Decided it was time to mount the Nardi steering wheel to the tilt column that was previously mounted after retrieving from the paint shop and noticed that the upper bearing was loose on the shaft and missing some balls. We were not prepared for the set back that awaited us. When it was given to the paint shop we failed to mount the turn signal cam and associated lock plate, spring and nut. Needless to say the shaft was not supported and the balls fell out. Of course now we are wondering where they ended up. I did find a few hanging on the grease around the race but not all. We were missing 4. I measured them with a micrometer and found them to be .125 (1/8). Went to my stash of ball bearings and

found what I needed and reinstalled them. Had everything but the steering wheel back together and still had some side play in the shaft but lower on the shaft. Turned out to be the lower bearing was also missing balls. Needless to say this turned into a long day. Had to dissemble the whole tilt mechanism which required pulling the turn signal switch and wiring, lock cylinder and tilt pivot pins and slide off the bowl. Most of the balls were MIA, so again found what was needed from my surplus. People wonder why I save everything, this is why. It also turned out that when I originally rebuilt the column the knuckle joint that is part of the tilt shaft was reversed 180 deg. This you wouldn't think is a problem except that the spline at the upper end locating the lock plate is void one groove locating it one way on the shaft. This in turn positions the canceling cam to correctly operate the canceling function of the turn signals, which brings back a memory of why they didn't cancel correctly during build up. Needless to say I wasn't going to spend the time to remove the shaft. We took the lock plate and ground off the spline point 180 deg opposite of the one that is normally missing and reinstalled it correctly. There, problem solved. I,m not going to bore you with disassembled steering column photos because it was ugly, but now we have a tight steering with functioning turn signal cancellation. So in hind sight we should have given the paint shop a FULLY assembled column, but then we would not have found the turn signal canceling problem. Lesson learned. In the end it's always nice to fix your stupid mistakes.

 Got the call from Gary's Auto Body that the fenders were finished and what a sight to behold. We had the underside Line-Exed to match the underside of the body. The inner part of the fender behind the wheel well was also Line-Exed but painted to match the firewall. Fender flares were installed along with the clear side marker lights. Jeffrey preferred the clear look over the amber lens, so an amber bulb will be used. Previously during mock up, when the fenders were lined up a split pin was installed through the fender into the firewall along with a 3/4" wide aluminum strip for strengthening. This pin provided perfect alignment of the fender to body eliminating the chance to damage the paint. One

slight oversight though was installing the heater box assembly prior, virtually eliminating access to the upper 2 fender bolts on the right fender. Threaded inserts were then installed in the firewall with studs allowing the use of 2 nuts. In hindsight a steel strip with 2 studs should have been glued in place from the inside before the heater box was installed. We laughed and said when the heater core decides to leak, we will then take care of it. Fronts of fenders were then secured to the grille. The center grille mount will be left loose until the hood is painted and installed permitting alignment. The tops of the fenders were covered with shrink wrap for protection while the wiring harness was secured.

The headers that we are using were take offs from the J10. They are Edelbrock shorties that are no longer available. The finish was weathered and also we were concerned of heat transfer to the Line-Ex covered firewall. So Jeffrey did some research and concluded with Jet Hot Coatings for a heat reducing chrome like finish. The headers were packaged and sent and were returned a few weeks later looking great. Quality is impeccable. Their claim is that the coating reduces heat by 65% and has a life time warranty, plus the polished coating looks so damn good. We figured that these should be installed before the fenders came back from the paint shop. Installation went well using studs and Nord-Lock Washers on all but one location where a bolt was used to allow installation to clear

the steering shaft. The Nord- locks were still used with the bolt. These lock washers have wedge shaped serration on both sides and are used in pairs. We had these installed during mock up and never came loose. Now that these are installed we can move on to the fenders.

Got the dash back from the painters, and as usual Garys Body Shop didn't disappoint. Jeffrey spent a weekend installing gauges and hardware and wiring it all back up. I can't point out the importance of documentation with pictures when it comes time for reassembly. With the ease and quality of cell phones today for taking pictures it is a valuable tool to have in the workshop. The steering column had been previously installed and was wrapped for protection during dash installation. Stainless steel fasteners were used throughout. Heater cables were routed and checked for function. Speaking of those, the retaining clips used to terminate the cable ends can sometimes be hard to find, and reusing the

old weak ones is a gamble that they would stay on. These are readily available from McMaster Carr in various sizes.