Radiator removal and Steering setup

Well another busy night on Ratty. I needed to clear room for where I want to trial the location of the steering box. Of course this wasn't a simple task. I first needed to remove the radiator, wiring.

To remove the radiator I needed to drain it first. To get a larger enough container underneath I needed to jack it up.

That should be large enough :)

Remove the lower hose as this radiator didn't have a drain plug.

Remove the top hose, and temp sensor for the electric fan.

Start unbolting all the surround and then the radiator.

Job done, radiator all gone, now i have access to the frame where I want to place the steering box and check to make sure I can get the radiator back in.

Surround, Radiator, over flow bottle.

First I need to remove the pivot arm from the steering box, I had to go get a set of pulley pullers, when it did come off it cam with a bang.

Test fit with a clamp holding it, checking the clearances.

Now checking what the angles look like for the connecting arm. Not even close. I will need to get the pivot arm extended about 70mm, That will require an engineer, as the spline will need to be removed and welded into the new arm. The Spline on the arm also has key ways which only allow it to be place at certain angles. So when I get the new one made I will need to have that setup correctly. Im going to take it first to the Certification man first, then if I get the green light Im off to an engineer to fit out the cost of getting a new one made up.

Measuring what length I will need the now pivot arm, it worked out to be an extra 70mm,

Also the three mount holes wont fit the chassis, So I will need to talk to the engineer on how best to get the bottom mount sorted. There other two are easy, Drill a hole through the frame, weld in an insert with the correct diameter hole for the mounting bolt. So the insert will be about 15mm and a 8mm hole. Will need to talk to the engineer about that too.

Well that was it for tonight, another busy night. But more slow progress.