Steering cable length '68 Mustang

Greetings. My boat did not come with steering. I am ordering new parts and wanted to make sure I'm correct in ordering a 13' steering cable. I hope someone can provide advice regarding this length. I learned that the cable runs along the inside of the stringer, under driver seat, then takes a swooping left bend into the helm (horizontal entry). Looking for any tips on getting the cable under the seat and through the motor compartment. I'm thinking I feed from the rear. Is that correct?

Also, I shopped online but don't know if I can share the company on this site (etiquette). Nonetheless, if you have a favorable vendor(s) for all parts including steering, pls share if allowed. Gracias. Looks like I'll be dropping about $370 for clevis hardware, clamp block with ball post, support tube, cable, bezel and helm. Reasonable?

Hope your looking at a SeaStar Big T helm. Correct Craft originally used Teleflex Big T but they have been sold since those days. Some here will say to use a 16 foot cable,mine was a 17. Go2marine used to have the best cable prices but that has been awhile,you'll have to do a search

Thank you all for posting, and as always, it's an interesting read.

KENO, no I never did because it was mentioned that the 351 wouldn't fit under my box while someone said it would with some grinding. It became less of a priority since I'm going to pull the motor and I'll be able to see casting #s quite easily, u c wum sayn? The topic of this post is cable length and cable routing however. Can ya hep me with those questions? I appreciate your candor on etiquette, go2marine is the vendor and they want $213 for helm, bezel and cable (Part No. 159320) and $158 for clamp block, ball post and tube (Part No. 115525). BTW, since you're still on my prior post, I did gettr all titled and registered, woot! She's in the roles as a '68, woot! Appreciate all the responders on that one with pics and all, learned a lot.

Thanks Gary, Sure seems like 16' - 17' would have lots of excess. Total length of boat is only 16' I guess that makes the swooping bend even larger eh? Is my routing of the cable and feed into helm correct?

ccpb, thanks, I'll pm you.

Wilson_1968 wrote: Thanks Gary, Sure seems like 16' - 17' would have lots of excess. Total length of boat is only 16' I guess that makes the swooping bend even larger eh? Is my routing of the cable and feed into helm correct? .

Gary is correct. The rule of thumb for the era is 1 foot longer than the boat length. Yes, you want a swooping bend. The tighter the bend, the more bind on the cable.

Oh wow, that was easy, thanks Keno, I'm a 302.

Looks like the 16' takes, thank you for all the replies. TR I don't have a pic of the routing, but here's a pic of existing ball post that's on inside of starboard stringer. Cable runs along stringer up to front of motor where it crosses over to to underside of driver's seat, then swoops into the helm.

I'm thinking easier to feed from rear, but got no clue honestly. Cable was missing when I got boat.

Wilson_1968 wrote: . Cable runs along stringer up to front of motor where it crosses over to to underside of driver's seat, then swoops into the helm.

This is what we need to see. That description and the mention of a 13’ cable sound very wrong.

Why don't you make a hand drawn diagram and post it here instead of trying to explain how you figure the cable runs? u c wum sayn?   

You could use the instructions for determining cable length that are on the Go2 website to give yourself that warm fuzzy feeling about a 16 ft cable. Use a rope or plastic tubing to figure out the length

One thing about your choice of steering cable. That Go2 marine part number is for a No Feedback cable. You don't want one of those for your inboard steering. It's good for big outboards and IO's. Not so good for an inboard

Look at part number 157049 from Go2 marine. It's a 16 ft cable and it's 132 bucks with helm.

cable link

You must be planning on only using part of that transom mount kit for an outboard too.

And............stick it in from the rear.

Feed a rope or some plastic tubing thru first and then tape or tie the cable to the rope/tubing and pull it thru.

He's probably gonna tell ya he don't have a helm from the looks of the picture in the first post

Then again, maybe it's in a box somewhere