A customer brought us in his ’67 which had a worn out tilt column which was fairly rare option at the time. After fifty odd years it’s not surprising the original column has given it’s last tilt. We had a one Ididit tilt column ready for the customer and set about swapping the columns over. The old style were quite bulky with the additional plumbing and canister. The new style column is much neater with the added bonus of having new wiring as well.

The new column getting ready for fitting and in place.

We also changed out the usual rag joint fixing to the steering box to a universal joint coupling which will give a much nicer feel to the car’s handling.

The other issue was there was a an annoying ‘ticking’ under the hood. After listening and tracking it back we established it was coming from the header. We removed it and found a small hole which Yogi welded up. Here is the image before the weld was ground before refitting the header.

Once the header was refitted the tick had gone and all was good again.

Our Cars

We have been working on our R’65 Ranchero where the rear quarters have needed some attention should we say. Yogi started the sanding down to find the multitude of sins need to be sorted out. The problem looks to have been a minor fender bender and has been straightened out with a holes drilled, then screws inserted in order to pull the metal back out again.

These holes will cause problems going forward with the dreaded rust worm having a field day on the surrounding good metal. So the best option is a for new rear quarter if the rust is that bad, or a new patch fabrication. The fabrication was the option for us, not because of cost or availability of sheet metal. It’s more to do with the fact the rest of the fender was fine. Out came the cutting tools and Yogi does his thing.

Removing a slightly larger section than we normally would allows us to get in and treat the rust on the inside out.

The sheet metal for the tailgate, bed and a couple of other bits have been undercoated, primed and ready for a little a colour.

The rear quarters now back to bare metal in order to see what we have before the replacement metal patch is to be welded into place.

The fenders have been temporarily bolted to the car with the minimum of fasteners used, mostly to protect them from being damaged and keep them out the way.

Stay Safe & Take Care!