Day 84 - Oh Knuckles!!

Back onto the wiring hoping to get the core of it fixed in place and then get on with connecting all the bits and pieces.  First of all I slacked off the steering column off to connect it to the knuckle for the steering rack. Then I finally started getting the main cable harness in place and was about to look at a position to mount the internal fuse board when I noticed some daylight whilst laid on my back in the drivers footwell. The steering shaft was out of position. The white bush that sits in the hole in the bulkhead is now out of its hole and looks about 12 mm out of place. I tried putting it back in place but no matter what I did it just didn’t want to go.  I tried reversing the steering knuckle.  But that didn’t work. After half an hour manipulating the column and knuckle I was getting nowhere and from what I can see the knuckle, which was extended by MSC some months ago, is now too long. 

 

My mind went back over the past build thinking where I might have gone wrong.  I had 2 other friends confirm the measurements I made for the location of the hole.  The only other fixings were where the steering rack bracket fixed to the cross beam under the windscreen.  That had been “guesswork” on my part as Grahams advice was “put it where it feels comfortable”.  I figured that the end of the steering column should be in the middle of the drivers foot/seat well. That way the steering wheel would be in the middle of the seat position.  It also lined up reasonably with the brake and clutch pedal fixing mounts. Even though the column looks askew compared to the line of the car it all seemed right.  My frustration was getting the better of me and I really needed a second pair of hands to assist.  I rang Kim and arrange for her to come over and assist next week.  In the mean time I looked of other solutions like the grommet I took out of the donor car that the white bush sat in to protect it from the metal bulk head.  I took me a while to find it but even when I did it still didn’t make a difference of offsetting the white bush at all.

 

  My only conclusion I came to was that the steering knuckle has been extended too much and now I would have to work out how much I would have to reduce it by.  If I can get it done.  I  will have to contact graham to confirm what grade of metal tube he used to extend the knuckle because if I can’t grind the weld off I will have to find a new knuckle and manufacture the part myself.

After taking the rest of the day off as my frustration was not the right attitude to attempt the wiring I went back the next day to and went through the connectors I would need for the front and back lights.  A bit of retail therapy always good for the soul, or so they say. The headlights and the back lights I decided I would create separate looms and connect them to the main harnesses with superseal connectors.  I could use bullet connectors and heat shrink just as well but If I ever need to take the bonnet off they would be a nightmare to split and there would always be that nagging doubt that they weren’t completely water tight. The super seal connectors are water tight, IP67 if I recall correctly, and would make bonnet removal a lot easier.  They were expensive in the catalogues but cheap enough on EBay. I also ordered some lengths of split flex pipe for cabling protection and a new pair of horns because the old ones were nasty and corroded (an indulgence I know).

Now its back to the wiring.  As I’d left it I had a pretty good idea that the loom was now almost in the right position and recalled photos of the fuse board being fixed in place with tyraps (although this might have been temporary).  Not on my watch.  I found a couple of M6 bolts and some washers I could use as spacers and figured I could side mount the fuseboards bracket to the car.