about right. The difference in steering box dates and our cars being built at about the same time probably has something to do with yours coming from Norwood and mine coming from Van Nuys. I'll be curious to find out what csn69ss has for a date as our cars were built the same week at the same location.

69 SS's and Z28's had RPO N44 included when you ordered RPO N40 power steering. The difference between RPO N40 and RPO N40/N44 is in the length of the pitman arm, the boxes themselves are the same.

69 SS's and 302s with PS and N44 used the 3989445 (supercedes 3953237) pitman arms all other 69's with PS used 3989443(supercedes 3953231) pitman arms. Don't know how to correlate service part numbers to the casting numbers on the arms themselves. Although a couple of the arms have forging number that are 2 digits higher than the part number, ex. p/n 3953217 which is the base manual steering 69 pitman arm has a forging number of 3953219, the 69 z28 special steering manual pitman arm is p/n 3953225 and has a forging number of 3953227, and the 68 special steering manual steering gear pitman arm has a p/n of 3908389 and a forging number of 3908391.

Once you start looking a manual steering N44 cars it gets trickier because the N44 gears also used a different sector gear inside the steering gear housing, in addition to different length pitman and steering arms.

The numbers stamped on the little flat rectangle on the cover of the steering box are the julian date that the box was assembled. Mine is 109 which is something like April 19th, and my car was assembled about 1 1/2 to 2 weeks later.

[ 12-05-2004, 09:49 PM: Message edited by: Mark C ]

people still have manual steering on their cars?

it is SOOOOO ez to retrofit to power steering and makes the car SOOOOOO much easier and more fun to drive

Originally posted by al8apexer:
people still have manual steering on their cars?

it is SOOOOO ez to retrofit to power steering and makes the car SOOOOOO much easier and more fun to drive Jim,
I agree but when your a numbers matching/originality nut like me you just can't do it. I couldn't even put a cowl hood on my car (I love the cowl hood on '69's) and I had one sitting in my garage. graemlins/clonk.gif graemlins/clonk.gif
Doug

I actually switch my cars BACK to manual steering, no jumping belts (or wearing) no leaky power steering boxes, simple and easy to change out a waterpump, no GM morning sickness noises, less cluttered engine compartment, better road feel...

And when you parallel park a '77 El Camino with a manual box and 275's? You feel you've accomplished something! ;)

Of course, it does make it a little harder to sell, but I'm not selling anyway!

I do like manual boxes, but I can see why others choose power ones!

" no jumping belts (or wearing) no leaky power steering boxes, simple and easy to change out a waterpump, no GM morning sickness noises, less cluttered engine compartment, better road feel... "

sounds like you are talking about a Ford product above re leaks and noises

belts don't jump if all the right brackets are on and you have the deep groove pulleys

how often do you change water pumps? :)

Both my 68 L78 and 69Z11 came with manual steering. I have sent both out for power steering upgrades this winter. I plan to drive these cars into my 80's and if the numbers make others scoff so be it. I will just easily turn the wheel and drive away.

The factory original cars are getting more scarce as we speak, that's one of the reasons I enjoy the originality thing.
I guess if you add power steering you can always save the original parts for possible future use.......
Doug

Originally posted by z28doug:
Gary,
Yes, that sounds about right. The difference in steering box dates and our cars being built at about the same time probably has something to do with yours coming from Norwood and mine coming from Van Nuys. I'll be curious to find out what csn69ss has for a date as our cars were built the same week at the same location. Mine is 014 9, quess thats Jabuary 14, 69. Sorry for the type errors my 3year okd kid is sitting in my lab - we just went for a ride in the SS, he simply loves the Camaro - future Chevy guy for sure.

Originally posted by Mark C:
69 SS's and Z28's had RPO N44 included when you ordered RPO N40 power steering. The difference between RPO N40 and RPO N40/N44 is in the length of the pitman arm, the boxes themselves are the same.Amazing what I still learns about these cars everyday - thanks Mark

I think we are talking two different numbers here in this post. I have a steering box casting date of 346 and now I've learned, with the help of a little #0000 steel wool, I have an assembly date stamped A 010 9.
Mark, do you have the "A" before the 014 9 on your car? Also, what's your casting date?
Doug

Power and manual steering boxes have two different date coding systems.

Mine has no A infront of the 014 9 stamping.

Where is the casting date located?

On my manual box it's right on top. There is the casting number and below that the casting date. It's inbetween two screw head looking things.
Doug

On top of mine, the aluminum cover, it has the assembly date 014 9 and a part no. 5686555 and a small casting "thing" looks like dc 3, but the dc surronded by a ring thing, no casting date - must be some where else on the body of the assembly.

Claus S. N.

The casting numbers and date code on mine are part of the box itself, not on the aluminum cover. The assembly date on mine is stamped on a flat spot on the box next to the aluminum cover.
Doug

The date code for Saginaw manual steering gears was as follows: XXX X First three digits were the day of the year (001 through 365) the last digit was the year (3 for 1973 etc). They were either stamped on the side cover or they were stamped into a metal tag that was attached to one of the side cover bolts.

Guys, please note that there are 2 dates on your boxes. One is for the box casting date which will be close to the casting number and the other date is on the gear box cover. That date is the date the box was built in Julian date format. Like cns69ss said 0149 would be Jan 14, 1969. Just thought I would add my .02 here too. smile.gif

Had to look at mine here it is B 03 69 on little
square tab casting *331* I guess it was cast late 68 assm. in Feb 69

Z28doug,

I had my steering gear rebuilt and did not know that I had the "A0559" date stamp on the machined pad until it came back. It has a "045" cast date.

Hey, this site is great , had my car since new and never bothered to check this stuff...I have a base Z with manual steer,, box casting 5679142, with a 276 above it but on retangel tab B 290 8,,,,my car is a 12A 69.. what do you make of that,,, And if that date is correct thats the 290th day of the year which was my birthday and the day I went to my sales manager to order the car. Super , What does the letter B stand for ? Some one mentioned the length of the sector shaft, any lengths?

N44 manual steering as std equipment on a Z/28 used the same manual box as any other Camaro/Nova-the ratio change was acomplished via shorter steering arms/longer pitman arm.

Chevy did offer an optional faster box [Z/28s ordered with optional N44] but it was far too stiff for street use; so stiff Penske tried power steering on his race cars.