Paul gets comfortable with the column in its lowered position. After all, it is his car.

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!

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.

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).

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...

First, decide where you want the brackets. I opted for a wider than normal stance, mainly because I thought it would look "planned" for the rods to line up with the wiper posts, and the steering wheel center on the drivers side. I also opted to hang the brackets upside-down and left for right so that they're not open at the top - I think it makes things smoother. Here I'm just holding it in place to see how it will work. There was a problem with mounting it this far outboard: the bracket is designed for the bar to sit at an angle, but not this much of an angle. I had two options: put it where the bar was happy, or make it work where I was happy. I bet you can guess which way I went. This meant that the bar had to be bent slightly to come off the firewall at the same angle as if the bracket was closer to the middle of the car, but also just enough so that it ended up in the right spot on the rad. While you've got the bracket here, mark the hole centers.

I used 1/4-20 riv-nuts into the firewall to bolt the bracket to.

How I Bent the Bar: I melted the Nylok out of two 3/8-24 nuts, then threaded them on to the rod. This let me clamp on the rod without wrecking the threads.

I applied some force to the part of the rod closest to the vise so that I didn't have a huge bow in the rod.

I was hoping to use only two u-joints for this car, but after mocking it up and finding that the shaft is too close to the header, it'll have to be three. I played around (see the next few pictures) with extending the input shaft on the Mullins box, but all that did was increase the angle on the lower u-joint. We're using all aluminum joints and shafts from Borgeson. These are amazingly light! I forecast a 2hp gain over steel systems. Just joking.

Now I had to decide where I wanted the shaft to sit in relation to the frame. Since it's going to be an open hood car, I decided to tuck the steering in behind the header a bit. I think it will be less noticeable than bringing it right over to the frame rail from the column. We'll see... you decide.

Making the Rod End Support

Since I'm using three joints, a support bearing (or Rod End) is a necessity. Measure from the rail to the center of the shaft where you want the bearing. I'm going to put it right beside the center u-joint, to hide the splines I was left with on the lower shaft. If you're forced to use a three joint system, buy the joints you'll need, then use a broom handle or some 3/4" dowel to mock up the shaft lengths. Or, you can use a double 'D' shaft which you buy in either 18" or 36" lengths, and cut it to fit. The splined shafts come in 2" increments from 4 " to longer than you'll ever need.

I didn't want any threads showing on the rod end when it was installed, so I had to do some measuring. I needed to know how long the mounting tube I was going to make should be in order to cover all the threads and keep the steering shaft where I wanted it. So, I measured from the frame to the near side of the shaft, and added 3/8" to get a dimension to the center. Then I measured from the center of the rod end bearing to the end of the threads so I knew if I had to trim any of the threads off. Conveniently, I didn't. Next, I measured from the nut to where I knew the frame was based on my first measurement. Make sure you measure to the far side of any angle. Next, put a 1" tube in your lathe and cut 3/4-16 threads!

The rod end couldn't come straight off the frame because the angle was too much for the bearing. So I just ground a corner off the tube, and it will be welded to the frame

Oh yeah, I got the rad shell and the grille insert installed. The front end will be down about 1-1/2" or 2", so don't you worry about a thing.