Straightening up the steering column

[craig green]

Incase you havent noticed, the Nova steering column is on the pi$$. The ideal driver would have a left arm shorter than the right by about 3 inches!

By introducing a 2nd UJ into the column, does anyone reckon it could be straightened & pointed at the driver better? My first thoughts are that the column may need shortening, easiest to do at the lower end where it meets the current UJ.

I had the idea after seeing the larger UJ's that come with the Corsa EPAS units & pics of the column supporrt being welded onto the bulkhead.

Discuss.

[Welsh Dan]

I see no reason why it wouldnt work, but my left arm is 3 inches shorter than my right lol.

My suggestion though, is that if you're going to go to the effort of doing that, why not go the whole hog and use a CV instead of a UJ, and add tilt+extension adjustment. Could you take the adjustable column off another vauxhall?

[Adam]

Ive never noticed, does the column not sit straight then? :confused:

[Welsh Dan]

No, it goes to the left.

[Stuart]

sit there and draw an imagineary line from your croth up the windscreen (or even pee lol) the wheel sits off that line by a fair way.

[Stoo]

IIRC it sits further towards the driver on the left side

[Iain]

IIRC a member called Loggyboy tried to straighten the column by moving it a little to the right and straightening it up using a second joint. The angle of the steering wheel is hideous, but try and forget it or it'll annoy you for ages. lol

[Dar]

I've never noticed that the colum was to bad, but the seat is wayyy off! I moved mine as far left as possible so that the steering wheel sat more central to the driver.

[draper]

it just adds character :D

[tom_beverley]

Tis at a funny angle, when I first noticed I thought 'fook, my steering wheel must be all bent and knackered' lol Tbh I just put up with it and never noticed that much whilst driving, would be a good mod to do however.

[MARTIN KELSON]

I did the same as Dar.
When i stipped interiour i cut and boxed the centre strenghthening cross member and moved the seat to the left.
Still not 100% but a damn site better than origonal Vauxhall

[Lee H]

Its far more noticeable when you fit bucket seats as you are forced to sit straight in them, it didn't bother me half as much with the standard seats. I'd like to sort this too!!

[Clean 2.0 nova]

I tried adjusting mine when fitting EPS, It didn't improve things much but made the cowling a **** to make fit.

[Dave.]

ive allways knew it was wonky.. but tbh i couldnt give a toss lol

it might work.. if not all you need is a new colum

[Rich]

I've noticed it since putting my bucket seats in. I get bad pains in my left shoulder/neck maybe this is the cause lol

[tom_beverley]

I've noticed it since putting my bucket seats in. I get bad pains in my left shoulder/neck maybe this is the cause lol

Thats funny, my left ribs used to ache like hell but I always put it down to a dodgy one or two from my car crash. Never get it now I drive the Pug lol

I think I'll attempt to straighten it up when I put EPS in over the winter months!

[Rich]

lol I blame it on the banger racing i did a while back, but its a good chance it is from the nova. Time to sell?

[Iain]

ive allways knew it was wonky.. but tbh i couldnt give a toss lol
Only because you drive it once a month in a circle around a carpark lol:p

[philly]

id be more concerned if something else curved to the left than the steering wheel lol

[craig green]

1st thing I thought of was that the std ign cowling wont fit but thats no big deal. I dont have a massive issue with the overall position in the car, I've been driving Novas since 97! I just like to think of ways to refine my car & add neat touches. (dont suggest owning a Corsa!)

I'm going to trial it on my TD I think when I start working on that. My GSi has had the dash put back in now & I'm not going to take any backward steps with that tbh.

It'll need a 2nd UJ, either another std Nova one or perhaps look at using the ones I've seen with the EPAS, which look a lot longer.

The upper column support will need moving on the bulkhead to actually achieve the new position.

Maybe the bottom of the column will need to be cut & shortened to accomodate the extra UJ.

This pic shows the bottom end of the column & UJ (universal joint)

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/turbocraig/NovaGSi-WIP_pics/London_Jay-Z_Nova004.jpg

[loggyboy]

You really need to combine the swap with a corsa brake servo to free up the room. Then its just a matter of repositioning/welding the column mounts and using a combo of corsa an nova column parts.

heres a few pics of mine.

http://www.loggyboy.com/images/MeritMk2/CorsaColumn/NewMount.jpg

http://www.loggyboy.com/images/MeritMk2/CorsaColumn/ColumnInPlace1.jpg

http://www.loggyboy.com/images/MeritMk2/CorsaColumn/ColumnInPlace2.jpg


THe bits u need from each car:
http://www.loggyboy.com/images/MeritMk2/CorsaColumn/ColumnComponentsMarkup.jpg

http://www.loggyboy.com/images/MeritMk2/CorsaColumn/ColapsableJoint2.jpg

There are few issues that the conversion throws up:

-Once moved across, the main mount can interfere with the back dials. (i had to bend one corner of the mount so my indicator warning light wasnt effected)
-The universal joint has a larger 'female' joint than the novas male one this can be solved by packing it with PU sealant or similar.
-One you have the moved the wheel, the dials dont line up, if you retain a stard nova wheel, it looks pissed as they were manufactured pissed to make them look straight when the wheel pointing straight on.
and the most annoything is that they even deigned the seats to lean to the left! so you lower body lines with pedals but ur upper lines up with the original position of the wheel!

[tom_beverley]

Some good pictures and information there loggy.

[craig green]

That looks like quite a bend in the UJ' to rack. Does it work OK?

[loggyboy]

Yep, thats not much more than it is in a corsa. Feels fine. I only has issues with excess play in the joints (like i mentioned) but as soon as you pack it with sumthing it feels good. Its only a matter of a fraction of a MM (infact it, probly no bigger than the original, as the gap would be filled by the plastic that makes it colaposable (sp))