Well I pulled a 16-hour marathon and got the cowl steering done on the sedan today. I used a bmw steering box, which works great because you don't need to lengthen the shaft at all. I was debating how to build the typical cowl steering hoop to mount the box. I then realized that since my front z is so tall(7" z) that I could easily built a mount right off off the z, since the box would only be 5" above the frame rail, it would be real strong. I used a piece of 1x3 box tubing for the main part of the mount. It welds to the back of the z, all the way from the bottom of the frame to 5" above the frame. To make the 1x3 stiff to resist twisting, I cut two pieces of 3/8 plate, and hammered them inside the 1x3. I first drilled 10 hole in each side, and plug welded it up. I then used another piece of 3/8 plate to mount the box to the 1x3. I welded this to the 1x3 box, first drilling and tapping it for four 1/2 bolts to mount the steering box plate to. Then I welded a 3/8 gusset to the front of the 1x3 sticking above the frame, to the main frame rails. This will prevent the mount from flexing front to back. To finish it off, and eliminate the box from twisting, I built a removable bolt-in dom tubing brace that ties the mount to the box tubing I welded in the front door jamb. It has to be removable so the body can be taken off. It looks funky in the pics cuz I threw it in the sand blast cabinet when I was done. I welded a mounting base of more 3/8 plate drilled & tapped, and welded to the front door jam. I still have to finish welding the 1x3 to the back of the frame, but I'll wait til I can flip the frame on its side for that. Sounds confusing, pics tell the story better then my tired ass. I gotta get some sleep, cuz today I'm gonna pull another marathon and get my master cylinder and brake pedal mounted. Heres some pics
schlick man!!! that thing sure looks good without the gridwork laiden plywood subframe dont it? hehe thanks for posting man. T
dodgerodder, Your build continues to amaze me with every update, beautiful job! Is the box mounted far enough away from the side of the cowl to comfortably mount the steering wheel you are going to use, or are you going to use universals and offset the wheel from the box? It's tough to tell by the pictures. Great progress, make sure you keep the updates coming. Keith
Ohhhhhh......I don't think that's going anywhere. Love this build and your updates...Can hardly wait for winter to hit you guys again so I can look at all the cool projects and tech posts again. Pete
Hey guys, thanks much for the compliments! Yeah Harrison, I really like this box, and not having to mess with lengthening the shaft, it makes it real simple. Plus as an added benifit should the box fail, just buy another stock box, and bolt it in, no modifying another box to work again. LeadSledMerc, though its hard to tell from the pics, the positioning side-to-side is pretty good. I mocked up a seat and it might work with no u-joint. Since it is mounted in the front area of the cowl, where it pinches inward, the box is pretty centered in the dash driving area. I saved so many pics of your sedan build that I've used along the way, I hope some of these posts help somebody out the same way. Yeah fifty, I think it looks a little better then the 1,287 feet of rotten wood subframe/body structure that was there. Nothing that 2,985 feet of welds, $1,527 of box tubing, and 5,983 man hours couldn't fix, right. This thing should easily last longer then I will ha. Oh, and yes 34Fordtk, this is for a 2002 "Series" bmw, not year. The years this box was used was 68-76. This box was mint, no slop at all, for $50 off of eGay. Pretty hard to beat. Even the stock pitman arm is fine, it just took some re-bendind with the heat wrench, as is swung out way to far from the body as it was. Well, I don't feel real fresh after 5 hours sleep and 16 hours of work, BUT I'm excited to get my master cylinder and pedal assembly done today. Hopefully that wont take 16 hours, maybe only 15, but it'll be done today. I'll post up some brake pics tonight
You know, the world needs heroes. You are up on the list. Ha Ha Ha Way to keep on trucking on that thing and not scabing it together either. You'll make the turkey run yet. I wish more people would set a goal and actually strive to achieve it like you. Motivational for sure. This shit ain't hard if you just keep at it. I look forward to tomorrow's update! Ha Ha Ha
Thanks for the kind words, but I'm definitely not a hero, just a tired, smelly dude that need to shower and get to bed(at 7am) I really want to drive this thing to the Turkey Rod Run. I don't want to toss it together to do it though. I think I'm gonna make it. Motors back form the machine shop, needs assembled, and I got the master cylinder and brake pedal done yesterday. I did a post on the brake stuff. Besides, I gotta keep up with you on the Lander haha
coming along nicely man your car is getting better and better everytime i see it keep up the good work
Great Post! Inspired me to go for the 2002 Box also. The thing that holds me back now is the angle of the pitman arm, its too wide outside. Your's look more close to the body. How's that? Did your heat bend or cut & weld your pitman arm or did you get another one? Im looking for a traighter one 36 spline but no luck yet ;-( Anyway, Cheers from the Neds! Skip'
Might try to PM OP as post is 11 years old..I believe he said he heated and bent pitman arm to suit..
Thanks Seb, I did a while ago but heard nothing. Him visiting here for the last in 2012 explains that I gues ;-) Thanks anyway!
I cut the splined part off the pitman arm and welded new steel to it. Was about ten years ago. I can't find any pictures.
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