Steering Column

The steering column presented me with a bit of a problem. I had a steering rack that I wanted to use from the donor car. This was a collapsible column so I couldn't see why I needed a collapsible Boss which was specified by Findhorn Cars and very expensive. According to my local SVA examiner, because there were two universal joints between the rack and the wheel, the only requirement was that impact on the column from the driver was absorbed, not the column being forced backwards.

As I had a collapsible column this should meet the requirements of SVA. On further inspection the column had already collapsed so after cleaning the column I tried to get it reset.

Basically there is a plastic sheer mechanism which involves molten plastic being poured into a hole on the out shaft, running in a groove around the circumference of the inner shaft and out the other side via another hole on the outer shaft.

This is in two places. I had no source of molten plastic so I tried solder. I heated up the pieces, used plenty of flux and put a piece of wood underneath to stop the solder running out. This sealed nicely and I levelled off the surface. This made the assembly very firm.

I tapped the end of the inner column on the ground and it held. Lifting it to about three feet off the floor I dropped the shaft and sure enough it sheared.

My local SVA examiner indicated that if I took lots of photos of the reconstruction it should suffice for the test as the shaft needs to be collapsible away from the driver.

I re soldered the joint taking the photos a fitted the column to the car with the 2 brackets supplied. I also had a problem getting the position right.

The Moto-Lita alloy boss is quite a bulky unit I wanted it sunk into the dashboard hole. This meant that the steering lock mechanism fouled the upper column mounting bracket. After much swearing and cut fingers I got the position as close as I could with the Boss just level with the dash.

I had already reconditioned the UJ from the Donor and bought a second hand UJ from MGB Hive and reconditioned that. When the column extension finally arrived it came with a UJ. A good job really as the original turned out to be too big for the upper end. I also had to shorten both the steering column and the extension shaft as they fouled on the UJ.

After much frustration the steering was finished and a nice walnut Mk 9 Moto-Lita wheel attached.

I know the wheel isn't SVA approved but another NG Owners Club member has offered to lend me their wheel for the SVA test.