1983 Steering Control Valve Seals - Need Help

[Harry]

My Bendix control valve spool has a outside shaft diameter where the seals ride of .680 inch. The Ford seal kit recommended (Gates 351070) on some websites contain seals with a .500 inside diameter. Won't come close to fitting my spool. My old seals are a different design, much thinner and measure about .680 inside diameter. I contacted Studebaker International and they recommend their kit #1545332 that fits all years of Avanti with a control valve. Will this fit? I hate to order the wrong part. Any suggestions?

[Gunslinger]

I'm not going to say the SI people are correct or not as I simply don't know. Basically they're going by what their catalog says. I do know that Avanti Motors did change some steering components in the later 1970's such as the steering box and may changed other items as the need arose. I would check with Dan Booth at Nostalgic Motors as he's probably the best authority on later Avanti II's. Jon Myer would be another good source of information. It's pretty much a toss-up on who would be a better consultant on that.