[DeTomaso] steering slop

[Christopher Kimball]

I found an old spark-plug gapper that had "fingers" of different thicknesses.  I tried them in the gap until I found one that was quite snug.  I broke it off from the others and jammed it into the slot.  It seemed to work, but then eventualy vibrated out.  I haven't gotten around to replacing it, but when I do, I'll leave enough sticking out from the gap that I can hold it in place by wrapping some tape around the steering column, and therfore around the exposed end of the piece.
Chris


> From: justingreisberg at hotmail.com
> To: detomaso at realbig.com
> Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2012 17:53:40 -0700
> Subject: [DeTomaso] steering slop
> 
> 
> As I sort out the many minor problems that make my 74 GTS restoration less than perfect (things like leaking head gaskets, problematic EFI, door windows that just wont go, A fuel gauge that keep reading zero until I figured out I actually had no gas in the tank!), I have come to the steering.  There is a little too much play in the steering.  Some of that play is in the rack - I rebuilt the rack myself (added a new rack bushing and replaced the rubber bellows), and when I was done there was a bit of play in the gears.  But, based on the advice of many people here on the forum, I left the spacers on the preload device behind the rack just as stock, rather than add more preload to decrease play.So, I know there will be a little play.  But there is more play in the steering column, at the "slip joint" where one piece of linkage slides into another.  I tried to pinch this in a vice, which really did not work, and I added rolled up sections of aluminum foil to take up the space but still allow it to slide in an accident, but this loosened up quickly.
> Any ssuggestions?  I could weld the two pieces of slip tubing together so no more play, but it seems nice to try to preserve the sliding feature for safety.  Although I doubt I would survive a collision of that magnitude in this car...  The thought of that steering wheel hitting me in the chest is really scary.   Justin 		 	   		  
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