Steering Out! Body Ready for Liftoff!

Sunday came this week with a threat of rain, but this is Austin.  The day dawned cloudy but by the time Henry stopped by to help me pull the steering column out, the sun was high in the sky and it was a perfect day for a couple of car guys to go play.

The steering wheel had been vexing me because I knew it had to come out but I just could not figure out how.  I thought it would be as easy as removing the two bolts under the dash and just slipping it out of the hole, but that was before I had a good look at it.  I could see that it also had to be disconnected from the steering box, which was no problem, just a couple of bolts holding a clamp on the spline, but it was the retaining clip at the top of the crushable cage where the steering column fit through the body that was giving me the trouble.

It looked like even if I pulled that clip off, it was going to hinder the easy passage of the column (especially that cagey bit) through the hole.  I pondered this as I detached everything else, but by this Sunday, that list was down to just a couple of things, and one of them was the damn steering column.  Fortunately I had Henry to assign this task to, and he delivered the goods.

Of course, it turns out that the retaining clip actually came off, so the problem wasn't as vexing as I'd made it out to be, but then, what problem is unlike this?  So, with no beer to slow him down, Henry had that thing out of the car in less than half an hour.  He also removed the broken-down plastic p-o-s steering wheel, which I am looking forward to replacing with an older more elegant version.

While Henry was working on the steering column I was drinking beer and working on freeing the last sticky spots between the body and the frame.  This meant I had to pull out the cutting wheel to zap a sloppy little weld right up at the front on the passenger side, but once that cut was made and we gave it the old heave-ho, lo and behold, the body lifted right up off the frame!

Success!  Well, sort of.

Not only didn't we have the strength to lift that sucker up right then and there, I didn't have the platform ready for it either, so back down it went.  I have most of the platform built (missing a sheet of plywood) so we can hopefully pull this thing next Sunday!