Mav1970's Insane 69.5 Street Project

Believe me this whole car has been "interesting" from the get go

I would believe that the closer I mount the accuator to the pivot point the more the load will be when pivoting. I plan on mounting them away from the pivot point to some degree. Plus to my advantave, I don't forsee this nose, all connected together, weighing very much considering that a lot of the weight is still laying static on the pivot point. Also the capacity of 2 of these accuators are way overkill for the total weight I'm dealing with but I didn't want to take the chance of twisting the assembly using only accuator.

I'll look more into the Auto Loc controller and see what I can learn - Thanks Gene. :Handshake

 

Staying tuned

 

I also wanted to discuss the way the limits are set. Do you know how these are set? I feel there is an advantage to the kind that do not have to come all the way to a set stop switch.

 

Might be the dust pan on the cowl, it does make the engine look low.

 

Notice how I placed the dust pan strategically in the absolute centerline of the cowl as not to tip the car to one side and cause the engine placement to look somewhat "funny"?

Now I don't even believe my own ramblings

 

That's what I was thinking, a 90* degree bend instead of a sharp metal edge.

I figured you might put a 90* bend on each piece, so when they come together, it has a lip to stop and align the panels. Would look more finished that way too, but I don't know if you would have room on the top piece and keep it from hanging as you open the hood, if this makes sense....

 

Not sure if you are familier with the big fiberglass truck tilt noses or not. Some have a metal female cone attached to the underside of the hood that meet up with the same shaped male rubber bumpers on the firewall. Self aligning that way and only seats where it belongs every time. I was thinking about doing something like that but on a smaller scale. Might be able to use Ford hood bumpers mounted just inside of the fender edges upside down to pick up something on the bottom fender piece. I'll get everthing together and tilting forward and them decide how to install the bottom fender pieces.

 

69 Mustang Steering Column Installed

Took the 69 Mustang steering column apart down to the last nut and bolt and cleaned everything. Reassembled it, added the dash and floor mount brackets from my 69.5 and mounted it today. Everything fit like a glove. It turned out to be a nice column for 69.5 owners that switched to a floor shifter like I did. Nice clean no key switch and no shifter column :bananaman

Next is to trim back the inner and outer tubes back into the firewall, weld in a piece of 3/4 inch tubing and bring it back through the firewall through a firewall flush mount bearing. Then get it connected to the rack.

 

Bob,

Did the base of your column come like that? It looks like my Mav column after I cut and modded it for the R&P from RCM...

 

The base of the Mustang column had the stock splines machined into it along with the upper coupling for the rag joint. I split the coupling off since it was frozen solid and then cut the beat up old spline off of the stock shaft.

 

very impressive..hopefully the firewall doesnt give you any issues

 

More 69 Mustang Column Progress

I shortened the Mustang column by cutting 2 3/4 inches off of the bottom of the outer and inner tubes. I also had to drill and slot another set of holes in order to move up the nylon inner/outer tube spacer/bushing to a place just under the floor clamp. By doing this, the steering column now resides completely inside of the car - nothing sticks out. Then I cut a short 3/4 inch tube that fits inside of the stock 1 inch column tube and only that 3/4 tube will stick through the firewall through a bulkhead bearing. Next I have to make an outer plate to cover the firewall where the stock colum came through and install the firewall bearing.

I still want to cut the same 2 3/4 inches off of the steering shaft itself instead of just collapsing it up inside of the column like I did on these test fits. I don't want to run out of "collapse" if I clobber something

 

How do u plan on affixing the shaft bearing to the firewall? Im lookin at it and don't see any way to fasten it.

 

The third photo from the left shows black electrical tape covering up the 2 bolt holes in the steel housing that sandwiches the bearing. I had to tape them together just for the photo. I still have to make up a steel plate to cover up the big original stock hole for the column, then cut a hole in the plate so the new shaft comes through and the bearing will bolt to that plate and retain the bottom of the column.

 

Ok, I see them now. After lookin close I can see the tape. The tape is hard to distinguish frm the steel housing, the way the light is refelecting off the bearing housing. I assume the bearing is lubed for life?

1.) How are u installing the large plate to cover the orig opening? Fastners or welds?
2.) Any specific reason for using a Stang column?