Brief catch up to where the truck is today.
I had hacked the firewall badly to try and get that V8 in there. I had been piecing it back together but got frustrated with that so plasma'd the entire thing out.
Bent up a few replacement pieces and started burning them back in.
Got the floor filled back in also. Not perfect but it'll get covered up eventually. Kept the mid section removable like factory just because I thought it was cool even though it made for a lot more work. The middle area transition is much flatter across than it looks in the pic for some reason.
Now that floor and firewall are back in place I can start working on steering and brakes.
I chose to use a Toyota electric power assist from an unmentionable car of theirs. I adapted the lower electric motor housing to an old Fiero column I had.
EPAS housing on the left, slug of delrin in the middle, Fiero column on the right. Had to get my lathe set back up for this part to turn the delrin to the proper sizes inside and out.
Toyota shaft to Fiero shaft. Tig'd and pinned
All married together now.
The next issue is now I don't need a powered steering rack. The Dakota one was a leaky mess and needed replaced anyway so planned on just ordering a manual rack for that truck. The problem is, nobody makes that rack new anymore and there are no remans available that I could find. Plus they would be ~$350 plus whatever core charge had one been available.
So did some measuring and determined the typical Mustang II rack that hot rodders have been using forever was the correct width and travel. The mounts were wider and the pinion angle was pretty far off though. The new rack was $55 shipped. Another $150 or so for hardware, tie rod ends, and a new u joint to match the splines.
Stock Dakota frame mounts at 10" wide and pretty offset to the passenger side of the frame.
Sliced all that off and tacked in a flat plate with 16" spacing to accomodate the M2 rack. The pinion might be a little tight to the cross member but I'm waiting on that u-joint still to find out.
And that is where I am at as of last weekend. Waiting on some u joints and an upper column mount so I can get it set in the truck and fab the lower column mount to hold the motor in place. Then I can figure out what I'm going to do for pedals.
Thu Aug 31, 2023 10:54 am 
