With space at a premium in my dual-purpose street/race Model A, I decided that keeping the steering assembly up and out of the way in the cowl would help. The idea being that with no column to contend with exiting the firewall, it would make pedal placement a lot simpler. Boy, what a packaging nightmare it turned out to be! Installing the Borgeson late-’60s Mopar steering box and Wilwood pedals last month was easy compared to routing the column to where it would be comfortable to drive.
I used a universal joint and vibration damper joint, both from Borgeson, and ididit’s new Old School Straight Column, which is easily cut to any desired length from 6-36 inches. Mine ended up at that minimum length! Not only is this unit affordable, but takes all the headaches out of shortening a column. It’s perfect for installing in a regular manner, where the lower end will exit the bottom of the firewall and attach to a more commonly used steering box, such as a Vega version, but was equally adaptable for my off-the-wall application. The simple and neat steering wheel boss accepts any standard three-bolt wheel too, though I had to make life complicated for myself and adapt a Speedway Motors quick-release hub, as there’s no way I’ll get in and out of the car once finished otherwise.
Follow the captions as I show you my solution to how I gained cowl steering without using an expensive race or sprint car steering box.
