I kind of regret tearing this thing apart. It's been such a nice truck.

Anyway, let's get on. If destruction, then the real deal.

I stopped with the umpteenth iteration of the upper coil bucket and shock mount. With the addition of the sheet metal function to Fusion 360 i proceeded to make a model and fiddle with it.

This is the stuff i will forward to my sheet metal guys to create the parts to actually mount and test on the truck.

In parallel and to keep a sane mind i continued working on other parts of the vehicle. Such as brakes and steering.

I procured an OEM booster, master cylinder and steering rack from rockauto and began test fitting these to the truck. Turns out that the MC reservoir is close to the hood but fits with enough clearance.

The steering rack fits better, with lots of clearance between the boots and the frame rail, no notching required.

I tore out the windshield and dash in preparation of cutting and re-doing the firewall.

You can barely see the dotted line where i want to cut.

It is close to the booster and i will have to see about that. One option is moving the whole pedal box assembly over 3/4" to the drivers side.

I am jumping between topics, sorry for that.

Since the pictures above were taken, i made a jig for the steering rack.

Now i know that the steering linkage - without considering engine and exhaust placement - is a pretty straight forward setup.

In these pictures the steering column has been shortened 4". I need a collar and a bearing to support the lower end of the column but that's a simple task for a machine shop.

This truck has a collapsible steering column. The stock Chrysler design consists of standard 3/4" and 1" double-d tubing!

Just the same stuff that Borgeson uses for its steering shafts. So i am replacing the lower part with a nice piece of 1" shaft and a fat steel u-joint from Borgeson.

The connection between the end of the steering column and the steering rack will be made with another collapsible shaft. I like to implement safety measures wherever i can.

If this thing ever hits a wall, tree, other vehicle, it will be travelling fast.

Everything else is rubbing. And rubbin' is racing.

 

Where does it go from here?

On lifting the engine into the truck i noticed i will have to do something about the way i lift the engine. My method of using four chains, one on each corner of the engine does interfere with the firewall and will interfere even more when i want to lift the engine into the cutout in the firewall.

Therefore i aquired the OEM lifting tool from Chrysler/Miller.

This way i can lift the engine in its center. Way easier to position in the cutout...

I did not cut yet. Need to stiffen the cab with some braces before i do that.