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  • You pay the Freight,
    I will send you a 1967 T-Bird swing out column. Had it for a past project.

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    • Originally posted by Captain View Post
      You pay the Freight,
      I will send you a 1967 T-Bird swing out column. Had it for a past project.
      Appreciate the offer, however I have already started to install an Austin Mini steering column. It's so tiny and cute...

      Seriously it is small and fits the build really good. The mast jacket is only 1.25 inch od. And it has almost all of the electric functions needed. Okay so they're Lucas Prince of Darkness electrical bits. As I said way back, once you replace the bullet connectors they work pretty good and are cheap to replace believe it or not. Those connectors are the ultimate in cheap!

      They are a brass bullet shaped thing, probably made from brass tubing, swaged to shape and open on the ends, the small end having a hole large enough to push the end of the bare wire thru. It's then just folded over, and if you are lucky, when the connectors are stuck in the receptacle the wire gets caught between the bullet and the receptacle. No solder, no crimping, no nothing! Now for the rest of the story as Paul Harvey used to say.

      When it needs to be repaired, just restrip the wire, push it back thru, and snap it back into the receptacle. Actually quite brilliant for cheap cars, not so much for upmarket cars. It's been said that the Mini was manufactured on a profit margin of only a couple of pounds, maybe equal to $10 per car.

      So where was I? Oh yes I remember, replacing those connectors with modern connectors make a world of difference. I never had a problem with the electric system on my first one. 5 years of beating it like a government mule, and the only problem was occasionally overheating, but that was my fault. Don't try to make a radiator designed for British weather and 40 to 50 hp, and run it here in the states after modifications to get 100 to 125 hp, with the same radiator. I ended up with 2 radiators in parallel to mitigate the problem. Looked funky but it worked. The next one if I ever get it finished, will have an alloy racing radiator made for the old SCCA GT5 class minis.

      Those guys were getting somewhere in the neighborhood of 175 or more hp from those silly 3 main bearing 5 port A-series 1275 cc Austin engines. And turning them to ridiculous rpms. I only turned mine to 8200 rpm. That's when it hit the chip.

      Back to steering. I'm so easily distracted, aren't I? The column has up and down built into it, so it's just a matter of making the mount where it attaches to the cowl support hoop slot sideways and be quickly tightened or loosened. That's just a bracket with a slot on the correct radius. Easy peasy...

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      • Consider the following: a bracket with a slot milled into it with a radius of 15 inches. It gets welded to the cowl support hoop. The existing column bracket attaches to a plate with a heavy duty version of a bicycle seat post quick tighten bolt. That's the up-down adjustment. That plate gets fastened to the slotted horizontal bracket with a similar bolt arrangement. Easy as pie...

        Steering column adjusts up and down, and side to side. Now I just have to machine the slotted horizontal bracket! The bolt thingies are easy...

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        • Here it is the night before the night before Christmas. And all in the garage, not a wrench is turning, nor even a socket.

          The cars are all parked in their assigned spaces, just waiting for gasoline, cranking, and ignition.

          When out in the driveway there was such a Roar! I said to my spouse, what's the neighbor up to now!

          I ran into the garage and ran up the door, only to find a bright candy red hot rod with a blown hemi for GOW!
          (Okay that one's a stretch...)

          As I stepped outside I gasped as what to my surprise, a man dressed like Santa got out of such a sweet ride!

          He laughed as he saw me, 'cause I was in pajamas (now what to do, I had nowhere to hide).

          He opened the trunk, or was it a rumble seat, and pulled out a big cardboard box

          It was marked by the shipper, handle with care, there's parts that are delicate and I was in shox... (again, ouch! I wasn't an English major)

          He gave me the box and said I know what you asked for.

          It's that impossible to get component you've surfed the net for.

          I was left speechless as he hopped into his kemp and he fired up the engine.

          He engaged first gear and sidestepped the clutch, revving the engine and leaving burnt rubber

          As he smoked the tires catching second gear, he yelled over the roar,

          Merry Christmas to all , and here's hoping your ride's not a bore!



          Okay so I won't be getting a Pulitzer prize for it! At least I tried

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          • That was really - um - something.......

            Dan

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            • Originally posted by DanStokes View Post
              That was really - um - something.......

              Dan
              What, we don't know! But it was...something?

              Just some crackpot old enginere, enginear, someone who was good at math, trying to wright, rite, oh darn, tell a funny story!

              Maybe if I take the derivative of it and graph it out, it'll make more cents, scents, oh well I'm gonna stop now...

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              • Peace, Love, and Chocolate Santa's !!

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                • Originally posted by Captain View Post
                  Peace, Love, and Chocolate Santa's !!
                  Remember those gold foil wrapped chocolate coins? Yeah they didn't last long for me and my brother either...

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                  • Hope Santa brings y'all everything you have coming to you! That could go a couple of ways......

                    Dan

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                    • Originally posted by DanStokes View Post
                      Hope Santa brings y'all everything you have coming to you! That could go a couple of ways......

                      Dan
                      You also, and to all the rest of the people who read our feeble attempts at levity, Merry Christmas! And a Happy New Year

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                      • Brothers !!!
                        My brother Tom put baggies of Coal in everyone's Stocking.... Click image for larger version

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                        • [QUOTE=Captain;n1311157]Brothers !!!
                          My brother Tom put baggies of Coal in everyone's Stocking..../QUOTE]

                          Probably what you had coming!

                          Dan

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                          • [QUOTE=DanStokes;n1311163]
                            Originally posted by Captain View Post
                            Brothers !!!
                            My brother Tom put baggies of Coal in everyone's Stocking..../QUOTE]

                            Probably what you had coming!

                            Dan
                            BLAHAAHA !!
                            Of the brothers, he looks almost like me.
                            His 9 month old grand daughter kept looking from one of us to the other...
                            Poor little girl is Thinking,
                            There's More of Them in This Family ?!!

                            The Whole FamDamily is Nuking Futz !!

                            Comment


                            • [QUOTE=Captain;n1311169]
                              Originally posted by DanStokes View Post

                              BLAHAAHA !!
                              Of the brothers, he looks almost like me.
                              His 9 month old grand daughter kept looking from one of us to the other...
                              Poor little girl is Thinking,
                              There's More of Them in This Family ?!!

                              The Whole FamDamily is Nuking Futz !!
                              Nuts! Blaaaaaa!

                              Comment


                              • Well here we are in the new year, and it's 16 degrees outside. The garage is hovering in the low 40s, and I could heat it, but I'm wussing out, resting my left foot and back still. This getting old nonsense is for the birds! So I'm surfing the internet, buying parts!

                                Hey, Santa didn't bring me a 37 Ford tube axle, or some of the other stuff I'd like to acquire, so this is a great opportunity to get stuff myself. Besides it's doctor's appointment time again for both of us, our social calendar as my mom used to say. Routine stuff, like a fasting blood test tomorrow am.

                                So anyone with a 37 Ford tube axle, and you want to part with it, I'll give it a good home. It would be a good addition to the Whatever project.

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