68 GT convertible project
The car originally came with power steering. I initially decided to change to manual steering because I don't like the feel of the stock box. I rebuilt the steering column with a longer manual box lower shaft/coupler. After thinking about it some more, I didn't like the idea of the increased turns "lock-to-lock" of the manual boxes. Plus, Firm Feel now has a stage 3 upgrade for the PS box that I didn't know about. So, now I'm going back to power steering. That meant I had to change out the steering shaft again. That's the latest thing I've been working on.
When I swapped out the manual steering lower shaft, I glued the two halves together with Gorilla Glue. It seemed like it would hold ok but the bond ended up breaking during installation. I had a hard time getting the shaft to go up through the upper bearing. I couldn't get it to go up the last 1/16" so I could install the snap ring. I tapped on the bottom of the shaft to get it seated and the glue let go. This time around, I wanted to come up with something else.
I ended up drilling through both shafts with a 1/8" bit. I tried finding a plastic bolt locally but couldn't find one. My father-in-law had some scrap Lexan that he thought might work. He put it in his lathe and turned a couple 1/8" pins out of it. After pounding the pins through the steering shaft, we heated up the head of a nail and melted the ends over to lock them in place. I think it turned out pretty good. I was still a little worried about the shaft being too strong and not wanting to collapse in an accident so I ended up drilling out the center of the Lexan pins with a 1/16" bit. I think this will work out good. This picture is before I drilled out the center.
The manual steering coupler that I was going to use came out of a 72 Demon. It had a hole in the side with a small pin to keep the shoes inside the coupler.(as a safety measure) The original 68 PS coupler didn't have this hole/pin. I thought it would be a good idea to add it.
![DSC03405_LI[1].jpg](https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/attachments/dsc03405_li-1-jpg.1715020231/ "DSC03405_LI[1].jpg")
Lastly, I thought I'd show how I held the coupler together while bending over the tabs on the cover. I just use two pieces of 1x4. The lower piece is solid...the upper piece has a large hole in it. I just clamped the assembly together with some wood clamps and then bent over the tabs. This works really nice.
![coupler[1].jpg](https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/attachments/coupler-1-jpg.1715020235/ "coupler[1].jpg")
The car originally came with power steering. I initially decided to change to manual steering because I don't like the feel of the stock box. I rebuilt the steering column with a longer manual box lower shaft/coupler. After thinking about it some more, I didn't like the idea of the increased turns "lock-to-lock" of the manual boxes. Plus, Firm Feel now has a stage 3 upgrade for the PS box that I didn't know about. So, now I'm going back to power steering. That meant I had to change out the steering shaft again. That's the latest thing I've been working on.
When I swapped out the manual steering lower shaft, I glued the two halves together with Gorilla Glue. It seemed like it would hold ok but the bond ended up breaking during installation. I had a hard time getting the shaft to go up through the upper bearing. I couldn't get it to go up the last 1/16" so I could install the snap ring. I tapped on the bottom of the shaft to get it seated and the glue let go. This time around, I wanted to come up with something else.
I ended up drilling through both shafts with a 1/8" bit. I tried finding a plastic bolt locally but couldn't find one. My father-in-law had some scrap Lexan that he thought might work. He put it in his lathe and turned a couple 1/8" pins out of it. After pounding the pins through the steering shaft, we heated up the head of a nail and melted the ends over to lock them in place. I think it turned out pretty good. I was still a little worried about the shaft being too strong and not wanting to collapse in an accident so I ended up drilling out the center of the Lexan pins with a 1/16" bit. I think this will work out good. This picture is before I drilled out the center.
The manual steering coupler that I was going to use came out of a 72 Demon. It had a hole in the side with a small pin to keep the shoes inside the coupler.(as a safety measure) The original 68 PS coupler didn't have this hole/pin. I thought it would be a good idea to add it.
Lastly, I thought I'd show how I held the coupler together while bending over the tabs on the cover. I just use two pieces of 1x4. The lower piece is solid...the upper piece has a large hole in it. I just clamped the assembly together with some wood clamps and then bent over the tabs. This works really nice.