October    2004

     Last month was a bit slow on the build, so I have to make up for it this month. I have built my brownie points back up with Marg and will use them all up in the next few months.

    This update takes the steering problem back into the fore front. If you recall, I had a problem with the angle the steering universals were operating at. My initial reaction was to order the double uni and coupler from Borgeson. This time, however, I ordered it through the Australian importer, trying to avoid the customs duty I got slugged with before. I placed the order and was told 10 days. Fine, I waited 2 months and left 5 phone calls on their answering machine and got zero response. The last message I let them know I was going to deal direct with Borgeson again. I placed the order  ( with specific instructions on parts description for customs )and had it with a week. Ironically, the Australian company called the day they arrived saying they had my parts. Of course I told them to keep them. They are well and truly off my list. Seems this list is shrinking. Sometimes I wonder why and how  they keep in business with such slack attitudes.

   Anyway, you will see I ended up not using the double universal and coupler..Why? you may ask. Cause it didn't help with clearance. The double uni was slightly longer than the uni/dampener. This fouled the starter terminal and engine mount to much. So read on to see how I overcome this problem.

 

 

Here is where I left the dilemma. The angle was near 40 degrees. That was 5 more than the maximum the uni will operate at. The only option was to decrease the angle. The way I achieved that was by lowering the steering column. Luckily, I had only tek screwed the toe panel in. I simply removed them and kept lowering the panel until the steering didn't bind any more. Once that was achieved, I measured the distance from the original mounting hole. You can see in the pic that its near to 1".

It is easier to cut straight lines than to cut another hole. So all I did was scribe parallel lines down each side and continue a further 1". That inch was then cut off used on top to fill in the gap. Welded in, ready to re fit.

The new position the column is at. Worked out OK. My fear was the gear selector would be too close to the dash. It is, but I might trim it down anyway. The second pic getting the phasing right on the universals.

Once the positions were worked out, I marked the shaft using a felt pen through the grub screw hole. I then used a 1mm cut off wheel to make a recess into the shaft for the screw to lock into. Once all were done, I decided to clean the whole lot up and give it a coat of rust proof paint, as they were starting to rust up.

Here is a shot from under. The intermediate shaft is tucked under the engine mount and held in place by a self centring bearing. The bracket is just tacked in at this stage cause its hard to weld upside down in tight areas. Well it is for me, especially with the arc welder. I'll finish it off once the engines out and I'm prepping the chassis for painting. The last pic is the double uni and coupler that I never ended up using. They will be up for sale on my "parts for sale" page soon.

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