Steering

Now im making my own manifold and have streamlined the system setup i am able to simplify the steering and lose some of the UJ’s and support. So the setup will now be (working from the rack up) a Borgeson dampening UJ to replace the original flat rubber damper, then up to a Borgeson standard UJ, then i have used a Borgeson joiner to extend the standard steering column shaft so it brings the position of the UJ further down allowing the space i need for the manifold and as i have ditched the idea to run a 4 into…

So if you have been following my build you will know that like Baldrick i came up with a cunning plan for the steering! well, after some testing i was not feeling the love for it. It has real potential as an option but i think needs to be made as a custom kit specifically for the rack and cross member as using prts from other cars and then adapting them got the concept right but i just felt that with the stress exerted on the rack when stationary and at low speeds that there would be movement. I think…

I thought i would pop this post on as i had been trying to find the safe place that i put the track road end locking nuts, with no luck. So a quick post on the forum and i have the info back that the nuts i was looking for were: m14 X 1.5 pitch half nuts. So after a quick google i tracked down this site: ttps://www.brickwerks.co.uk and it turns out that a T3 VW has the same ones, and they are only £1.76 each. Here is the link to them: https://www.brickwerks.co.uk/half-nut-m14-x1-5-bzp.html in case anyone else is looking for an…

One big problem on the Opel Manta is the steering. As standard its fine, but start modifying the engine and adding a bigger exhaust and it gets a bit tricky. Left hand drive cars are nice and easy as they don’t have to contend with the steering and manifold all on the one side! or brake servo’s getting in the way of things. But i suppose as it was originally built as a left hand drive it wasn’t something they needed to worry about 🙁 The problem has always been getting a nice tubular manifold down past the steering shaft,…

I think i must have taken just about every part of the Manta apart at some point, except the steering rack! So as the workshop manual has a nice section on the steering rack and an exploded view and i had a spare rack i thought i would have a go at taking mine apart! It was just as well that i did as when i stripped it all down a could see that the internal guide bushes were badly worn. So i pulled these out, cleaned and check the rest of the rack, which all looked good. So then…