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And yes, I also put on my Packard cowl tag tonight:

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So, here what the plan is, I'm going to have to extend the steering column. How you may ask am I going to accomplish this? Well, here's the idea for now: I am going to use the steering box off of my '56 Patrician parts car, since it's seperate from the column. I will then cut off the 115c column from it's box, and use an extension to mate it to the '56 box. This will put the '56 box in the correct position to not cause any linkage binding or problems. I can thus make the '37 column any length I need, and the problems will be solved.

OR....

I could just do what I figured out right before I came back inside to do this "quick" update. While I was sitting in the seats on the chassis, I noticed that the seatbacks lean back pretty far, and if they were brought forward 2", then the seating position would be tolerable, but not perfect. I am compensating for the lack of padding by making my own, but it still needs to have the seat back come forward about 2". Sometimes it just makes perfect sense to think outside the box! (Or in this case, the steering box!)

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As a "side project" tonight, I decided to visualize what would she look like if I were to drop the cowl about 2", and the grille shell about 2". I personally like the looks of the lowered version, but going this far down puts me back to my '56 steering box and modified '37 column idea, which may still happen along with the seat modification. Here's a peek:(original height)

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And now, the lowered version, my favorite:

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Any comments, suggestions, ideas where I can find a longer steering column? LOL!

On another side note, one of the reasons why I'm using these seats is because they fold forward, and will allow me access to the totally enclosed boat tail:

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Hi Eric

The mock up looks good! Really interesting project you are running. Personally I would like the car to have a more taller look - more old schoolish?!!

That chairs will work well for access - just needs some leather haha!!

Sorry cant help with the steering column..

Eric,

Don't know how feasible this is, but if you're going to lengthen the steering column, how about putting a universal joint in as part of the solution? Might help with providing an optimum height for the steering wheel in your set up.

I thought about the taller look, but I want the lowest center of gravity as possible. So this weekend I'm cutting 3" off the lower part of the cowl. This also will get rid of most of the rust on the cowl. I have plenty of room for the engine even if I cut off 4", so I'm not too worried about that. And the turbos will be outside the hood in the air, so no height requirements there. And actually, that IS leather that's on the seats, some suede that I pilfered from work. The good stuff will be on there when it's finished.

Mal, you're quite correct, and I had already planned on the u-joint being a part of the shaft: Flaming River Steering Shaft

I discovered last night that the brake pedals will have to mount UNDER the chassis, to give me the required pedal height. I also found that I can use one of the original body mounts that's presently riveted to the chassis to help mount the shaft for the pedals. More on this idea this weekend!

Tonight's work, 3" off the bottom of the cowl:

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And I got the pedals mounted as far forward as is possible:

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