Column Drop |
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| Paul gets comfortable with the column in its lowered
position. After all, it is his car. |
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| Next, it's important to make sure you
can actually get out of the car without knee pads.
Looks like this will be just fine! |
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| While holding the column in its proper position,
we tried out the drop we thought would be the right
length. They are measured from the center of the column
to the mounting point of the drop. We're using a 5"
drop. Since the dash is integrated into the Bear body,
all I needed to do for a drop was cut a piece of 3/16"
x 4" plate (the same width as the drop) that
goes from the bottom lip of the dash to the lip on
top of the inner firewall. |
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| Since the front-to-rear plate is on the same angle
as the dash (sloping down towards the center), I made
another plate that will weld to that plate, and pick
up the mounting holes for the column drop. Instead
of the aluminum piece that you see in this picture
being vertical, it's going to be bolted horizontally
to the plate, as shown. I had to relieve some material
from the main column drop plate so that this would
be possible (normally it only goes to about 45 degrees
instead of the 90 that we require). |
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It's finished- you can see how the top of the
billet piece is horizontal, while the main steel
plate is on an angle. After it's painted Super Black,
you'll never know it's there. And, it's just as
sturdy as a late model. Plenty sturdy for enthusiastic
steering wheel drummers. Stay tuned for how we'll
provide the background music...
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