I just joined this forum. I have been reading the previous posts and thought I could maybe answer some of the questions I've come across.

I have a 1954 Ford Country Sedan 8 pass. Wagon. It has a 351w/FMX with a 57 9" rear end. I am about to pull the 351 and put in a 390/c-6.

  As far as the steering box/colunm question. I have a 1963 Ford Galaxie steering box with pitman arm and colunm in my wagon. The Galaxie box bolted in using the original 54 bolts, and the center link joint bolted right to the pitman arm without any adjustment.  The Galaxies used a rag joint so the stock colunm won't work unless you cut it and add some splines, so I used the colunm from the same Galaxie. I had to fabricate the upper mount, but it wasn't too difficult. The interesting thing was that the 63 Galaxie colunm used the same bullitt connectors for the turn signal wiring, and the wires were even the same color code. My car is power steering, but I believe the Galaxies used the same box in non power steering cars.  The only downside to using the Galaxie box is that you will still have 6 turns lock to lock.

 I am considering going to the rack and pinion setup, but won't know until I see how well the 390 fits. If I don't go that way I will at least have to rebuild the power steering cylinder because I'm tired of have a pile of kitty litter on the garage floor.

Lee