don't let 'em play guitars and drive in old trucks

I don't have a lot to write today and that is a direct result of me not doing much work on the car lately. I had a business trip followed by a few days of vacation so that made for a lot of days of not touching the falcon. But before I left, I managed to get the steering column and steering wheel assembled and connected to the steering rack. I just said steering three times in one steering sentence! 

To use the steering column with a steering rack instead of a steering box I had to make some modifications. The steering shaft on the original box was actually a part of the steering box assembly, making it a large awkward assembly. I cut the shaft off near the box and had old man Nickerson machine flats on each side of the shaft, making it a double-D shaft...

...now that you've stopped giggling, a double-D in the automotive world has nothing do to with large bosoms. It is simply a type of shaft that looks like two Ds, one backward facing and one forward facing.

Old man Nickerson is a machinist at work who works part time and does whatever old folks do all the rest of the time. He does privateer work at his home shop on the weekends. Nickerson has white hair, and like most machinists, isn't in too much of a hurry because quality takes time. I had him make me a few parts for the steering system and delivered on both counts. It was high quality and it took forever to get the parts back, and to his credit, he didn't charge me full price because it took so long.

Steering box with integrated shaft (AKA Thoractic Impaler)

End of the steering column with the lower bearing and the "Double-D" steering shaft installed.

Intermediate steering shaft.

A steering wheel!

It's starting to look like a car on the inside.

Another thing I did recently was weld the front sway bar mounts in place. Once again, I welded with my welder running off 110V and was very pleased with the result. I also filled a few holes in the frame.

Before

After

When I returned from my trip, I also had the wheel studs I had ordered before I left. I was finally able to fit the wheels on the rear axle with brake discs in place. She's rolling on her own rubber finally, after spending several months on jackstands. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the wheels will still fit after I fit the brake calipers and brackets.

Lastly, I've finally decided on a name for the old lady. I will call her Grace.