We are using the standard MGB steering column and steering rack. The rack we fitted on the rolling chassis way back so now it was time to get the steering column in.

First thing we had to do was recondition the column. This was a case of striping it down and giving it a good clean with a wire brush to get any rust off then respraying the outer tube black. We then reassembled and replaced all the inner bushes. The original horn mechanism from the MGB isn’t required and should be removed as the horn on the Hawk lives on the indicator stork.

Once reassembled we were ready get it all in and connected to the rack. The upper section of the column sits inside the driver footwell. The upper part bolts to the chassis behind the dash with the other end poking out above the pedal box into the engine bay. This then connects via 2 UJs and the second section onto the rack. At this stage we decided to provisionally fit the dash to get the correct position and sufficient length for the cobra boss and indicator mechanism to fit. Hawk supply the boss with a second aluminium piece that fits over the top end of the outer tube and this in turn connects it nicely to the indicator and boss. Once this was ok with tightened it all up.

Connecting up the UJs was a bit of a fiddle to get the optimum angle for the column within the engine bay. We found we had to shorten the second section just a small amount to get it to fit the way we wanted it to.

At this stage we have fitted our lovely cobra steering wheel which we got from Gerry a while ago. Unfortunately we will have to change this to an IVA compliant steering wheel before the test.