Thread: Roadster pickup gets steering wheel

Tweet

Today the last of my "big ticket" (read that as expensive) items came---a new 14 1/2" Grant steering wheel for my model A roadster pickup. Of course, as soon as my work day was over, I had to rush out to the garage and install it. It sure do look pretty----BUT---here are a few usable observations. #1---I ordered a new Ididit column, and when I went to install the wheel, there is a little spring loaded contact shaft necessary to make the horn work, and it didn't come with the column, nor with the steering wheel and adapter installation kit. #2---The instructions with the steering wheel kit covers so many different applications that it is kinda hard to figure out exactly what they are trying to tell you. #3--That 4" column drop is not long enough, even with a tilt column. The front of my seat is 10 1/2" off the floor (that keeps top of my head below the top of the windshield) and 30" from unrecessed portion of firewall to the front of the seat. For me to set comfortably and hold the top of the steering wheel as I like to do when driving, without leaning foreward, the steering wheel is going to have to drop another 1 1/2" lower. Thats not a huge problem, as I will put a spacer between the top of the column drop and the structural support that it hangs from behind the dash. #4---That beautifull billet horn button adapter and horn button is extremely easy to remove. Just grab it and pull, and its yours!!!! You can bet your bippy that once everything is set up properly, there will be some super strength epoxy layed in there, to ward off the light fingered gawkers. (This is kind of a shabby design, considering the money you pay for one of these things) I am glad to have the wheel now, as it will let me finalize the column position before I dive back into the black art of steering universal joint placement.

Not sure if this will help, but maybe....

I have the same diameter Grant wheel on my roadsters and they measure out as follows.

The steering wheel in both cars have the top even with the windshield eyebrow at top of cowl.
The 31 sits 5" back from the w/s eyebrow, the 32 is 5 1/2" back.
Both steering columns are at about the same angle.
(The eyebrow is the formed sheet metal piece under the windshield's frame at the bottom.)

The 32's bench seat is 9" from the floor.
Distance from seat bottom at front - which is just about even with the bottom of the wheel - is 9"

Both cars have the wheel 4 1/2" from door.
Measured from OD of wheel to inside of door.

Shown in the pic is a billet (non-working) horn button on my 32.
(Little brother told me once upon a time to put some real money into the car . . . there it is....)

Hey thanks for the pictures! I am sticking with the nontilt Camero steering column for the time being, but I don't have a body yet so these pictures are helpful to me. More to my interest is that Brian has a straight stick while C9x has the double-bend stick. I kind of favor the double-bend stick but I wonder if you can tell me (either of you) what the length of the stick is? Does C9x have the 23" stick? Brian's looks shorter. Of course the ergonomics are different for size and height of the driver, but I would like to be able to reach the stick without much contortion and the ideal height would seem to be for the right hand to not be too far from the wheel; especially when parallel parking when maybe both hands on the wheel help? I drove VW and MG cars with short stubby sticks for years, but maybe the stick in C9x's car is just the right height? Any comments on how high the gear knob should be?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

The shfter you see in the 32 is a Gennie Shifter with "Swan Stick."
It is 23" long.

I'm guessing Brian's shifter stick is the GS 16" model.
(They have a 12" shifter as well.)

I used to run a B&M comp shifter in the car and it worked well.
Only problem was the reverse cocking lever - the little "R."
Sometimes you had to plan ahead when doing the back and fill bit - while the car was still rolling forward, pop the shifter into neutral and cock the "R" for reverse then when stopped, put the trans in reverse with the stick. (The "R" is a safety lockout mandated by drag racing rules.)

The GS shifter was so Sweetie could drive the car . . . she didn't like the B&M shifter.
As you'd guess she hasn't driven the car since the install.

The shifter is a convenient height and works well in the 32.
Only problem I see is it impinges on leg room to the right.
I'm 6' tall with a 32" inseam and I made the 32's seat back cushion a little thick so I'm a touch too far forward and my knee hits the shifter.
That's why the little pillow in the pic, propping that under my right leg keeps pressure off shifter and leg.

The new project has the B&M shifter installed and I plan to make a short extended lever for the "R" cocking lever so that the shifter is more convenient to use.

Gennie Shifters method of locking out reverse and park is very intuitive. Very much like a column shifter laid on it's side.
Reverse and park - as well as 2nd and low - are accessed by pulling the lever to the left.
Not like other manufacturers button in the knob shifters which to me are a pain in the backside to operate.
Not to mention you can't make your own shift knob to replace the factory one.

Here's a pic of my pal's 29 that I helped with.
The stick is a 16" model I believe and there's a little more room in the cockpit with it.
Have to admit that his seat cushion is a little further to the rear than mine is.

The "Horn Button" in the 29's steering wheel is one I made.
It's since been pulled because it looked overly large.
At the time of construction I cut a groove in it for a bit of black paint trim thinking it would make the button look smaller.
The black paint bit was one the owner never did and he's since gone to an aftermarket horn button made by the same manufacturer as his steering wheel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This pic shows the B&M shifter in an earlier construction pic of the 31 on 32 rails roadster.
It sits back further than it did in the 32.
The 32 had it sitting just in front of the bench seat leaving enough room for a 2 1/2# fire extinguisher on the floor between shifter and seat.
Except for the previously mentioned "R" cocking lever it was convenient to use and didn't impinge on leg room as badly as the Gennie Shifter does.
The GS shifter is entirely livable, but I think a shorter stick as shown in the 29 above would have been a better way to go.
Even so, I like the graceful, Ford-like curve the Swan Stick has so it stays.

You'll note the rear of the B&M shifter is up on a couple of aluminum pedestals (bushings) so as to level it out.
Bucket seats were/are in the thinking for this car and it should be very convenient where it is now.
The car was originally slated for the dry lakes and the shifter was placed so the driver - strapped securely into an aluminum JAZ bucket seat - could access the shifter easily.
If I go to a bench seat with this car, the shifter gets moved forward and this time around I will make the extended cocking lever.

Don---My shifter is a 16" length, and it sets perfect for me. It sets about 3" off the seat cushion when in drive, but is close enough in "park" that I can reach it without leaning foreward. These sticks can be swung a bit to the left or right, and tightened in that position, and can de adjusted foreward and backward about a total of 6". My shifter is positoned in the second from rearmost position. There is also a provision to tilt the shifter foreward and rearward in any of the positions.

Brian and C9x, Thanks for pictures and measurements, I am saving this page for future reference.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

O.K. Guys---Tonite I went out and tried different spacers between my column drop and the structural support it hangs from, untill the steering wheel was comfortable for me. I ended up spacing it down a ful 1 1/2" (the column drop I am using is a Billet Specialties 4" drop.)----the moral of this story is----even if your using a tilt column, don't buy anything less than a 6" column drop to use in a Model A Ford.

This is an old thread but I want to thank the participants. This is an example of a very useful thread with pictures and user comments. I bookmarked this thread and others which pertain to my '29 roadster buildup and have found a number of them very useful. Here I used information from three sources and ordered a Gennie Shifter with 16" stick. I think I greatly prefer the "slap pattern" of the Gennie Shifter but it looks like the 23" swan stick would be too long, in the way in a small cockpit and possibly covering some instruments in the dash. I would have had to go to a number of rod runs to check out what was shown in pictures here. Thanks all!

http://www.hotrodhotline.com/gennie/

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

This is an old thread I saved for the day I had to mount instruments and locate the steering column in my '29 A roadster. That day is here now and I bought a set of TPI instruments along with a machined oval panel to hold two 3 3/8" gauges in a fake '32 fiberglass dash in my 'glass A body, one is an electronic speedometer with some fancy stuff in the odometer window (TPI) and the other is a 3 3/8" Quad meter holding the fourother gauges. Today I sawed out the hole for the oval aluminum panel and it measures 15 5/8" from each edge to the outer edge of the body and I am pleased that I was able to center it as well as I did. The problem is that I don't have the steering column in yet but I have positioned my Grant wheel in the approximate locations shown in the photos on this thread AND guess what, you can't see the left 3 3/8" gauge in the oval panel because of the steering wheel! However, the Grant wheel is the type with the D-shaped gap at the top so I ordered a 3 3/8" tach to match the speedometer and now I plan to put the tach in the left hole since it is not essential to see the tach for cruising and then put the 3 3/8" speedometer in front of the wheel to see through the D-opening in the wheel. Most new cars have this see-through feature and it beats looking to the side to see the speedometer. Anyway can some of you folks tell me the measurement from the door or quarter panel edge to your centerline of the steering column? I want to saw out the hole for the speedometer before I install the steering column but I want the speedometer to be in the center of the D-hole in the steering wheel. The sequence of events is that I am trying to stage the painting of the firewall, dash paint, cutouts etc. Yes I know the right way is to put it all together first and then take it apart to paint it but I am trying to be clever. I have a single brake pedal in the floor and a column from an '81 Camaro.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder

This is an old thread I saved for the day when I would install my steering column and gauges and that time is here. Hey, I'm trying to learn about this new format and answered using the quick reply and then I tried to edit my reply and lost the whole thing, so here goes again since I have a problem and I need some advice and a measurement. Today I cut a hole for a machined oval mounting plate in my 'glass Bebops dash which is a replica of a '32 Ford dash in a 'glass '29 A roadster body. I got it centered pretty good after multiple measurements. I bought a set of TPI gauges with a 3 3/8" diameter speedometer and 3 3/8" diameter Quad set for the other four gauges. The problem is that I do not have the steering column installed yet ('81 Camaro column which I have rebuilt) but I have held up my Grant steering wheel in positions like what I see in the picture above and guess what, you can't see the left gauge because the wheel gets in the way! So, I bought a tachometer to match the other gauges (3 3/8" diameter with stainless bezel) and plan to put the tach in the left hole and put the speedometer right in front of the wheel to see through the d-opening in the top of the wheel. The problem is that I want to center the speedometer before I install the column so I can paint the firewall before I put the body on the car and then install the column. I know the right way is to install the body and the column but then I have to take the body off the frame to paint the firewall because the engine is already in place! So, can one or more of you tell me the measurement from the door edge to the centerline of your steering column in an A cockpit, preferably a '29 since the '30 is a little wider. It may be that it is not possible to do any better than "eyeball" the position of the speedometer hole this way and I may have to just put it all together, install the column and THEN center the speedometer cutout. Comments, Suggestions?

In edit mode I note that C9X says the edge of his wheel is 4 1/2" from the inside of the door but I don't know if his wheel is the same size (diameter) as mine so what I need is a measurement from the inside of the door to the center of the column tube.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

I experienced the same problem with the Horn Connector piece when installing my Grant. This piece is a dealer item good luck finding it. I can't stand installing an item and its not complete.