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 3/4" 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.