Steering column

Having rebled the brake system (thanks Dave S for being chief pedal pusher) one of the last jobs to sort before the car can technically move under its own steam in a controlled manner is the steering column.

The final piece of this puzzle after sorting the lower shaft clearance against the water thermostat cover is the bearing as the upper shaft passes through the drivers footwell wall. Again it's all pretty tight but the AK body comes predrilled with a hole to locate this shaft through however it does need a beering to keep it supported, running true and not snag on the cladding.

AK make a custom fit nylon bearing which is my last resort but I'd rather have a metal roller bearing designed for shaft support if possible.

The issue with the steering shaft is that it's a bit over 3/4" (19.05mm?) where the splines are that join to the UJ and then narrows to more like 16mm or thereabouts where the shaft passes through the bulkhead in the footwell. This makes locating it centrally in the bearing and securing it more difficult.

Enter simply bearings (.co.uk)

I purchased an oval bearing with an eccentric collar that I hoped would allow me to lock it to close to 16mm once tightened. See below you can just make out the non uniform collar profile.

I tried a few ways of getting this to grip the steering shaft but it was too loose.

What also became apparent was the need for a spacer behind the bearing to allow the back of the bearing to be proud of the housing due to the downward angle of the shaft as it comes through the bulkhead.

So, for another £7.50 I ordered the non eccentric version and designed a split shim setup which would interface with the two grub screws in the bearing insert being 3/4" outside diameter and 16.05 mm inside diameter and Tony next door machined his magic again and produced the shims and spacer for me from my plywood template.

Above are the parts and below rough fitting

So just a bit of fettling and contouring needed to get a better fit.

The finished result has enough clearance for exhaust headers and makes the steering feel very smooth with no 'hard-spots' which would be an IVA fail so this is a big tick in the box I think.