Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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Don, I have truly enjoyed this thread and look forward to each installment. Everything seems to be well thought out and planned and I have but one comment. Maybe it's the angle of the pictures, but it sure looks to me that you're going to have distributor clearance issues. Hopefully my old eyes are seeing it wrong.

Hopefully my old eyes are seeing it wrong.
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I hope so too. I think I should be ok. I am going to run a Unilite distributor, and they are pretty compact. I took the one my Son is going to use in his 455 out of the box and measured it. It is right under 5 inches in diameter. So that would be a radius of 2.5 plus some clearance room. I have about 4 inches from the center of the distributor hole to the firewall, so I SHOULD be ok, but I have had the same thoughts you did. I probably should go ahead and order my distributor and make sure before I mount the body. I can still slide it back if needed.

Good thought, and thanks for the nice words from everybody.


Don

WOW!!!! I just joined this forum and spent my lunch hour (ofcourse) going thru all 17 pages and i am very impressed at your craftsmanship. Keep up the good work and I vote for the large headlights..

Paul
in St. Paul

Why of course we only do this stuff on our lunch hours.


Ok, that's 3 votes for big headlights, so that's what it will be. Welcome to the forum, and thanks for the nice words. Hang around, this place is lots of fun and I for one have learned a lot from the really smart people on here. ( I'm just pretending)


Don

Don I like how you say Lunch HOURS how many do you get in a day???

Originally Posted by cffisher

Don I like how you say Lunch HOURS how many do you get in a day???

Everytime the boss isn't looking.


I figure all the other guys at work are looking at porn, I look at CHR.


Don

Today the UPS truck had a couple of boxes for me from Speedway. Everytime I get something I ordered it is like Xmas, and I'll bet every one of you are exactly the same way. I'm like a kid and can't get the boxes opened fast enough. We guys are pretty easy to please, give us some chrome goodies and we are happy for the rest of the day.

What the truck brought was my steering parts. I got my u-joint, steering shaft, lower support bearing, and quick disconnect for the steering wheel. I was really impressed with the quality of the quick disconnect, for $ 17.50 it is really a nice piece. You get an anodized part that bolts to the steering wheel (it has a button on the side that you push to remove the wheel) and a weld on adapter for the steering shaft. I like this setup for 2 reasons. First of all I can remove the wheel to make entry easier, and secondly, it will also act as a anti-theft device.

Here are some pictures of the parts I got. I still have to post in short posts because this stupid computer is still freezing up if I type too much at one time. So here is the first part.

Don

Tonight I went over to the shop after work and just got home (it's about 12:30) so it was another long night, but a pretty productive one. I wanted to start figuring out my steering column now that I had the new parts. I am using a reversed Corvair steering box like most T buckets, but mounted in front of the firewall. As I mentioned before, I made up that roll bar to support the lower end of the column and will weld on some reinforcements to go underneath the dash to support the rear of the column and also to tie into my windshield. This skeleton will be the backbone of the T and be much stronger than just wood.

The first thing I did was make up a plate to mount the lower bearing to the roll bar. I made it out of 1/4 inch thick steel plate, and I shaped it like the bearing so it would look better. I am going to weld this plate right to the roll bar and bolt the bearing to it. I then cut a hole in the firewall with a holesaw and put the u-joint on the corvair steering box. The u joint I bought has a 5/8 splined end to go on the corvair shaft, and the other end is a weld on to go on the 3/4 inch round shaft I got. I bought the solid steel shaft for strength, but they also carry a hollow one.

Next I made up a simple rear column support to hold the top of the column to the dash. This is just a temporary mount to give me some idea of what the final one needs to be like. I slipped the 36 inch long steering shaft into the lower mount and then into the u joint, and fastened it to the dash mount. This gave me some idea of what my angles would be.

Here are some pictures of those steps.

Don

I'm not going to enclose the steering shaft in a tube column like most cars. I want the car to have a competition look to it, so the steering column will be just a bare shaft with the wheel on top.

Getting the proper angle and length to the steering column is a little tricky. In our family cars we have things like tilt and telescoping columns so we can tailor the wheel to the most comfortable position. In a fixed situation like this one, I have one shot at getting the wheel where I want it. Once I cut the shaft and pick and angle I am stuck with that. So you have to sit in the car and move the steering wheel all around up and down until it feels right. It also has to look right too, so there is a fine balance between feeling good and looking good, I always try to compromise on the side of comfort, as I drive my rods a lot, and want to be as comfortable as possible. I used vice grips on the column to position the wheel, and stood back and looked at it from all angles to see if it looked ok. Then I sat in the car and fine tuned it to my anticipated driving position. Once that was done and I was pretty sure I had it where I wanted it, I cut the shaft and slid the wheel and quick release onto the shaft.

I may still have to do some more tuning, so I won't weld on the quick release coupler until sometime later on. This will give me some room for error.

Here are some shots before the shaft was cut and after I cut it and slid on the wheel and adapter..

Don

looks really good Don, keep up the work and thanks again for keeping us posted

thanks
Harmon

Oh, I forgot. I also drilled four holes in the firewall and ran 5/16 bolts through them and into the roll bar. So now the roll bar is solidly bolted to the firewall. I can now weld it to the steel plates on the bottom which will in turn bolt to the frame plates. I will use some prettier bolts, maybe button head allen head bolts so they look better going through the firewall. I'll do that during the final assemby.



Thanks for looking, now there is a late dinner and shower in my immediate future.

Don

Originally Posted by CHEVYBOY

looks really good Don, keep up the work and thanks again for keeping us posted

thanks
Harmon

Thanks Harmon. Is it getting cool yet in Pa at night. That's the one thing I really miss, those cool nights for sleeping with the windows open.


Don

Don
its getting down in the 60s.. its nice to be out in the shop workin i put in a late one too, built a cold air intake out of an rice burner muffler (on a budget) like i said tryin to get some pic of the ol girl for everyone....

thanks
Harmon

Don
I see you still have the Stick trans in your car. I have never seen one on a car but they use them on trucks Air Clutch. You just push a button on the gear shifter to disingage the clutch. NO PEDAL . It may be a big hassel but just a thought.
Charlie

Yeah, I guess I should get that stick pulled out of there and put the dummy 350 trans in place until I get the real one. The shifter is starting to get in my way also when I am working in there, so I guess it's time to pull it.

I had a very funny thought the other night when working on the car. I noticed a whole lot of foot room for 3 pedals on the RIGHT (passenger) side. The wheels started turning and I wondered how the car would look with right side steering. I thought "nah, stupid idea", but then I took a second look at it, and actually dug around through my other steering boxes to see if there was one that could be turned upside down to work on that side. For about 5 minutes the idea actually appealed to me (maybe it was because it was late and I was beat). I figured just having right hand steering would set the car apart from the pack, but then I started thinking about shifting with my left hand, and trying to keep the car in my lane going down the road, all that small stuff.

Finally my better judgement took over and I scrapped the idea. When I told my Son about that idea he kind of gave me that look that makes me think he might be wondering what Assisted Living Home he is going to put me in.

I think I will start looking for a reasonable turbo 350 this week.


Don