Got the new steering wheel today so I installed that.  The outer portion of the quick disconnect bolts to the back of the steering wheel, horn is connected to the quick disconnect wiring and pushed/inserted into the quick disconnect piece. I had some troubles getting the quick disconnect to work at first – I could not lock the wheel into place. I realized that one of the bolts that holds the steering wheel onto the disconnect piece was rubbing on the inside of the main disconnect hub so I had to grind that down a bit with a file.  Now it locks/unlocks as it should.

This setup is very nice. The steering wheel can be removed or connected in seconds, and getting in and out of the car is much, much easier. This steering wheel allows for a great view of the gauges, as it follows the curvature of the dash nearly perfectly.

As I await for my inspection date to arrive I decided to upgrade the steering wheel with a quick release hub from NRG. I am using their SRK-400B ‘thin’ model. The quick release unit consists of two pieces – one bolts to the FFR supplied steering column hub, and the other bolts to the back of the steering wheel. Horn functionality is retained without having to disconnect anything when removing the steering wheel. I installed the column-side portion of the quick release tonight, and will install the new steering wheel when that arrives later this week. Pretty self-explanatory stuff. Not having the steering wheel in the way makes getting in and out much easier.

Things are starting to fall into place. The AN lines were ran for the oil pump and cooler. Once the final bracket is fabbed up to mount the cooler I will mount it and connect it all up, assuming the last piece arrives. I am still waiting on the inline oil filter for the pump. The inline oil temp switch arrived today so that the oil pump will only turn on when the oil temp is at 180-degrees. I am also wiring a sensor that will trigger an in-dash LED in-case the pump fails, so I had to run that wire from front to rear.

The clutch and brakes are bled – mostly. The brakes are done, but the clutch will not fully bleed. Some further research on the forum afterwards shows that I will have to remove the slave to bleed it fully, then reinstall it.

An engine ground strap was installed, connecting the engine block to the frame, and more work was done in moving wiring away from the headers. The steering wheel was installed, and the fuel tank underbody panels were riveted in place, also.

The first start is coming soon.

As I mentioned previously, the steering rods needed to be cut so that the spindle bearings could be lined up properly with the front suspension knuckles. An inch was trimmed off each side (little more on the driver side) to get them to line up decently – I might have to trim off more later for a better alignment, as the rods do not have much adjustment right now. With the rods cut the tie rod sleeves were reinstalled and the spindle bearings with the bump steer washers were installed into the knuckles.

After that, I mounted the brake line brackets that go on the rear upper control arms of the front suspension. I did not do this yesterday because I simply could not find the brackets.

Steering completed. I had to hit the upper steering shaft with the Dremel for a while to allow the flange bearing to slide down the shaft so I could mount it to the frame. Once that was in place the Corvette steering column had to be modified so that it could be used with the GTM steering shaft. First, the exterior column sleeve had to be cut off to expose the column shaft and the lower sleeve-covered steering shaft that the column shaft was mounted in. After that, the sleeve containing the shaft had to be heated so that the injected plastic inside it melted out and released the shaft. Finally, the shaft could be removed (pounded out) from the steering column shaft so that the column could now be slid into the GTM steering shaft.  With the column now mounted I threw on the wheel and made sure the steering shaft and universal joints could turn freely without any interference or binding. All good! The wheel was then removed since it will just get in the way for a while.

After the steering was completed I did a mock install of the AC evaporator and blower motor. The fit is pretty tight and the mounting bracket is a pain to bolt. Afterwards I marked the attachment points to the frame and took it all apart – I will do the completed install tomorrow. The coolant pipes were also inserted into the console tunnel for future use.

Today we removed the body, drilled out all of the aluminum panels, installed the steering rack, and assembled the front coil-overs. The steering rack went together quickly and was an easy install. I wanted to do the entire steering shaft install tonight, but it seemed impossible to get the flange bearing down the steering arm. Sounds like a job for the Dremel tomorrow. The rear springs are on backorder so rear coil-over assembly will have to wait. These Koni coil-overs look pretty nice.