ta muchly
Some people have been asking me about the steering column change as I didn't cut-n-weld mine. I'd forgotten to post pics so I've just had a dig around on the camera and I have a few, so I hope I can explain without showing it at every step.
The std Herald/Vitesse column is made up of two parts, and outer and an inner, held together with a big clamp and designed to compress on impact as there were no UJ's on the std setup.
If you take this apart you can shorten the entire setup quite considerably, but you may have to grind a new 'flat' on the inner shaft.
I don't have a pic of when I was finished, but here's a 3/4 done pic that shows what needs to be done.
Then I got a prefabricated length of steering column from CBS along with 2 pressed steel steering column Universal joints and a pillow block bulkhead bearing from e-bay.
I fitted the UJ's and new short shaft, then bolted in the steering column (still not clamped back together at this point) and adjusted the main column section until it was the right length and then took it out and finished off the 'flat'.
Then it was clamped up and reassembled
And the view from the other side of the bulkhead
The 2 UJ's also mean that I have an IVA level of collapsible column without having to grind a long flat on the inner column shaft.
Simples! and I am a lot happier than if I'd had to weld it