I'm getting back to working on my roadster and I'm still having trouble in the engine bay. I tried to bolt down a mock up cowl and the holes in the body are about an inch behind the frame holes so the motor is going to have to come forward about 1.5" The firewall is right up against the back of the engine. That means I'm not going to be able to use my stock 32 wishbone which is locating my K member in the chassis right now. I will have to whip up a shorter wishbone with the 33-34 bones and Model A wishbone I have. No big deal, but keep in mind the engine and K member have to come forwards slightly. I have a 48 F1 steering box with the sector shaft housing cut down to adapt a Model A flange to bolt to the frame. I left an inch on the housing and an inch on the flange like they say to do in the B-T book. I havent tacked the two pieces together yet as I don't have the body on the frame or a column yet. I ordered a set of AV8 with F1 steering flathead headers from Red's Headers. I'm not slamming Red's, its more likely I messed up but I'm surprised by how far I'm off. When I move the engine forward that will allow the front of the box and the middle exhaust tube to have some room. However it looks like its going to make the interference with the steering shaft and the rear tube worse. Plus, the way it sits now it pushed the engine off center to the right by about a half inch and the box wouldn't bolt straight onto the frame. So what should I do here? Do I cut more off the Model A steering snout and bring the box closer to the frame? I don't want my steering wheel off center and too close to the door. Or do I start modifying the $200 "bolt in" headers I just bought? Any other ideas? Here's a few pics of the situation.
Why not move the mounting holes in the frame? Move them down and back. That is what I did and or cut more of the f1 box housing off so it sits farther into the frame maybe.
I would call reds and ask them. Really depends after what pattern the header where designed.....motor positon etc... Michael
Can you relocat the steering box to the top of the frame rail with a custom mabe bracket? May not be the best looking but would clear up room next to the engine and not interfer with the headers
Nice mess..... Try to mock up what Hutch51888h has suggested. You cannot run the center pipe in contact with the box, it will heat the grease and puke out the pinion seal. Can you raise the engine / trans in the chassis? It looks too low. I had a similar problem and relocated the box on top of the frame, HOWEVER I had to put a joint in the steering shaft as the angle changed too much to work right.
Had a similar problem with the same headers, 48 F-1 box in a 32 frame. I did not trim the housing and built shims to align the flange with the inside frame rail. My problem was with the rear tube not clearing the box. So rather than move everything and trim the box, I carefully reworked the rear header tube with a body hammer flattening the outer radius so it would clear the box with about an 1/8th inch space between. I don't think it will result in significant restriction of the tube and my understanding is that the headers on a flathead don't get that hot so as to be a problem with my steering box. We will see.
While mine is different because I'm using the stock "A" steering box, it seems yours is still pretty far away from the frame rail. Can the sector housing be cut down more to give you some more room?
I welded up the existing steering mounting holes and relocated the steering box straight down to work with my stock exh manifolds. I saw a photo of an AV8 with tube headers once and they had extensively modified the rear header tube to go up and around the steering box. An easy way to gain clearance with the steering box is to incorporate a Tardell/32 type, flat plate flange that provides far more adjustment and wiggle room than the A/F1 steering flange conversion. As far as the AV8 wishbone goes IMHO the only way is a modified 33/34 as the stock 32 is just to long and although it will work its use causes several other problems.
Well I'm running a full hood with sides so I can't relocate the box to the top of the rail. Besides I hate the look, (I have it on my sedan) and I wouldn't do that to an AV8. I'm leaning towards header modification although I plan on calling Red's Monday morning to see what they have to say. I will cut that A flange down a bit more but like I said, I dont want to move the steering wheel too close to the door.
Lucky, Check this out.: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=305957&highlight=flathead+headers+steering+box I had the same concerns with cutting the box down and moving the steering wheel to close to the door. Or moving the box more forward or back and losing my good steering column angle.
i am no expert but i have done a couple of these. first off, you cant expect these headers to work because everyone has a different approach on putting a flathead in a model A frame with an f-1box. so selling these headers advertised to fit an A frame is a crock of shit. the box is sitting way too inboard for what i can see in your pictures. i would ditch that box and find another one and mill the triangle off and weld another to it like in the v t little steering guide. you can get the box snug right up to the frame rail with a hair of clearance. to do this correctly you need to have column drop all figured out and ready to go. fit everything where you want it, bolt the new triangle to were it needs to go in the inside of the frame with the box where you want it and tack it to the box snout. as for having no firewall clearance, you can simply move the body back if you are not running fenders. these 2 examples were both moved back 7/8 or so, and were both able to run hoods.
I had exactly the same issue.I also bought the same headers from Reds and had the same luck. I called Jim and he remade a left side header that fits perfect at no charge. Reds has a copy of my left side. If you ask him he should be able to provide a part that will work. If you need help send me a pm Walter
I looks to me that if you moved the steering box back and tucked into the frame a little more you could make it clear the exhaust tubes. By welding on a new steering flange you could do this yourself. Sorry for the shameless self promotion but here's a link to steering flanges I make. Mine have the option of tapped mounting holes and an aluminum outside flange to dress it up. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=521287
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