================ Average male Height, by birth decade. https://ourworldindata.org/data/food-agriculture/human-height/ That claims the average for guys born in 1980 is about 10 cm (~4 inches ) taller than those of us born in 1890 (and driving in the 20s, 30s and 40s. Looks like Americans were 173.5 cm in 1830 and started shrinking to a low of 169.2 in 1890. It took 100 years (until 1930) to return to 173.5 cm (5' 8.3 ").
Just after WWI when the Army still had height requirements for being an officer my granddad just made it @ 5'3"[funny story about that] General Eisenhower his contemporary was 5'10.5". From conversations with my granddad Eisenhower was considered to be a tall man by his peers. I asked my granddad once why he was so short and he said that he was average height and people from my generation were just tall.
Thanks to whichever of the mods moved this thread to the Off Topic Hot Rods & Customs forum, as it opens up more scope for further speculation. I had a stray thought yesterday about power steering. I generally dislike power steering (I hate that on-off cycling oversensitive power steering does in long sweeping curves) but there are certainly instances where it's useful. All power steering requires a small amount of rotational input to activate a valve or switch before the assist comes on. Systems are engineered to keep that rotation as small as possible, but it can't be eliminated entirely. Because the valve or switch has a fixed amount of travel, the input rotation to activate gets bigger the quicker the steering gets. It's pretty much imperceptible on excruciatingly slow, finger-light dad's-Oldsmobile steering, so for many years it wasn't an issue. But now that the advantages of power steering are being investigated for unbelievably quick, nicely-weighted steering it might become an issue. I suspect that it's handled by a combination of chasing last percentiles in the engineering of the valves/switches and convincing a new generation that that's how steering ought to feel. But how about driving older slow power steering through a quickener? Using a timing chain and sprocket set as a quickener would cut the input rotation to activate in half. And quicker ratios can certainly be done. It could solve power steering feel and packaging issues at the same time?
I've been walking around with steering on my brain for almost a week. It took a branch into rack-and-pinion setups, which aren't really germane here, before coming back to designed-in chain-drive quickeners. I have a thing for controls on the steering wheel hub, and a steering column driving a camshaft sprocket could easily have all kinds of things running down the middle of it. Only thing is, that would require the chain to run perpendicular to the column, and if the column is to be, say, 15° from the horizontal I was going around in circles thinking chain vs. my feet; chain vs. firewall; chain vs. back of engine — though of course this is all hypothetical and meant to be adaptable to all kinds of different builds. The chain really wants to be parallel with, and just behind, the firewall. Perhaps I just couldn't think of the right search terms, but I couldn't find anything online like an annular Hooke joint, i.e. a U-joint with a constant hole that runs straight through the middle. It's surely possible: all it needs is for the spider or cross to be formed as a ring, and one of the two yokes as a bigger ring that goes around it. But surely it can be engineered, and quite probably far more simply and easily than what I ended up 3D-modelling: The last one was like a ten-hour render, for some reason. I didn't go crazy like on my epicyclic-geared wheel-reinventing exercise of two years ago: just levers for throttle and spark, and space for a wire to the horn switch down the middle.
Why bother, just clock the rack so the pinion is horizontal , then use 2 x Toyota Hiace Van 90° steering boxes. to "Z" it up the firewall You can add a universal to the upper column for steering wheel angle. Already tested and approved by Toyota I would certainly trust this more than a funky chain drive steering
Why not? 1. No opportunity for controls down the middle of the steering column 2. No integral quickener 3. No opportunity to reinvent the wheel
And no roadworthy inspection drama In NZ , Aussie etc we need a modification cert and you'll get "burnt at the stake" if you tried using a chain steering. Even hotrod parts are frowned on , so by using OEM parts circumvents this path of rejection. You can absolutely use controls down the middle of the steering column ! just the steering column is a lot shorter
No such issues here (yet!) Inspections only at change of ownership, and pre-'94 cars are grandfathered as regards regs. Which generation Hi-Ace had that box? We skipped the 4th generation here, went straight from H60 (Kruiwa = wheelbarrow) to H200 (Quantum/Ses'fikile). What's the diameter of the input and output shafts? You're suggesting rifle-drilling a ±20mmØ hole down that and out through the cover plate?
The Jalopy Journal
