Steering bracket modification

[Legends16]

Hey guys,

             This post is in relation to the steering wheel post. Being a tall driver with long arms I am running into the issue that seems to be common among our body type. My left arm, bicept is getting into the rib support of my (Kirkey) seat.

            My seat is mounted flush with the back wall of the car. I have about 1 inch of headroom from my helmet to the padded roll bar. After reading a post or two I am concerned that this could be a safety issue.

            Back on point. I have a 1 inch spacer on my 15 inch steering wheel that I am going to remove and see if it helps although I dont think it  will. The heim is all the way up. Sitting in the car it seems my arm rubs the seat no matter what I do.

            Im considering reclining the seat but Im not sure if this well help, maybe I should to give more head room anyway? Leg room is not a problem, yet.

            Now the main question. A few people have menioned that they have cut, bent and rewelded the steering support to raise the wheel. Where do they do this? Does anyone have any pictures.

Thanks,

Eric
 

[JLowe18]

I have this bracket welded onto my car. Mine is actually notched and rewelded in two places. It comes off the dash at a slightly downward angle then flattens out and at the center of the hole closest to the driver we notched it and bent it back up where the bracket is parallel to the steering shaft. If we had it to do over we would most likely bring it out straight from the dash and bend the end up to be parallel to the steering shaft. I am 6'4" and manage to squeeze into a sedan. I don't have a picture handy but I can take one for ya the next time I go to the shop.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Speedway-Weld-On-Steering-Shaft-Bracket-8-Inch,2055.html

[Oldtimer1]

I have this bracket welded onto my car. Mine is actually notched and rewelded in two places. It comes off the dash at a slightly downward angle then flattens out and at the center of the hole closest to the driver we notched it and bent it back up where the bracket is parallel to the steering shaft. If we had it to do over we would most likely bring it out straight from the dash and bend the end up to be parallel to the steering shaft. I am 6'4" and manage to squeeze into a sedan. I don't have a picture handy but I can take one for ya the next time I go to the shop.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Speedway-Weld-On-Steering-Shaft-Bracket-8-Inch,2055.html

Post some photo's if you can, thanks.

[Briz81]

I have the same issue, after my first race I had a huge bruise under my bicep. Because of this and how uncomfortable my legs are, and how close my head is to the rollbar (had to remove all the seat padding to get a half inch headroom). I plan on getting a 14 inch wheel, adjusting the wheel and seat position to hopefully make it more comfortable. Will let you know and post photos if successful.

[justfreaky]

Grind the welds, reposition the bracket. It doesn't look any different than it does now. Just a different angle.

Steve

[thunder938]

you have to remember that these are NOT full size race cars, and ya there is not much room.  I am 6 foot 3 @ 250 and I was folded up and jammed into my car.  Do the best you can do to make thing work for you, but these cars are very tight

[Legends16]

One thing that I have discovered is that I can move the steering wheel to the right by sloting the hole on the stock bracket. I pretty much got the Idea from the bracket that Oltimer1 posted. The stock bracket is pretty thick. I found a 3/4 grinding wheel and sloted the hole towards the passenger side door about 1/4 inch. This moved the wheel over a couple of inches leaving my arm a little less cramped. I then installed a big washer between the heim and the bracket so it wouldnt move or fall through. Its an improvement on what I had. I'll see how it feels on the track next weekend.

[justfreaky]

+1 for inginuity
 

Steve

[Oldtimer1]

I pretty much got the Idea from the bracket that Oltimer1 posted.

Actually JLowe18 posted it.

[justfreaky]

I must be getting old. Hehehe! I remember reading that post a while back.
 

Steve

[Legends16]

Whoops, my bad. Thanks everyone! 

[stroutmail]

I just took a sawzall to the bracket, slicing where the sides meet the bottom.  Then took a piece of 2" channel and clamped to the now "free to move bottom" and bent the bottom upward with a big adjustable wrench.  (The channel allowed the bottom to bend in the right place.)  Bent the excess material on the sides under the bottom for "mechanical" support and then re-welded the bottom to the sides.  Grind, file and "polish" to remove sharp edges. Worked great--moved the wheel up almost two inches and took only about 20-30 minutes.  (BTW--remove the heim before doing this).  When installed, the steering shaft is now almost straight to the floor--seems perfect for a 6' + driver. Moved my arms up away from the chest support on the seat and keeps my elbows from hitting door on left and drive shaft enclosure on right.  One "bonus" is it is also easier to enter and exit car.

[justfreaky]

Thanks for posting your solution!

Steve

[Briz81]

stroutmail, could you take a picture of  what it looks like now. I still need to make my seat and adjustments and would love to see exactly what you did.

[stroutmail]

Here's a pic attached.  Had to make smaller to fit file size restriction. Hopefully you can see detail.  Shown with my small steering wheel I'm experimenting with--if I used the standard 13" wheel with 3" offset, my hands would be higher and closer to my chest with my arms bent more.