Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

Tweet

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