We just failed tech this weekend because of a lack of a collapsible steering column. We had removed the stock one ( heavy and oh so loose ) and installed a nice Motion Race Works F-body specific column. Nice piece, bolted right in and once we adjusted the length, work great. Used for several track days until now. Tech said the rules say " must have column of a collapsible type or other anti spear functions " Tried to point out the Astro van D shaft had 4" of movement and the U-joints are slightly offset.

Anybody have an aftermarket collapsible column in an F-body that has worked with out to much work ?

Nothing at Sweet Man. or Flaming River is quite long enough to get thru the firewall of an F-body.

We have a dash bar as part of the cage so almost any kind of bracket could be made to work. Need to keep the quick release steering wheel hub also.

Open to suggestions

 

My upper column is non collapsible and it's never been questioned. My car originally had a tilt column which was very heavy. I picked up a non tilt third gen column from the junk yard and gutted it down to a shaft and firewall mount. I welded the slip part because without an outer body, there was nothing to keep it in place. I fabricated a mount under the dash to install a pillow block and a couple of sleeve collars on either side to keep the shaft in place. Needed to install a removable steering wheel to get in and out of the car with a cage. I also use an Astro Van lower shaft and needed to relocate the firewall mount outward and upward so that the lower shaft could clear header tubes.

The rule I see in General Regulation 3:3 Steering.
A secondary steering shaft stop must be installed to prevent long steering shaft from injuring driver in case of frontal impact (I.E. collar or U-joint pinned at crossmember, bracket, etc)

That's a pretty wide open rule. I would read that as any 2-piece steering shaft (lower outside the body and upper inside the body connected together with a u-joint) should easily pass the rule. I think that rule is more for heavily modified vehicles that have a single shaft running from the steering box directly to the steering wheel. Because of the angle change required for my car, I could not do this.

 

Unfortunately, once the call has been made we are a marked car. Going to have to do something. Thought about the non-tilt column option and paring it down to the bare minimum. Anybody know what years of F-bodies to look for ? How hard was stripping down that column ?

Flaming River makes a collapsible but not adjustable column that if they would just make 4" longer would work. Still expensive and more work because all the bracketry would have to be fabricated.

Still open to any suggestions

 

Call tech out on their BS.... you have a 2 piece steering shaft.

The portion thru the firewall and the portion that has the u joint that connect to the steering rack. you dont have a solid shaft from the steering wheel to the steering rack..


OR buy the Flaming River steering column and add 4" to the firewall portion.

 

how much weight or you saving using the aftermarket steering column ?

 

StunMan, what did you end up going with? We are in a similar predicament

 

Update on column

Flaming River will custom make their collapsible motorsports column 5" longer ( or any size you want ) without any problem. They even changed the output shaft to 3/4" smooth to match the steering U joints we already have. I think it was $40.00 more than the listed price. You will have to fabricate your own mounting brackets but I have found several adjustable steering column mounts in the 1 3/4" sizes. So shouldn't be a problem at the firewall or upper rollcage.

As far as weight saved. The Motion Race Works parts was chromoly, well made,and feather light. I think we saved an honest 15lbs by changing out the column. It's for sale by the way. Probably more of a drag race piece.

 

Old thread, but do you have any pics of the flaming river Column?

I'm building my 92 into more of a dedicated road race and autocross car, and the stock 17.5lb column needs to go
I'm torn between,
Sweet MFG universal comumnCustom order Woodward
or modifying the Motion raceworks column to be collapsible.
And now this 4th option for Flaming river

 

I think I have some pictures of when we were fitting it and redoing the dash bar of the cage. Its barely visible now thru all the brackets, wiring, and padding. Will look for them.

A couple of issues. Was real disappointed in the steering wheel disconnect that Flaming River provided. It was really loose and not what i was used to in other racing wheel adapters. But in all honesty now that we have driven the car, once out on the track you don't even notice it.

In hindsight I would of had them just extend the stock shaft longer vs adding the 3/4" round shaft to fit what we had. It's not bad but I'm a firm believer in the less failure points the better

 

Interesting thread.

I'm in the process of doing a column on my '68 and I found that the majority of the aftermarket columns are 1" DD with 3/4" DD female end, that can stuff about 18" worth of DD shaft in it.

Loosely meaning, if you run the column so the stub is just at the firewall, you can basically stuff the entirety of the 3/4" shaft into the column if you use a single Ujoint at the box, in the event of a collision.

Food for thought.

-- Joe