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Re: Time to refresh the engine and tranny
Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 9:54 pm
by tommu
I also need to install a new steering box in my wife's Ghia. How did you find a good replacement? I have a TRW repop which has too much play, and an odd tightening just between 11:00 and 12:00. I wonder now if I didn't properly center it when I installed it?
Re: Time to refresh the engine and tranny
Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2017 8:35 am
by Bleyseng
That's what I have too but it has to be better than one with over 200K on it.
Re: Time to refresh the engine and tranny
Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 8:35 am
by Amskeptic
tommu wrote: ↑Sat Nov 11, 2017 9:54 pm
I also need to install a new steering box in my wife's Ghia. How did you find a good replacement? I have a TRW repop which has too much play, and an odd tightening just between 11:00 and 12:00. I wonder now if I didn't properly center it when I installed it?
Many of the worm and peg steering boxes get damaged by shoddy adjustment practices where people refuse to realize that it is not the box causing the play in question.
You need to get rid of that tightening post haste. You should have a "mild resistance" across about 10* of rotation at dead center. If you have two adjustable tie rods, you can lengthen the right tie rod and shorten the left tie equally by let's say a quarter turn, and center the resistance point, steering wheel spoke position be damned.
Back off the adjustment screw from "odd tightening" to "mild resistance".
Colin
Re: Time to refresh the engine and tranny
Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 1:48 pm
by tommu
I was underadjusting initially and now I think I am closer to just tight enough. How do I feel the resistance point? I can't feel it through the wheel with the wheels in the air. Do I need to disconnect the column and twiddle the shaft?
Re: Time to refresh the engine and tranny
Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2017 5:46 pm
by Amskeptic
tommu wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2017 1:48 pm
I was underadjusting initially and now I think I am closer to just tight enough. How do I feel the resistance point? I can't feel it through the wheel with the wheels in the air. Do I need to disconnect the column and twiddle the shaft?
We're suffering definition creep here.
I read that you had an odd tightening as you rotated the steering wheel. Here you say "just tight enough".
Define what you are talking about.
Colin
Re: Time to refresh the engine and tranny
Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2017 7:42 pm
by tommu
Amskeptic wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2017 5:46 pm
tommu wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2017 1:48 pm
I was underadjusting initially and now I think I am closer to just tight enough. How do I feel the resistance point? I can't feel it through the wheel with the wheels in the air. Do I need to disconnect the column and twiddle the shaft?
We're suffering definition creep here.
I read that you had an odd tightening as you rotated the steering wheel. Here you say "just tight enough".
Define what you are talking about.
Colin
I very bad description of the symptom from me. It is not tightening. It’s more like play, momentarily the steering looses it’s torque. This is turning left, between 11:30 and 12:00 on the clock - coming back to straight ahead. I have been thinking that I may not have centered the box correctly.
Re: Time to refresh the engine and tranny
Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2017 8:12 am
by Bleyseng
- 1791-3T.jpg (11.93 KiB) Viewed 8802 times
Here is a picture of the oil pump and filter set up I installed. Really nice setup as it tucks up out of the way.
Re: Time to refresh the engine and tranny
Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2017 11:33 pm
by Amskeptic
tommu wrote: ↑Wed Nov 15, 2017 7:42 pm
Amskeptic wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2017 5:46 pm
tommu wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2017 1:48 pm
I was underadjusting initially and now I think I am closer to just tight enough. How do I feel the resistance point? I can't feel it through the wheel with the wheels in the air. Do I need to disconnect the column and twiddle the shaft?
We're suffering definition creep here.
I read that you had an odd tightening as you rotated the steering wheel. Here you say "just tight enough".
Define what you are talking about.
Colin
I very bad description of the symptom from me. It is not tightening. It’s more like play, momentarily the steering looses it’s torque. This is turning left, between 11:30 and 12:00 on the clock - coming back to straight ahead. I have been thinking that I may not have centered the box correctly.
A) Is it something like a flange clamp not quite secure on the steering shaft, moving from one slip stop to the other?
Check if you think that might be it.
B) Chloe has a dent in the middle of the preload area where someone must have cranked down on the adjustment screw something horrid. So, I have a steering wheel that goes tight then loose at exact middle, then goes tight, then off to the other lock. It's like a little double hump deal. You of course do not try to get rid of the middle dip. You have to pretend that all is wonderful and just make the double bump preload just so.
Colin
Re: Time to refresh the engine and tranny
Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2017 8:14 am
by Bleyseng
Amskeptic wrote: ↑Sun Nov 19, 2017 11:33 pm
tommu wrote: ↑Wed Nov 15, 2017 7:42 pm
Amskeptic wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2017 5:46 pm
tommu wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2017 1:48 pm
I was underadjusting initially and now I think I am closer to just tight enough. How do I feel the resistance point? I can't feel it through the wheel with the wheels in the air. Do I need to disconnect the column and twiddle the shaft?
We're suffering definition creep here.
I read that you had an odd tightening as you rotated the steering wheel. Here you say "just tight enough".
Define what you are talking about.
Colin
I very bad description of the symptom from me. It is not tightening. It’s more like play, momentarily the steering looses it’s torque. This is turning left, between 11:30 and 12:00 on the clock - coming back to straight ahead. I have been thinking that I may not have centered the box correctly.
A) Is it something like a flange clamp not quite secure on the steering shaft, moving from one slip stop to the other?
Check if you think that might be it.
B) Chloe has a dent in the middle of the preload area where someone must have cranked down on the adjustment screw something horrid. So, I have a steering wheel that goes tight then loose at exact middle, then goes tight, then off to the other lock. It's like a little double hump deal. You of course do not try to get rid of the middle dip. You have to pretend that all is wonderful and just make the double bump preload just so.
Colin
Thats what is going on with my Ghia, loose then tight when you turn the wheel. There is a good 10 degrees of "play" on either side of centered which bugs the heck out of me driving on the freeway. New steering box is to go in next week along with clutch cable, parking brake cables and rebuilt petal assembly. Also when the gas tank is out I'll finally weld the tab back on that hold the innerwheel house shield that is loose.
Re: Time to refresh the engine and tranny
Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2017 3:59 pm
by tommu
Here’s how things look with the tank out.
It appears to me that the column and steering gear shaft are both at an angle Is that ok or should they be dead straight when they connect?
Should the coupler be bent like this?
Could this be the center mark for a TRW box? It is a little off center right now.
Everything feels tight and well located.
Am I highjacking this thread? Should I create my own thread for this.
Re: Time to refresh the engine and tranny
Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2017 6:30 pm
by Bleyseng
Its fine post away....I don't recall the shaft being off center. There is a looonnng thread in the Samba about a 70 ghia that's original and has tons of pics inside the tank area.
Re: Time to refresh the engine and tranny
Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2017 10:55 am
by Bleyseng
Re: Time to refresh the engine and tranny
Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2017 12:03 pm
by tommu
Is it an optical illusion - or do they both seem slightly bent? Yours, albeit, far less?
I'll take mine out and roll it on a flat surface. If I don't it'll bug me every time I drive the car.
Re: Time to refresh the engine and tranny
Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 8:55 am
by Bleyseng
I think that they are slightly off center. No, that is not my car but a guy in Scotland with a 1970 US Ghia Convertible that's all original that he is going thru preserving/refreshing. He does drive it around a lot in the summer. His thread is a good resource for how things are supposed to be from the factory vs some hack a mechanic did back in the day. (I have had to fix a ton of those hacks on mine)
Re: Time to refresh the engine and tranny
Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 11:16 pm
by tommu
Reading a lot of posts on the Samba and it seems that a lot of late style collapsable columns were fitted off center. I spent a while mulling mine over and it didn't seem bent enough for me to take it out. My steering wheel and wheels are perfectly aligned, but I think my steering box is not. I opted not to take the pitman arm off myself as I have no good or confident way of making sure my wheels are pointing straight ahead before I put it back on.