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Most of the garage was then stuffed into my parent's car (luckily it has a big boot), on an 'if you don't take it you'll need it' basis. Most of the tools, a few spare parts, jack and axle stands, and then various bits to fix any problems found during SVA. We hoped that nothing would be needed, but it wasn't worth the risk of leaving much at home.
3/10/2003
The day of the SVA test. Read about it
here.
Once back, the dash was removed, along with most of the brackets, switches and instruments, and the column and steering shaft taken out. The upper section turned out to be a pre-made VW part with the UJs set at 45 degrees. There must have been a reason for this, but as the SVA inspectors (and the text book) say that having them lined up exactly is better, it was this section that we chopped in half, removing around an inch of the solid bar. This was filed flat then filed shorter a few times until we ended up with an angle of around 20-30 degrees. We didn't think to measure the original angle, but it must have been well over 50 degrees.
Once the bar was ready for welding, we started on a mounting plate for the rose joint. As the steering has moved up, the pre-drilled hole in the chassis is now too low, and rather than struggle to make another 14mm hole in the chassis, we thought it was best to bolt a new plate onto the chassis with a hole in. Doing it this way would allow us to move the rose joint a bit further back to avoid the wobbliness of the longer section of the steering bar, and further towards the centre of the car to help reduce the angle of the UJ.
After a long, hard day, you need something nice to eat, so what better than the car that has caused all of the problems in the first place? When we'd finished in the garage for the night, I was surprised to find the following appeared.
Its a set of secret spy shots of the new, much improved Mk3 Storm! Check out the super-smooth bodywork finish, and symmetrical shape! It was a nice surprise, and tasted better than a real one would do, even if it would struggle to pass SVA... They'd made it last week, and had thought about taking more pictures and doing a build diary for it, but unfortunately never got round to that.
4/10/2003
A bit of old steel angle was chopped up to use as a holder for the
steering shaft to support it during welding, but when we got there he
recommended fitting a collar over the join to give a bit more
support. Fairly obvious really, but we just didn't think about
that. So, as there was nothing suitable at home, we trundled round to
the local tip to hunt for parts, ending up with a free bit of thick
steel gas pipe from an old boiler. This was cut to size, then cut
lengthways as it was slightly smaller in diameter. It was put over the
join, nipped up in the vice to make it fit properly, and then welded
up once we got back round to the garage.
The support plate for the rose joint was finished off, and some thick alloy was used to space it out from the chassis to help reduce the angle on the UJ. A small alloy spacer was also made for the lower steering column clamp to try and hold that in place a bit better, then the whole of the steering was test fitted. Up on axle stands, it was slightly stiff but with no lumpiness like before. As it seems to change when there is weight on it, a quick test drive around the street showed that it was fine, a huge improvement to before.
5/10/2003
The weld on the collar was filed off to make it round again, and then
painted. The steel mounting plate was trimmed to size, and then also
painted. A hole was cut in the dash for a secure tax disc holder, and
a wooden mounting block was made to fit it to the dash, which was
glassed in place. All of the steering components were fitted properly
this time, and given a 2nd test run around the street. It definitely
felt better, but didn't self-centre much from full lock which might be
a problem.
6/10/2003
I phoned up Norwich, got a retest booked for this Friday afternoon,
and spoke to the tester to confirm what the requirements are on
self-centring (as it isn't mentioned at all in my old SVA manual). He
said that it only needs to self-centre from half lock, not full
lock. The concern was that as the steering (on all Sixes as well)
'falls over' once you get so far round, it doesn't really centre
itself as much as it does closer to straight ahead. He reckoned that
mine was centring from full lock anyway (with the limiting jubilee
clips fitted...), so shouldn't be an issue.
Scraped the lumps off around the underside of the tax disc hole to make it more flat, and then shaped the holder to lie as flat as possible on the dash. Some small lumps of MDF were also stuck in place either side of the hole to stop the holder turning round.
A new alloy footwell seal was made to go around the steering shaft, which took a while to get right, and this was then fitted with another big lump of silicone put around the hole to try and make it watertight, using grease to stop it sticking to the steering. The dash was then refitted, with the lower brackets and upper clip screws, switches and relays, vent hoses and windscreen pillar carpets put back.
7/10/2003
Fitted the instruments, stalks and column shroud, and the upper rhs
carpet clamp.
8/10/2003
Cut away parts of the rhs under-dash carpet clamp to make it easier to
fit, and then fitted both clamps. Fitted the steering wheel, then put
the front up on axle stands and tested the steering again. Seems fine,
and the silicone seal in the footwell panel hasn't stuck. Removed the
front right wheel, fitted the rhs engine bay alloy panel, and then put
the wheel back and dropped it down.
10/10/2003
The day of the SVA retest. Read about it
here.
Total hours this month -
32.0
Total build hours -
2176.5
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