Hot Rods Need help modifying steering column for exhaust

Well I've swapped a small block and 4 speed into my 41 Plymouth. Building a somewhat traditional street car to have fun at the strip. I'm using the original front end with the steering box. I'm having issues with the steering column/shaft being in the way of the last exhaust port. I don't think any exhaust manifold will be small enough to clear it, so I'm gonna have to modify it somehow. Plan on using fender well headers anyway. I've seen chain drive conversions for the steering shaft, and steering U joints. I'd prefer to use steering U joints but haven't seen how anyone has done it yet. I don't want to order a bunch of expensive steering u joints and find out they don't work. Hoping someone can show me what they have done on their car.


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Did you offset the engine to the passenger side? About an inch inch and a half is the usual amount in the old mopars.

 

Go to p15-d24.com and look around

 

I'd stay away from the Chain connectors, they are just a Lit Fuse. As mentioned above, move the motor over. You don't need to be on center as long as your square to center line.
The Wizzard

 

That chain steeer apparatus http://www.wizardsteerclear.com/ is about 400 bucks, plus you need to adapt the column to it since the shaft only runs to the firewall. Your money ahead if you offset that motor and try that route first .

 

What is the distance from the port to that shaft?

 

No I didnt know anything about doing that until the mounts were made and the engine was already sitting in it.. trying to decide whether or not I should just build new motor and trans mounts. I just think having the trans and rear end out of line would cause issues. Maybe its a small enough angle to not hurt anything?

 

Move the engine to the side. As has been said, it needs to be square in the chassis. Plenty of vehicles, especially vans, have offset engines and transmissions.

 

My pinion yoke 2" to the passenger side of the chassis center line, and 1/2" above the transmission output shaft. It has seen 100, with no vibration.

 

So if i were to move the motor over, does that mean ill also have to move my rear end over to keep it in line? I already have everything built and in the car except a driveshaft and exhaust. Getting really annoyed at myself for not doing more research before we started this. Exhaust port to to shaft is a hair over 2 inches. Also afraid if i move the motor over, im gonna have to cut the trans tunnel and possibly firewall. Just need to look at it again i guess.

 

No.

 

If you look at the planes of the pinion, and the transmission output shaft from the side, do they line up, or are they just parallel?

 

Check out the wizard steer clear,they work,i have one on my model A. Saved me all kinds of b.s. fitment problems and yes they are strong

 

From what I can tell they line up. Im currently looking online at how much angle will give issues.

 

We have built headers in our Tight Tuck line that are 2" from the port to the outside of the bend.
This is a 409 header, but the idea is the same

 

Steering box would be in the way for a straight down flange. Thinking about picking up a welder and trying to modify some cheap headers to work.

 

Lower the box?


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Offset engine, as has been said, and be done! It's a common practice.

 

offset engine & trans to pass side as needed.Mopar did this for decades will make life much easier.

 

Maybe it hasn't been explained well enough for you yet. Moving the motor off center has been a Factory practice for years. What's important is that motor center line (crank shaft) remains Parallel to chassis center line. The exact place of the rear diff yoke has little to do with where the motor goes as long as it too is parallel to chassis center line. Next thing is to match incline of both Crank and pinyon angles.
Keeping these two lines correct and you won't have any U-Joint issues of vibration. Like said before most Factory's have been doing this for many years.
The Wizzard

 

Well, 2 u joints and a brace might be better cheaper and faster than remounting the engine.
But that may not solve all your troubles either and you wind up moving the engine too.
If you can hand grind with a 4.5" to fine tolerance you can adapt the D D profile joints to your shaft. Then get a chunk of 3/4" double D shaft and a bearing.

 

It's sooooo hard to explain.
In order to understand that, The first thing someone needs to do is completely forget everything that is wrong that they ever thought the new about drive line angles. Other wise it's a big fat wall of cognitive dissidence the explainer tries to knock down. Convincing them that info is wrong when they believe it's right is the first hurdle.

For discussion sake, let's say the the engine Trans and pinion are on center the drive line angle are correct and there's Zero problems. Now rotate the car rotisserie style to 45* and measure all the angles the same way with a gravity based doohickey. None of it works out and it's all jacked angle measurements. Yet everything was right so it's right in space too. However the angle of reference is different.

With the engine offset and the drive line angle correct you will still have the perfect straight line relationship but the angle of reference will be rotated in space, like on a rotisserie

 

We often use shorty steering columns anymore. Both Ididit and Flaming River now offer them. Here are pics of one we fabbed in 2009, long before they were offered as kits (not quite as pretty). This is a big block in a 37 Chevy truck so like yours the engine bay was designed for a skinny 6. One U-joint on column shaft, pillow block on firewall, and second U-joint on shaft from gear box.

 

Thanks everybody for the help so far. Sounds like the "easy way out" is to offset the motor the passenger side, I understand this. Im 17 with no fabrication skill and no access to a welder. I can do any normal work to a car thats needed, but all of this custom fabrication im lost. My dads friend built the mounts for me, I put the rear end in. If I had a welder, id be cutting out the old mounts and building new ones. I still havent seen any pictures of a similar mopar car with a 350, was hoping somebody already dealt with this and could show me pictures of what they did. The pictures DDDenny posted is what i had in mind, a couple of u joints and a brace seemed like the easiest thing to do for me. Was just looking for advice or pictures of how to do that, with the stock steering box. The problem im seeing is the steering box being so close to the firewall, it would require I think 3 u joints and possibly being to much of angle causing it to bind. Maybe the wizard steer clear would work, pretty expensive setup though. Even if i have to move the motor over an inch or two, I think ill still need to build custom headers or modify the steering shaft.

 

when the motor moves over, and the rear and motor are still square to the chassis, the side angles to each other still match.

 

This looks like something that would work for me!

 

Bingo
I have two cars with this system. I was trying to find a photo, coilover beat me.
Having the first joint inside the cab allows for the shaft to start heading downhill sooner as well as having the capability to angle out slightly if needed.
Very doable with a combination of single and/or double joints as well as an intermediate support such as a rod end.
A couple lengths of wood doweling works great for mockup when mapping out the path.
Its much cheaper than replacing splined shafting (or DD) if a plan gets changed.

 

Would hugger dump headers give you the needed clearence? This how I got my clearence issue taken care of so that I wouldn't have to move my motor to the side.

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If you find of picture of you cars with this system id love to see it. This looks like it would work great for my car. Ill probably modify the stock steering column to work. Ive heard of the wood dowel rods or pvc for mock up.