"El Mongrel" '65 Formula S Restomod

Part 8
I had mentioned in part 4 about replacing the power steering with a manual box. There were two reasons for this, first I didn’t have the scratch for new hoses and rebuilding the power box and pump. Second exhaust clearance as I knew it was going to be tight. Look at the first picture of the installed exhaust system in part 4. Can you imagine cramming a bigger box and hoses in that space. Yeah I know it can be done but, man, why create more problems for yourself when you can solve them instead. After locating a nice manual box, again through a friend, and getting it cleaned up and installed the next issue reared its head. The stock steering coupling was hard up against the header. If you look in the same picture you can see my solution. I first bought a power steering column to manual adapter, you know, the one that looks like the top half of a long neck beer bottle. Well that was money wasted as it rubbed just as bad only in a different spot. Out came the parts catalogs and with the help of BAD again a plan came together. An order was placed to Flaming River for an appropriate sized coupling and their “D” shaft with an unsplined slip joint on one end. After some quick measurements out came the steering column and in short order it was laying in pieces on the workbench. I pulled out my chop saw and wacked the steering shaft off at the appropriate length.

Note: Having a welder and knowing how to use it is a major contributor to performing just about any modification you care to think up on our cars. It’s a skill with unlimited benefits too. Like lots of new “friends”……think about it. Yeah you got it. Like owning a pickup truck where you become the neighborhood moving company.

A few minutes latter the shaft and adapter were welded together and the column reassembled. I slipped it back into position, attached the coupling to the input shaft of the manual box and gave the wheel a spin. Viola! Problem solved. The welded together section is up inside the steering column tube and is hidden behind the rubber shaft seal. Nice and neat.

I went to the Flaming River web site to link the shaft and coupling but it looks like they have dropped it from their product line. The part number was 1505M. Back in March '07 when I ordered mine the kit went for 109.95 thru Summit. Flaming River only shows two part numbers for Mopar couplings and they start at 1506M. That's a shame because it was such a simple and effective solution for the early A header/steering interference. Damn them!

Manual box and steering column mod. Other items of note in pics: Mini starter- junkyard, disk/drum brake proportioning valve, new brake and transmission lines, completely rewelded & refinished K member, Schumacher Torque Strap pn TQ63A for engine.