Jeff,
There are felt (yuck!) bushings between the column and the tube that it
turns in. One near the top, one near the bottom. These are the problem.
You can order them from the usual places.
Order also the rubber piece that goes around the tube where it goes
through the firewall.
Installing the felt pieces is the problem. You can remove the column and
tube fairly easily, but the felt pieces will be too thick to fit. I tried
it once and failed. I have since ordered new ones and have read some
tricks (Barney Gaylord, Bill Eastman, Lawrie ?) to both soak the bushes in
oil and pound on them with a hammer until they fit.
I'll forward you the email with all the details privately.
Ulix (with steering clunk)
On Wed, 22 Oct 1997, Jeff Boatright wrote:
> I have quite a bit of play in the top of my steering column of my '65
> Sprite. I can rattle my steering wheel up and down about 0.5 to 1.0 inches.
> The Haynes manual indicates that the steering bush needs replacement, but
> I'm not clear whether this is the problem as the bush looks great and there
> does not appear to be any play of the outer column within the bush (ie, the
> bush squeezes the outer column firmly). Rather, the top of the steering
> column seems to be pivoting at the bush. I can see the steering column
> moving down at the firewall when I pull up on the steering wheel. However,
> there does not seem to be any play at the joining of the column to the
> rack.
>
> Is this normal or should I dig deeper?
>
> ______________________________________
> Jeff Boatright
> Editor-in-Chief, Molecular Vision
> http://www.emory.edu/molvis
> "Seeing the Future in a Very Tiny Way"
>
>
Ulix __/__,__
.......................................................... (_o____o_)....
'67 Sprite
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