Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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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