A little more progress today. I installed the column lower mounting bracket (another coat of Schutz is needed on the steering box mount where the box used to sit), finished modifying the wiring from the column switches to fit the SIII wiring loom (including swapping around a few colours for the wash/wipe switch), sourced a Defender steering lock clamp (the SIII type lacks the screw hole for the plastic shroud) and cut a hole in said shroud to take the SIII fuse box in the original position (60x40mm, 5.5mm screw hole centres at 7.5mm from the end of the rectangle, two 4mm diameter semicircular pegs centred at 7.5mm from the corners on the dash end), drilling the corners and, dowel and screw holes first and then cutting the sides with a mini cutting disk in my Dremmel. Amazingly, it fit first time. All going well so far.Â
I had a lot of errands today, dropping off the two front wheels and new tyres (the two with the corrosion) for refurbishing and reshodding, buying a 32″ fan belt for the PAS pump (and trial fitting – the final position will be higher and further inboard, and the test fit on the RRC diff damper bracket was too far forwards, but it gives a reasonable approximation), and seeing the dentist and doctor about some emigration stuff.  That didn’t leave a huge amount of time for the above tasks, but it was enough. Once the dash and column are fully reassembled (should only take a couple of hours), then I’ll be waiting on those bracket parts.
Neil (frequent poster on here) has kindly lent me his welding mask so that I can practice on some scrap before the pieces for the steering box bracket arrive. It’s a solar powered reactive type which will allow me to see where I’m putting the welding stick before the arc starts – at the moment, I have to do everything single handed and am guessing the position of the stick as I start and still can’t see much through my cheap and broken mask. I got a few really nice welds on the column bracket despite these problems, so I’m hoping to really make some good practice runs on the scrap.
Hi Nick,
Great progress.
I may have to look at doing this in future as we get older and struggle with the steering. To be honest though, other than at very low speeds (parking) I don’t find our 109″ steering that heavy despite the large tyres but then we live in the sticks and don’t often have any problems finding nice empty car parks or wide spaces etc. I dare say parking in towns down south is more problematic?
It looks like there could be another plus side to doing this conversion in that a type 80 servo should now fit? I tried to fit one in Ciggy but it fouls the Series steering box housing so had to resort to a type 50 servo instead which is still tight and partly obscure the filler hole (I’m using a 110 pedal tower). Obviously will still need the wings to be cut but type 80 is more common than 50 these days and the pedal towers are also more common for the type 80 too. So you could end up with lovely light steering and super braking 🙂
The brakes are great with the smaller servo, so I have no need to upgrade to the 80 type (since the 50 fits with just a tweak of the wing top), but yes, the new column will give better clearance and more options.
The driving problem is not regional, it’s that the car is used for daily transport and will be used for the school run, so tight car parks and lots of slow lock to lock maneouvering.
I got the dash completed and did a little practice welding with a decent self-dimming mask that will make the brackets far easier to make. I still need to get the bracket parts from the fabricator.
Ah I see what you mean. We don’t have too many tightly spaced car parks here however we have experienced a nightmare when parking kerbside on normal roads and have come back to find other modern car drivers have parked within 2 feet of both our front and rear meaning that we need to do a 30 point turn to get out, almost impossible with such heavy steering when there is no room to get her rolling. In one case I actually had to wait until one of the drivers returned before I could move. Modern hatchback drivers don’t seem to have any comprehension of how much space is needed to be left clear for a non power steered old vehicle with limited turning circle.
I find said Eurobox drivers glare when they see me struggling with the wheel as if there is something wrong with me, so used to cosseting are they. They are utterly unable to make the mental leap that an old classic car might have heavy controls.