It was time to start on restoring the steering on the SI 330GT restoration and it began with cleaning the rust and corrosion on the steering shaft. This was a little more rusty than normal with some deep pits.

I disassembled the little u-joints, cleaned up all the little needle bearings, greased all the parts and reassembled.

I made new cork gaskets to replace the deteriorated seals that were originally installed, so we should be good for a couple more decades of service!

The next thing that would need addressing was the turn signal stalks.

The stalks on this car were particularly rusty, so they will need to be rechromed.

The stalk bases were showing the usual signs of shrinkage where the aging plastic cracks from age.

One stalk base had already cracked all the way through and broke off the stalk.

I usually send the whole unit out to ODD Parts in Sonoma CA for repair. I could spend the time removing just the stalk mechanism from the steering column, but then I would have to reinsert the wires in their corresponding plugs, so I let ODD parts do the whole service and return it to me for installation.

Thank you to all the early contributors to my annual TOMYANG.NET Pledge Drive. It’s nice to know people are still reading this Blog! I sometimes feel like I’m doing a late night radio broadcast sending this blog out to the ether not knowing exactly who is still listening. I’ve been doing it for so long that I often feel something is missing when I don’t write to this blog so I may never stop, but it’s nice to know you appreciate the effort!