[Toe]

Time to tickle the toes

Toe

The most critical alignment setting relative to tyre wear is the vehicle's toe. If the Toe of your wheel alignment is just slightly out, its affect on your tyres can create rapid and uneven wear.

The toe angle identifies the direction of the tyres compared to the centreline of the vehicle. In the case of a rear-wheel drives, the back-wheels power and 'push' the front tyres, which drag and cause a degree of resistance to work against the suspension arms. Most rear-wheel drive vehicles use positive toe to compensate for this suspension arm displacement. This means that when the front wheels are pushed by the back wheels they favour a toe-in, (negative), configuration.

Front-wheel drives pull the vehicle which results in a forward movement of the suspension arms in their bushings. Due to this pull factor of front-wheel drives their toe is adjusted to be negative. This means that when the back wheels are pulled by the front wheels they favour the toe-out, (positive), configuration.

Toe can also be used to alter a vehicles handling traits. Increased toe-in reduces oversteer, steadies the car and enhances its high-speed stability. Increased toe-out reduces understeer and frees up the car, especially during initial turn-in while entering a corner.




Having read and digested that myself now, I am having a lightbulb moment. To date, the steering has never felt right and we have been looking at the geometry from every angle possible. There is a garage a few miles down the road that have been messing about trying to set up the tracking (unsuccessfully) which is why I have invested in a laser system to do it myself. It was a young lad that last set it up and through no fault of his own, I`m wondering how many rear wheel drive cars he sets up these days as virtually everything on the road is front wheel drive. I'm just wondering if he inadvertently set it as toe-out rather than toe-in, like every other vehicle in his workshop that week? Its certainly a thought and I wish that I had taken some measurements before ripping it all apart again in order to sort out the springs and ride height.
Certainly a distinct possibility. 


Time to get the next toy out of the box. As the steering is going to be turned (a lot) I have a set of spin plates to put under the wheels. These are small round discs with a pointed centre that allow the wheels to turn easily and without the friction of the tyres scrubbing the floor. To save me from imprinting my garage floor, I have also put a couple of blocks of wood underneath them too.



Before making any adjustments, the next thing I have to do is centralise the steering. This is something that really annoys me when you ask a garage to do this as 99% of them will not bother, and I can hear a few of you reading this and shouting at the screen too. When you get your tracking done at a garage, I would bet money that they either point the wheels straight ahead or make sure the steering wheel is in the middle position before they start. This is wrong, because whilst your wheels may point forwards or the steering wheel is nice and horizontal it does not prevent you from having one anti clockwise rotation of the wheel to turn left and three clockwise rotations to turn right. Very few garages make the effort to find the mid point of the steering rack.

My annoyance is because it is so easy to do. Turn the steering wheel all the way to one side, in my case I turned it as though I was turning hard left. I marked the top of the steering wheel with a bit of tape as a reference point. You then turn the wheel the other way and count how many times you have turned it. In my case it was 2 and 2 third rotations from lock to lock. Take that figure and halve it. In my case its 1 and one third. Turn the wheel back by this figure and you are now at the centre of the steering rack. I used multiple bits of masking tape on mine and it made it even easier to spot where the middle was. If you have got this correct, then you will have an equal number of turns either left or right - don't worry which direction the wheels or steering wheel are currently pointing as we are about to adjust those.



This kit also incudes a spring loaded mechanism to lock the wheel in place so that the rack maintains its position whilst you are tugging at everything with a spanner. Note to self: This steering column feels bloody awful and almost as though it is binding somewhere. It is now in a position where I can feel it and can therefore see what is going on, so will come back to that once the wheels are correctly pointing forwards.



When I have done this, the steering wheel can be removed and refitted quite easily in the correct position which is not so easy to do on modern cars with airbags fitted. This little sprung loaded spirit level sits inside the steering wheel and I`m just using it as reference to know that nothing has turned despite the wheel being locked in place. The column will be removed afterwards, so steering wheel orientation is not important to me at the moment.



When it comes to the actual measurement and adjustments, there are many ways that this can be done. I have witnessed "Old Boys" do this with plumb lines and drawings on the floor and you can easily pick up the older generation of alignment tools with bulbs and mirrors for a real bargain price if you search out second hand ones. As always, I have gone a little O.T.T. here and sourced a rechargeable laser set that does not have any trailing cables.

Just like the Camber Bar, this mechanism sits on the wheel in the same fashion, but this time there are three adjustable studs that must tough the rim.



Just like we aligned the Camber bar earlier, these bars also need to be setup, but instead of needing an angle finder, they have a very useful spirit level bubble on each arm. A quick wiggle about on the wheel and you centralise the Bubble for correct alignment.



If I have got this set up correctly then the laser from the left will fire across to the printed gauge on the right and give me a reading, and vice versa from the right to the left. Ed has advised me to set this up with between 2 and 4 degrees of Toe In. Time to switch it on and see why my handing was so bad on that recent test drive.





I didn't bother with a photo of the other side because it was so far out that it wasn't actually registering on the scale. That would certainly explain some of my poor, but not all of it - there are significant other issues as well, but I will get on to those later. What I need to do now is align the wheels.

Adjustments are made by altering the length between the steering rack and the ball joint at the wheel. This is done in exactly the same way for 99% of the cars out there. Between the steering rack and the ball joint will be a tube secured with a lock nut or clamp at each end which need to be loosened off. This is the hardest part of the job on an older vehicle as they are probably rusty and note that you will also have a left hand thread at one end of the tube to contend with. Once loose, the tube (in my case the Hex Bar) is then rotated and the wheel direction alters.



A bit of movement on each side and you can see the laser marks coming in to play.

Ed said between 2 and 4 degrees, which with my maths is 3. Didn't take long to get this and I am grinning like a Cheshire cat at this point. 



I'm going to sound like a bad JML advert on the telly now "But wait . . . There's More . . "

Whilst the tracking may now look good, there is nothing to suggest that the front wheels are in line with the rear wheels. The beauty of the laser aligner that I have bought is that as well as firing a line side to side, it also fires a couple backwards as well in order to align all four wheels. With the rear hangers fitted to the rear wheels I now have another two scales to check. I will be honest here in that I have no idea what these rear measurements are, or supposed to be, but If I fiddle about with the front wheel tracking as I did before, it also alters the alignment at the rear. So, I am working on the theory that as long as the front ones are maintained at 3 degrees and the rear settings are equal, I cannot be far out. Everything would suggest that all four wheels are now in a straight line.



You have to be very careful when tightening everything up, as the slightest rotation of the bar can alter the readings quite dramatically, but all said and done, it was a fairly straightforward job to do that only took around half an hour from start to finish. Not as scary as it sounds.

It`s amazing just how handy the invention of a laser beam has become in all walks of life.....

Dave.  I think you should set up an alignment centre of your own down there in sunny Paignton for the Tor Bay area.

Sadly Dave is correct.... take your buggy to a local garage set up to have the tracking checked and reset is a waste of time in most cases. (Not all however so ask around). They will simply stick their equipment on... slacken one of the tie bars adjust and pass you the invoice. This results in incorrect tracking and your steering wheel offset from straight ahead. Centralising the steering box  is crucial.  (Dave of course doesn`t have a standard box but the principles remain) . You will know when you have a tracking issue. One edge of each tyre will be shaved off in a very short time.... 

Dave keep the photo`s coming..... a picture paints a thousand words I think the saying goes... 

[I have had a Eureka moment !]

I have not tried this out on the road yet, because I am very mindful of a comment that Farmer Rob also made about not forgetting to sort out the rear suspension as well. He makes a very valid point, because as bad as my handling was, it was as evenly bad at the front as it was at the back, which did mean that the car was at least balanced and equally terrible at all four corners.

Many years ago, when I swapped my engine over for the extra heavy 2 litre one, my rear torsion bars and adjustable spring plates were also changed over at the same time due to the extra weight now at the rear. That period in time is always a bit of a blur as it was also around the time that Lisa got rushed into hospital with some very serious injuries and a mate of mine offered to change these over for me whilst I was sitting by her bedside. He had always messed round with Beetles, so I had no need to ever question his work and greatly appreciated the offer at the time. The car always felt stiff and heavy on its return, but as a new engine had also gone in I didn't really know any better and just learned to live with it. I resigned myself to accepting that was a self built Kit Car, and that's how they probably handle and in fairness, the others I had driven at the time didn't seem to have any less faults either.

Now that the front is lovely and soft it dramatically enhances the almost solid rear that is now jumping up and down whilst the front nose dives, making the car really unpleasant and absolutely lethal to drive. I can now lean on the bonnet and the front end dips down and has a nice smooth movement, but as for the rear, I can jump up and down on the rear cage and it doesn't budge an inch. Its rock solid. The only movement I have at the rear seems to be from the sidewalls of the tyres flexing. There are many comments about tyre pressures and making sure you have worn out or soft shocks on the back - well I removed my shocks, completely let all of the air out of the tyres and it made no difference whatsoever - that rear is as tight as tight can be.

Seized? Broken? Incorrect? I had no idea. So, with a beer in hand, I decided to embark on a long night of research into the workings of rear suspension.
(I only mention the beer, because if I have got this wrong, then I can at least blame the booze for my ramblings) 

My initial thoughts were to junk the whole rear and go for coil over spring replacements, but after some late night communications with Imohr, Red9, Mendola and Moore Parts in the USA who all sell variants of a torsion bar eliminator kit, it was very obvious that this idea was a non starter because the rear cast shock absorber towers are not strong enough to support the weight of the car on their own (not even when using Kafer bars) and the metal is easily broken. Some forums talk of using Coil Overs as spring assisters to the torsion bars and some also mention airbags which would lead to a real mix of trial and error, but as every thread I read was either about slamming the car to the floor, or going to the other extreme of jumping sand dunes, I kept going around in circles. Bottom line though is that if you want to use rear Coil Overs, then you need to fabricate some new shock absorber mounts along with something to attach them to. My brain however, kept telling me that whilst I may have a heavier engine, I also have a much lighter body and it cannot be far off from the original weight. There was simply no reason why the original setup should not work here.

I learnt a lot about the different setups that VW use. There is the traditional Swing Arm system that many of you have, and the rest of you probably have the Independent or IRS at the rear. These are easy to work out which is which at a glance and I won't bore you with that one here. I wanted to focus more on the actual torsion bars themselves because my very limited understanding was that shorter bars are stiffer than long bars, which whilst technically correct, was also completely incorrect.

Looking just in front of the rear wheels where the torsion bar cover is, some cars have a flat cover plate and some have a long tube protruding through it. I had never really looked any harder at them than that and thought there were simply long and short bar types. Again, I have got his wrong too as it would appear that there are actually three different lengths. They all seem to be pretty much interchangeable as long as you use the correct type of corresponding spring plate to go with them. Long bar, you need a long spring plate, short bar, short spring plate, etc etc.

The lengths are:

Short: 21 3/4"  or  553mm  Identifiable by having a flat cover plate
Medium:  24 11/16"  0r  627mm   Identifiable by having a bar that sticks out around 4 inches (roughly mid way on the tyre)
Long:  29 9/16"  0r  675mm   Identifiable by having a bar that sticks out around 6 inches (just past the edge of the floorpan)

I can understand that being torsion bars, that they have a correct and incorrect rotation, and any second hand bars must be refitted back to the same side that they came from (left goes to left, right to right etc) and there are many stories of them fracturing if they start to be used in a different direction to that of the last 40 years or so. I have seen blue and red ones, but cannot find any information to suggest that colours may help to identify them.

So I am thinking that I may need to replace my torsion bars - obviously I would need a matched pair, but do you go for old saggy ones or brand new? Of course I am going for the brand new ones and whilst searching the net, I was faced with the usual set of VW Purchase Options that we are all very much familiar with these days. Unaffordable, OEM, Cheap Chinese Rubbish or something called Heavy Duty. Naturally, when we are faced with this we all tend to go for the Heavy Duty or Best Quality option in the misguided hope that we are getting the best quality and most suitable version. Purchasing this way could not be further from the truth.

I have been gobsmacked by how little information is out there regarding torsion bars, and the only thing you will find is the chart that tells you about how many inner and outer splines you need to select to give you different ride heights and then endless rants by those that are struggling to adjust theirs with limited success. I think I have just uncovered something that very few people have taken into account.

I have had a Eureka moment !   

Torsion bars not only come in different lengths, but they also come in different diameters, and its these different diameters that are the different spring weights. It's bloody obvious when you think about it and everybody I have spoken to has raised their eyebrows in astonishment that they are not sold this way. A rear torsion bar for a Beetle Saloon is obviously going to need a heavier bar than that of a Beetle Convertible, and that's different to a Ghia or a Type 3. Whilst it may not be too noticeable putting the wrong bar into a heavy Beetle it sure as hell makes a huge difference in a lightweight Buggy. Why do none of the parts factors have this information available, and why are they all selling these bars by "Quality" instead of the load weight capability?

After yet another very long and sleepless night, I have put this information together in the hope that it may help others 



So where does that leave me . . .

The rear end needs stripping down anyway, and whatever is in there is not working, so I may as well have a set of bars to hand to pop back in. My thoughts are as follows. From previous measurements taken, I know that the back end of the car on the scales was 240kg and 233kg, so give or take, its around 465kg with that 2 litre engine in place. Add the weight of the driver (albeit distributed over all four wheels) and the 26mm short bar weight of 520kg is looking like a reasonably good place to start. I think the 27mm bar may be a bit too heavy, and the goal here is to make it soft enough for me to drive on my own.

I have just received a set of 26mm MAHLE bars from VW Heritage who at least now list them by diameter even if they have no idea on spring weights.



They seem to be marked on the ends with a letter indicating size and a direction of rotation



And as I have a deep mistrust of any parts arriving these days, it doesn't hurt to double check 



As something is very wrong with this back end, this is now being tackled under the watchful eye of my mate Adam from AJ's VW Services in Paignton overseeing every step of the way to ensure that this time around everything at least goes back together as it should. Interestingly, he knew nothing of the load rates either and was quite keen to see if I was right.

So, the moment of truth - Time to dismantle the rear end and see what I have in there

Logic when modifying cars has always dictated that Heavy Duty is better than regular, but the opposite is true when your car weighs the same as a badly packed, wet paper bag 😂😂😂

I questioned the then owner of Red 9 at a show once about the wisdom of relying on front and rear Beetle damper mounts as sole anchors for the suspension when doing away with torsion bars. He looked blankly at me, turned round and walked off. Wonderful customer service...not!

Strange that 50's beetles used the long bars but when they widened the rear track in the mid 60's buy going to longer drive shafts they put the shorter torsion bars in but then went back to longer for IRS presumably for better ride quality. You also have single and twin spring plates to add into the equation.
The heavy cast motor in the kango is on long irs bars with twin spring plates with it just sitting on the Gaz coil overs but the rear end works a treat..

I questioned the then owner of Red 9 at a show once about the wisdom of relying on front and rear Beetle damper mounts as sole anchors for the suspension when doing away with torsion bars. He looked blankly at me, turned round and walked off. Wonderful customer service...not!

Probably just glad you didn't mention their welding

The torsion bars are fitted with a small amount of tension applied, called "pre-load" and when they are fitted, you have to lift them over a small lip. This does mean that when you try to remove them, you need a small pry bar or screwdriver and they can go with a bit of a thud when the tension is released. Be careful else its goodbye fingers. There are special torsion bar tools available to clamp everything together, and I would strongly recommend to invest in this tool before tackling this job.

My rear suspension is rock hard against this small lip, so I reckon its either seized or more likely, under a lot of tension from an incorrectly sized bar.



Over to Adam for this bit, and I am glad I did as we were not expecting what happened next. Losing a few fingers under a bit of tension? More like losing an arm !
In fact, if you look up into the night sky over the next few months, you may catch a glimpse of something like this . . . . .



And I will be forever wondering how far my favourite 17mm spanner will travel before returning back to the earth. 

I knew it was under tension, and the spring plates that normally rotate by a few degrees or so, managed just over 90 degrees before coming to rest. That had been fitted so badly. The spring plates were removed and the elusive torsion bars were then withdrawn for a close inspection. This was not what I had expected to see, nor what I was hoping to have found.

The Good News was that everything came apart really nicely. Nothing had seized and nothing had broken. That was a relief. 



The Bad News however, was the Red bar that came out. Without measuring it, you can immediately see the difference in size to my new Blue bars. 



That was not only a smaller 22mm diameter bar and the thinnest that VW made, but it made me question everything I had just learned about spring rates, as that bar, at 267kg was also half the load weight of the bar that I was to replace it with. I knew that I had weighed the rear of my car and it came out at around 240Kg either side. Had I got this all wrong? Was I looking at individual bar weights or total rear axle weights? This was undoubtedly going to be a long and very sleepless night.

And then I had another Eureka moment 

Nobody that I have so far chatted with seems to know anything about torsion bar load rates, let alone the different diameter of bars available. Everybody does know how to jack a car up or slam it to the floor by changing the position of the spring plates on the splines. And this is what I suspect had happened. When those weak 22mm bars were fitted, the back of the car would have sat so low that the engine would have been dragging itself along the ground. Faced with that, the splines would have been adjusted accordingly, again and again and again until they could be adjusted no more due to being under so much tension that it would not have been possible to adjust them any further. The problem here is that the springs are now at the limit of their physical rotation and the suspension has become what is known as "Coil Bound" - or Rock Solid. I had this issue on the front when playing with springs, so was at least familiar with the concept.

I figured that I had spent countless hours working out these spring weights and now that I had sourced a set of brand new 26mm bars that I may as well go for it and put them in. If I was wrong, then they would be even more solid that the red 22mm ones that came out, and there was still a slim chance that I may actually have got this right after all.

So here goes.   

I'm thinking your assumption about the old bars being coil bound must be correct. To my mind, with all the other factors mentioned,  it makes too much sense for it not to be correct. But hey, I'm no engineer.

As you say the constant is the weight of the buggy both bars will have the same load to get the same ride height the difference is the amount of torsional twist on the bars and how they allow more twist as the suspension goes up.

     

I now have significant movement on the back end and I can push the rear of the car up and down fairly easily. To say that I am chuffed to bits is a bit of an understatement. This was looking really good and so I thought I would try a quick trip around the block. No longer was I relying on my tyre side walls for suspension, and this quick drive felt quite promising. I obviously need to put a few miles on it before I know if it has worked fully and I may need to play about with ride heights and setting up the geometry again, but so far, things seem to be moving in the right direction.

Couldn't really say the same for the notchy steering though. 

The steering wheel rotation was very smooth for around 350 degrees, but that last little bit would literally snatch the wheel out of my hands and spin at great speed which did little to inspire any confidence when trying to drive. It was a bit scary if I'm honest. Although the universal joint spiders were correctly in line, I tried releasing and rotating them a few degrees to make sure that nothing was locking up. It made a little bit of a difference, but not much.

My steering column is a mismatch of VW and XR3i bits and very badly welded together. So I thought I would chop it in half and try to re-weld it again, but this time try and get it a little straighter. It made a huge difference and proved that the deviation at the end of the column by a few millimetres was now the root cause of my steering problems. I have also noticed that my (very brief) use of the steering with a bent column has actually bent the centre spider in one of the universal joints too, which was not so good as it no longer rotates smoothly.

And that has forced me to make a decision about what to do next.
I obviously need to replace that failed universal joint. My steering column is now made from so many sections badly welded together in an uneven line that even Dr Frankenstein would raise his eyebrows at it, and if I'm honest, I never did get around to sorting out the alignment angle of the shaft when I last had it apart either. So, I have decided to rip the entire lot out and start again with something that has fewer welds in place.

I know that the Mk4 Golf seems to be a popular Column of choice amongst many people due to its multiple adjustment capabilities, and it just so happens that I have a couple of those in the garage leftover from another project - So I will investigate the possibilities of using that instead

Well after the umpteenth time of stripping the car down I think I have found the offending article and the reason for my erratic steering. I always knew that the main steering column was bent, but when trying to join two bits of smaller shafts together for the universal joint, it would appear that I have managed to get them a few degrees out of alignment, which has not only put a significant amount of pressure on the universal joints, but has actually twisted and damaged the spider of the lighter weight joint I have just fitted. The joint no longer turns freely. I have now learnt the hard way that if you are trying to join two shafts together that you have to be a bit more precise than simply doing it by eye and hoping that they are still perfectly in line after they have cooled down after being welded.

Bugger. Time to tackle Plan B (and yes, I have started the Alphabet again as run out of numbers for Plan D/E/F . . . )

I am fortunate enough to work closely with a lot of breakers yards for decoding and repairing their radio's, because it does mean that if I ever need any spares to play with, I can just shout and they miraculously turn up along with a few radio's that require attention. When I was researching the whole steering rack concept a while back, I took note of the MK4 Golf column that Chad used when designing the DOON and I ended up with a couple of them here to play with.




I can certainly see why Chad went for this as it offers almost infinite adjustment positions that we see in modern cars from both height adjustment and also the ability to pull or push the steering wheel away from you to suit your driving position. It dismantles into three sections that each slide in and out and for my lack of precision approaches, it looks like it may be a good one to play with. It has an oddball 22 spline on the end where it bolts directly to a Golf steering box, but that was easy to solve by liberating a freebie steering box input shaft from a crash damaged Golf MK6 with a bent rack.




An idea was starting to formulate in my head and I reckoned it should be straightforward to cobble a few bits together to make something, but this time there are a few elements that would require some proper fabrication, such as making some sleeved joints for any shafts to fit in and line up correctly before welding, nothing that complex, and nothing that would take more than a few minutes on a lathe to make.

And therein lies the problem. 

Not that many years ago, we had a lot of true engineers out there. The Country was full of "Old Boys" with sheds in the back garden, and you could always locate of a friend of a friend who had a lathe and could turn a few bits for you in exchange for beer tokens. Sadly, most of those guys are now either in Old Folks Homes, or no longer with us, and the shed contents have long gone to the knackers yard as the family offload their worldly possessions. Its the same around here now and as I cannot find anyone with a back street workshop, reluctantly I have to resort to the area I hate the most for a solution - The Industrial Estate. Nothing wrong with having anything bespoke made from a professional outfit. You will often get a quality piece made that will be exactly what you ask for, but this is not a great approach when doing things as trial and error and you are a little unsure about dimensions. That's where the Old Boys came in, because they would trim a bit, cut a bit, fettle a bit, and it would eventually be perfect - it just might take a few attempts, which was part of the enjoyment factor too and how I learned to do stuff myself.

As a guess, and to cover most outcomes, I reckoned on needing approximately three components to be made so that the different diameter (and shaped) shafts could slide inside each other correctly and then be welded into place as the alignment would this time be correct. I may not actually need that many, but its handy to have a few shapes and bits to play around with when fabricating something as a one off.

You would not believe the reaction I have had around here. Most engineering firms do not want to do one off bits and those that do want full blown engineering blueprints and drawings before they would even talk to me or quote.

One piece I definitely needed was a small tube, around 60mm long with a lip at one end and a 15mm hole through the middle. The only firm that would talk to me wanted to charge over a hundred quid for making this piece alone with significant charges for any additional machining and setting up. This was ridiculous. Its around ten minutes work, I kid you not, and after quite a heated argument with them I reckoned that I could actually buy my own lathe for what they were wanting to charge me for all of the bits that I may need - and it turns out I was right.



That night, whilst still fuming from the altercation earlier, I set about the Internet to see if there were any Old Boys left nearby that could help. Facebook, engineering societies, restoration clubs, etc etc, I tried them all. At just past midnight, I came across an advert on Gumtree that had literally only just been posted six minutes earlier by a man who was not only selling his late fathers small modelling lathe, but was located less than two miles down the road. It was clear that he did not know exactly what he was selling, what it was actually worth, and when I noticed the numerous boxes of tools and chucks that came with it, it was obvious he just wanted it cleared and quickly. I immediately messaged him that as I was within a few minutes of his location, I could collect it first thing in the morning. More with the intention of reselling it to make a few quid as I knew what lathes can cost. I got an instant reply that if it could be at breakfast time, before he went to work it would suit him great. Sure enough, at 7:30am I was driving home with a boot full of lathe and tools. There was no way I could chance haggling with him as he had quite a long list of people who were not only telling him what it was worth, but also wanting to place an immediate deposit. We had agreed a price though and I had turned up on time with cash.

But, Oh Boy, has this one backfired on me big time. 




Lisa and I met at engineering college many years ago, and I can no longer take her into Machine Mart in Exeter. By the door is a small lathe with a rather large £1200 price tag and she is drawn to it like a bee to a honey pot. I have always said no as for that price I would want a proper full sized one. But over the years it has become a standing joke now in our household as whenever I have to own up to filling her shed with stuff I cannot cram into the garage, the immediate reply is either "Not more bloody wheels" or "it is a lathe?"

She nearly choked on her cornflakes when I had to admit that I had just unloaded one into her shed, that it was not for keeps, it was to resell, and I think she  could see from my posture that unloading it from the car on my own was probably not the best thing I should have done. Its heavier than it looks, but was also a bit of a twist to get it out of my car, down the side of the van and into her shed. I could hardly catch up with her as she ran outside, and when I reached over to plug it in, that's when things went quite badly with a TWANG !



Three weeks later, after being heavily sedated and immobilised for ripping and tearing a deep muscle in my left shoulder, I am now able to at least sit up and write this bit after the intervention of a physio, and hopefully I might get to walk outside to see this lathe again before she wears it out.

Hundred quid for that part seems like a bargain now. 

Dave the description - twang - of your injury is a horrid read. The only up side is you are surely past the worst of the pain and able to make it part of a humorous tale....

However, it is great to realise you are equipping yourself (lathe etc) for the future so that you can replenish the stock of 'Old Boys in sheds' by becoming one yourself.

Perhaps you can start a category in the Forum - Old Boys in sheds looking for practice.

Well, near a couple of months have passed and I still have very restricted movement but I am determined to get into the garage even if it is just for a few minutes at a time in order to sort out my Buggy. I don't need all the height adjustment stuff that the Column comes with, so I have removed it all and stripped the column down to its basic components making it a bit easier to work with.




This was then centralised in line with my seat, the correct steering column angle determined and then held in place with a G-Clamp. One of the brackets removed earlier proved to be an ideal fit and was bolted alongside the column so that I could tack weld it in place.




Now that I had fixed points both top and bottom, all I need to do now is join them together. Thanks to the extending nature of this column, it meant that I could get the end of the shaft quite close to the steering rack and use 2 universal joints. I was really pleased with this as using a third joint would also mean incorporating some form of bearing to prevent the shaft from moving side to side and keeping everything in line.

However, the Golf Column has a square extending tube and my rack had a round input shaft and I was very conscious that this critical alignment was where I went very wrong last time. This time though I had a cunning plan. If you recall that bit I mentioned earlier than needed a second mortgage to fabricate it, well its the small round sleeve here that did only take me a few minutes to make on my new lathe.




It fits snugly inside the square tube and my round steering shaft now can slide in and out until the correct length can be determined.




A quick bit of welding and an hour or two with the angle grinder to tidy it up and Voila - Round Peg in a Square Hole - Perfectly aligned 




I have also welded some extra column support brackets at the bulkhead end, just to prevent any unwanted flex from me tugging on the steering wheel.

So far, so good 

  Something I had not really considered . . .

I currently use Ford Escort XR3i switchgear as everything is contained within a single unit. Lights, Wipers, Hazard Switch and Indicator Relays, all located in one place which made wiring them up quite easy. The horse shoe nature of the switch meant it fitted on the column quite nicely. The Golf column is a fair bit larger in diameter which of course means my simple switch solution no longer fits.

        Not enough swear words here - Its bad enough not being able to drive it 


The new obvious choice of stalk controls would be the Golf MK4 to match the column, but as I am not really a fan of loads of buttons that don't do anything such as cruise control, I have opted to use the ones from the VW Bora as they didn't have rear wash wipe on them either. If I use the Airbag Squib ring I get some good wires to connect to the horn push without twisting and as a real added bonus, I get self cancelling indicators too. I have an old Headlight switch kicking about from a Vauxhall Belmont that can be used and a Hazard switch from CBS should be arriving shortly.




Time to tackle the wiring   

I've often heard the term "Brain Fog" but just dismissed it as a similar phrase to having a "Blonde" moment. The painkillers I am currently on due to my injury are Neurological ones and they can affect the way you function. For instance, the other day I was walking down the stairs and stopped midway. I knew I had to continue walking but my Body had decided to just stop and I could not find a way to move again. I just stood there puzzled. Its quite frustrating at times wanting to either do or say something when everything is being processed perfectly in your head, but the body says "No". No sympathy from Liz either, a she has had these drugs herself and remembers me giving her a hard time about some of her more comical side effects.




If I thought that trying to use the Lathe was hard work on medication, fathoming out the wiring just blew my mind - and quite a few fuses too. At least I had the sense to connect it all up temporarily with chocolate blocks to see what worked, and I can then tidy up the wiring later.

Dave sorry to read you are still heavily medicated and are - at times - struggling to operate your own body.

That wiring image shocks me as its the sort of thing I'd have and be quite proud of but thought your green metal flake body concealed factory standard wiring ie all neatly secured in straight lines with sealed water proof junctions and no excessive slack....

Liz's lack of sympathy is actually kindness as she wants you to push on to full recovery rather than lapse into an unnecessary dependent state.