If you want to ask me any questions, you can reach me at [email protected].
Ok, time to assemble the steering mechanism. The worm gear was soldered onto the steering shaft from the factory but the job was a little sloppy. The factory allowed some of the solder to flow into some of the spaces within the gear. No problem, some careful filing removed the excess solder and the pieces were ready for assembly.
Driving the steel shaft into the round gear was a delicate operation. Be sure to exercise care when doing this, you certainly wouldn't want to bend, or worse, break the brass gear. The splines on the steel shaft need to be completely driven into the gear for the assembly to fit and work right.
Next was the other end of the steering column. The steering wheel had some dimples that needed to be filled.
And the letters for the various engine-related controls on the steering wheel needed to be painted (compare to actual car, photo courtesy of http://kruseinternational.com/). I used a printing press technique to paint the letters. Essentially, I painted a hard, flat surface with white paint and while the surface was still wet, I gently laid the pieces with the raised letters down and lightly pressed until enough paint transferred to the letters.
Here's the completed steering wheel assembly. NOTE: I highly recommend you do not attach the steering wheel to the end of the column at this time like I did. You'll find out why during the assembly of the frame later in this journal.
Now it was time to assemble the firewall. After paint, the components were assembled and attached onto the firewall. Since I like the finished product to be tidy, I had an issue with a part of the firewall that had a cutout for the screwdriver to access the screw inside of the foot operated chassis oil pump. I was obligated to fill this cutout and blend it into the rest of the firewall.
Here you can see it better.
