Steering Which Way To Go

[Lil John SVT 27]

I know this has been discussed a million times. But I'm trying to figure out my best option. I've saved enough money to completely redo my 69 coupe. Yes a coupe. I love those body styles. Anyways, I've saved enough to redo all the sheet metal and interior. Motor and trans are good. Gonna do a disc brake swap on the front. But the steering in the car is shot. I'm talking about almost a half a turn on the steering wheel before it catches. The steering box is shot. And I'm sure other parts are gonna be needed to changed also. I looked at the rack and pinion set ups. But my budget isn't enough for a $2-3 thousand set up. I'm sure once I tear the car apart I'll find small things that'll eat up the remaining funds. So I'm trying to decide if rebuilding the factory steering set up is feesable versus waiting to save up enough for a r&p set up. The car is factory power steering and I'm not sure if manual steering is something I want to go with to cut corners on my budget. Any suggestions?