Midgetec

A few weeks back, we knocked out the steering column. Another learning experience!

The old column and shaft from the Midget ran right through where the Duratec intake manifold is now. So, we had to reroute. The idea was to maximize space in the engine compartment, so it meant buying several U-joints. Borgeson makes some pretty good ones, and provides some really good design info on their website. They also sell directly, or you can source it elsewhere.

The original plan was to use the first segment of the Midget steering column, but since it was kind of sloppy, we decided to spring for a new brushed stainless column. The economy version was around $150, and worth every penny. It's finished very nicely, has zero slop, and looks great with the little Mountey steering wheel that was in the race version of the Midget.

The new column was 2" OD, with no provision for mounting. So I got onto McMaster-Carr, and found some really nice pipe clamps and associated steel channel designed for hanging industrial piping. For about $20, I got two clamps and a 3' piece of mounting rail.

We cut one small piece, and welded it on to the original front column mounting bracket, and then cut another one and ran all the way across the top of the footwell. The idea there was to stiffen things up a bit, since a short piece welded to the sheetmetal might have been a bit flimsy.

In the first photo, you can see the rail mounted, awaiting the clamps and column.

And here is one of the clamps. It has a tough plastic body with a plated steel cap and a couple of eccentric nuts that slip into the "C" shaped channel, and then rotate to lock in when tightened. This makes assembly and disassembly real easy.

Here's a shot with it loosely in place, prior to sliding the rear of the shaft into the first U-joint. The blue painter's tape was put on to protect the finish when I was doing the initial fitting.

I learned from the Borgeson website that if you have multiple shafts connected with U-joints, only one shaft can be unsupported. The first shaft (in the column) obviously is fixed, so I need a support for the second. Because of the proximity of the shaft to the corner of the sheetmetal that I previously installed, I ended up using a Heim joint as the support. It's not very pretty, but won't be seen and is easily adjusted to keep the shaft from rubbing on the hole through the footwell.

To the right, you can see the inside of the piece we fabbed in a previous post.

Here's a shot with everything connected and tightened down.

And finally, the shot of the engine compartment showing the new route, complete with a couple more U-joints. We opted for the stainless shafts and U-joints, and they're not cheap. They're all 3/4" 36 spline, and the shafts are available from 4" through 20 some inches in 1/4" increments. We mocked it up using 1/4" wooden dowel rod once everything was fitted to get final shaft lengths, then ordered them.

Everything fit perfectly, and the steering is rock-solid and very precise feeling. Can't wait to try it out!

Oh, one more thing I learned - the phasing of the U-joints is very important. Like on a driveshaft, they must be oriented so that the yokes on either end of any shaft are parallel.

Only thing left to do is clean the sticky labels off the shafts, grind flats into the shafts for the set-screws, and loctite everything down.

Got a little more done on the tranny tunnel. Slowly but surely I'm getting a little better at the sheetmetal. Like most new skills, it comes down to patience and practice.

Here you can see that I've got a good bit of the skin on. I didn't take pix as I went, but here's the narrative if you're interested:

I formed the front-most piece first. I cut a thin poster-board template that wrapped over the 1" strap frame, then transferred it to a piece of 24 gauge sheet and cut it out. I wrapped it around, and it was very easy to form against the rigid frame. Once it was all trimmed and fitting nicely, I clecoed it in. I then roughed in a small flange to turn in to the recess that is needed for seat clearance to allow something to overlap with the next piece. Then I cut that next piece that goes from that flange toward the tranny (parallel with the firewall) and put a little flange in it for welding. We'll call that piece number 2.

Before I cut and formed the next piece, which is the "S" shaped piece that is back parallel with the tranny, I decided to put the T-5 back in just to make sure I didn't have any interference. Good thing I did! I realized that that piece #2 was contacting some of the transmission bolts. Not acceptable. So, I put in on the english wheel and put some shape to it so that the outer edge stayed flat (where it meets the big front tunnel piece) but the other two edges moved back about 1/2" - enough to clear the bolts. Even though it looks flat in the photo, it's got some contour to it.

Next I formed the "S" shaped piece, laid it in, and transferred the profile of the 2nd piece to the front edge of the "S", then trimmed it for a flush fit. Then I scribed the front edge of the "S" piece onto the 2nd piece, and trimmed it, leaving an extra 1/4" which I bent to 90 degrees to provide an overlap with the "S" shaped piece. I put in 3 tacks from the front with everything lined up, and then spot welded the back side out of the car.

Below you'll see it with the seat slid forward. I test fit my 5' 2" daughter, and sized it to allow her to be able to release the clutch. Unfortunately that means she'll be able to put the gas pedal to the floor too!

I ran out of time, so I'll pick up the rest later.

One last shot from the passenger side:

I had a couple of requests for more information on the pulley setup, so here you go.

First, I've been unable to locate my receipt for the A/C delete pulley, which means I can't give you a part number. The best I can do is tell you to head to the Ford dealer, and get the parts guy to pull up the data for a 2005 Ford Focus 2.0L. It took my guy a little searching, but he found it and ordered it for me. You might have to review the image of the front of the engine to find it, but it's there.

OK, my first image is of the left side of the front of the engine. Alternator is in it's original position, and you'll also see the crank pulley lower right. The middle pulley is an idler, and was moved down to its current location from just above. You'll see a flange bolt in the front cover that is in a slotted hole, and a slight circular recess around that bolt. That's where the idler was originally. I moved it down to where you see it by removing one of the cover bolts, and adding an aluminum spacer as a standoff to provide the right spacing. If you look closely, you can see the spacer just behind the pulley. For reference, the tensioner had previously been below and to the left of this pulley. Here's the shot:

Next shot is over toward the other side. Bottom center, you see the water pump pulley, and above it is the bracket I made for the tensioner. Nothing fancy - just a 3/16" metal plate drilled to line up with the old power steering pump, and a second piece of plate cut and drilled to fit the tensioner mounting holes. I did some preliminary measurements, and bought a belt that would fit (NAPA 25-060551), then tacked the plates together in a position to have the tensioner at about 50% travel. Here's the photo.

Next, the camera moves down to catch the A/C delete pulley - the one that looks a little "pink". (Must be the reflection of the engine stand) You'll also see the crank pulley to the left and the water pump pulley above. The engine is made to accept this one, and you'll even notice a slight recess in the front cover corresponding with the edge of the pulley.

And finally, a full frontal shot with everything above. Obviously I don't have the tensioner or belt on, but you can see that shot on the other post.

I don't have a drawing of the bracket, but here is what I did:

1) Make plate to mount to engine using PS Pump or block as a pattern
2) Make plate to mount to tensioner using it as a pattern
3) Bolt both plates in place
4) Using clamps, locate the tensioner w/ plate in place on the engine plate
5) Adjust position using string and/or straight edges to ensure it is on the same plane and perfectly aligned
6) Double check, then tack it in place (NEVER WELD ON YOUR ENGINE IF THE COMPUTER IS HOOKED UP!! Make sure you isolate any sensitive devices from the engine or chassis before welding on it.)

Hopefully this gives you enough to go on.

Good luck to you, and if anyone comes up with the part number for the AC delete pulley, please post it for everyone's benefit.

Got to work on the Midget for the third day in a row today - another year of this and I'll have it finished. Goal for today was to fab a little sub-frame under what will become the sheetmetal for the transmission tunnel.

Since the Midget is a unibody, and a roadster at that, every piece of sheetmetal through the center section has a purpose. The original transmission tunnel was only 18 gauge or so, but it was a nice big tubular section that added strength and rigidity to the chassis.

So, I needed to do what I could to replace it with something at least as strong, or better yet, a little stronger. Since I was going to be using 22 gauge for the new tunnel, and it was going to have to have a funny shape to fit around the T5 yet still leave room for the seat to slide forward, I decided to not rely solely on the sheet.

Here is the interior with the tranny in place, and the seat has been mounted to assure clearance. My 20 year old daughter, who was 2 when I bought the car, has fond memories of the original restoration, as well as hanging out at the vintage races. It hasn't been on the road since she has had her license, so she made it clear she was going to drive it when it came back to life this time. Since she is about 5' 2", that means the seat needs to move way forward.

By the way, if you're looking for small seats at the junkyard, I got these out of a 80's Fiat X1/9. Very comfortable, yet compact.

OK, so here's the first hoop of 1" x 1/8" flat bar. It is offset to allow the seat to pass by, with not much room to spare.

Now, the next three are in place. You'll see that they widen back out to accommodate the body of the transmission. The one just forward of the first is just past where the seat needs to travel to.

You'll also see a hoop we put over the end what was left of the original tunnel, to tie everything back into.

Next you'll see the cross pieces, forming sort of a cage. I got really good penetration with the welds, and then ground it smooth. It is very stiff and solid, and definitely exceeds the strength of what it is attached to, and that is before the sheet is added.

View from the other side. The strap around the shifter housing will also serve as the attachment point for the boot.

Here is the view with the seat back in. By having the subframe, I'm less worried about having to piece the sheetmetal together, and losing stregth in the process if I don't do a good job with the welding.

I did decide that I'm going to use the TIG on this sheetmetal, unlike the patch panel we did yesterday. I'm never going to get better with it if I keep grabbing the MIG. Of course all this work will be covered up with Dynamat, and probably carpeting, so I'm guessing it will be BEAUTIFUL, and no one will ever get to see it.

OK, anyone can go in and start cutting things out, especially if they have a plasma cutter!! But now it's finally time to start putting some of it back. To be honest, I was kind of dreading this part since I'm definitely an amateur when it comes to patch panels and this type of fabrication. But there's no better way to learn than just tackling it.

I'm going to take you through the steps, but keep in mind there are a lot better websites to learn how to do this stuff than mine. If anything, this should show you that if you study those sites enough, you can tackle this like I did and get a decent result.

So the Duratec/T5 combo interefered with a lot of Midget sheetmetal. Steering rack support, tranny tunnel, and the driver's footwell/firewall. It's this last one we're tackling now. My buddy Michael is along with me for most of this one too. I definitely needed the extra hands and the extra brain.

This is a shot of the inside of the driver's footwell. You'll notice that there's a lot of sheetmetal gone, and you're looking right through into the engine compartment at the intake manifold, starter, and the MAP & MAT sensors:

So the first step was to shape a piece to hug the right side, above the gas pedal, to clear the starter but allow maximum room for mine and my son's size 12s. Time for the shot bag:

Then smooth it out with the english wheel. Got this one from Metalcraft tools - very happy with it.

Now that we've made enough marks, and have a panel that seems to clear everything, it's time to get the engine out of the way:

Here's the panel cleco'd in place. You'll notice just to the right of the panel, I also filled in what used to be the heater vent.

And a view from the other side. We recut the side of the footwell to be a little cleaner and easier to fit to.

Next comes the panel on the front side. I was surprised how well it fit with only about 30 minutes on the post dolly to get the flange following the curve of the first panel. You'll notice the spots on the small panel, which are spot welds I did on the back side to reinforce it with a second layer where the steering column will pass through.

Here it is on the bench, after I tacked the two panels together. My welding skills are not what I'd like, so whenever I can arrange to have a lap joint, I do it because I'm a lot less likely to burn through with that second layer there.

One other thing I want to take care of. You can't really see it in this photo, but there was a bulge in the top of the footwell which provided clearance for the original steering column. That's going away, so I want to level that panel out. The bulge runs from the firewall down the slope into the cut out area.

So I slit it with the plasma cutter, and started hammering and dollying it flat. I had to trim the edges since there was too much metal once it was flat. The gap isn't as bad as it looks in this shot since one side was higher in this photo.

Here it is with the tacks in place:

And after the weld.

Now it's time to trim the new panel. I'm using a straight edge to project the top surface of the footwell to the panel, so I can trim it to be even with that plane.

After trimming, and a little bit of grinding:

Now I have a piece clamped on top, and then I'll get underneath with a scribe to make a cut line by following the opening.

Not bad. It's just laying there right now, but not for long!

Starting the tacking:

And now the upper edge is all welded, although not cleaned up yet.

Here's another view. You can see that I added some backer strips beneath the two edges that will be welded to the car. A very easy way to simplify the welding. I hope to be good enough with my welders that when this project is finished to not have to take these additional steps.

Here it is all clamped in place, and ready to be welded in. I won't do that yet, though, because I want to get the new steering columng mounted and the shaft in, so I can know exactly where to put the hole.

That wraps up this post. I feel pretty good having gotten this one behind me. Going to tacke the tranny tunnel next, and I'm sure I'll learn alot on that one.