Fun With Steering

I've spent way too much time working on the front suspension -- rebuilding the brakes, that sort of thing. Finally, time to hook up the steering box to the steering column.

See anything wrong with this picture? Hint: the steering column is the shiny chrome-moly pipe at an angle to the input shaft of the steering box.

Solution: make an adapter to fit a universal joint off of a Super Beetle between the regular Type I steering box and the chrome-moly steering column. The reason it looks threaded is because I used a 5/8in grade 5 bolt (cost $1.50) instead of buying 3' of 5/8in "weldable steel". Hey, OSH is the only place to buy metal near my house on a weekend. I'd have gone to Allen Steel or something if I'd had the time. Thus, the mighty adaptor:

Here's what it looks like assembled (and propped up as I don't have the other side of the steering column bolted down yet).

Granted, I still need to bolt in the seats and cut the steering column to length, but this should give you an idea of scale and of how cramped things will be, legroom wise.

I was going to try and use off-the-shelf parts, but it looks like I'll have to build and install in a custom, single-pedal brake assembly. Oh, and that's the engine in the background, lying crosswise. Almost everything else in the picture is some sort of crap that either needs to be bolted down or properly stored in a parts bin or a toolchest...