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Saturday, March 19, 2011

Test Fitting Steering Rods

Having the swivels basically finished, just thought I'd try out the steering rods for size, to make sure everything still fits without a problem. All's well, but one of the ball joints/rod ends spun in its socket when trying to tighten the nut, maing it impossible, and so it looks as is they may need replacing. Also, the dimensions I have for the rod lengths doesn't appear accurate at first glance, as putting the rod ends at the indicated distance apart gave a pronounced toe-in. Could it be a Series 2 versus Series 2a thing? Will have to check on this.

View below shows the completed swivel housings, with the interior of the brake backing plates painted in that stainless-steel based brake fluid resistant paint. Not completely sure it's necessary, but thought I'd try it out. Certainly has a nice finish. The locking plates were slightly too long, so are bowed in the middle, but that's not really an issue. The tabs will be folded around the nuts once I'm confident all's well and the nuts will not need any further tightening.

Here's a view of the steering relay, once again installed. Note the different surface textures on the chassis, some due to the nature of the surface of a particular piece of metal used to make the chassis (such as the cross member the steering relay is on), but mostly due to the galvanizing, which left little lumps and surface irregularites over most of the surfaces.