1988 Chrysler Conquest Ecotec Swap

Next up, steering column support. First order of business was to cut a 45deg wedge out of a piece of 1.75" square 1/8" wall steel tube. This was just a little too thick for me to bend by hand, so I ground a sharp-ish point on a piece of 3/16" scrap and made the Harbor Freight press into a poor man's press brake:

I finished the bend in the vise and it came out awesome!

Compared against the 3D printed piece. Oh yeah, that'll totally work.

Tacked with unnecessary precision:

Drilled the hole for the rod end, and the other hole to be able to get a socket on the nut:

Found what felt like a happy spot and tacked it up:

Finish welded (well, almost, I did the tube seams later):

Cleaned up and painted. I used an old can of engine enamel and the nozzle was starting to spit, so I ended up with a textured finish that actually looks pretty nice. A happy accident. I decided it would be a little better for the u-joint angles to move the mount up a little bit compared to the 3D print, and it ended up working out well.

I played with the lengths and angles a bunch and in the end, I'm really happy with the results. All the joints are operating close to their max (the middle one is at 35deg) but it feels smooth from lock to lock.

After tightening everything down in the engine bay, I got in the car to test it from the wheel, and I was disappointed when I could still feel some slop. Then I realized the steering wheel was just sitting on the splines without a nut. I grabbed the nut, tightened it down, and boom, perfection.

It's engine test fit time again! Starter is a little close to the engine mount pedestal, but I'll be cutting that out and building a new one in its place eventually anyway, so I think I'll end up with plenty of room:

Steering clearance on the other side is good. Shaft clears the block, rack mount clears the oil pan:

Overall, I'm really happy with how this is looking. I had to get a "621" bellhousing to clear the 168T flywheel, and it fits fine with the factory firewall and tunnel, and with the engine in this position, I can reach all the bolts and install and remove the bellhousing with no problems.

Now I need to build some permanent steering rack mounts on the crossmember.

Great to see you rolling on this again! The steering shaft supports are very nicely done. Really glad to hear that fit and function are where you expected. Keep it up!

Tough for mw to tell with the black paint, and my poor eyesight, but are the steering U-joints phased correctly?

In reply to twentyover :

If you mean phased like a driveshaft, then nope. I am going by the Woodward catalog that says "Shafts with both angular and parallel misalignment may require special U-joint phasing which can only be found by trial and error." I did lots of trial and error to eliminate tight spots and this is what I ended up with. Looking at OEM steering shafts, a lot of them aren't phased like driveshafts either, so I think it's okay to do it this way.

I defer to them's thats smarter than me

twentyover said:

I defer to them's thats smarter than me

Same!

Any progress on the conquest lately?

Glad I finally remembered to check this thread, lots of great stuff since I last read :)