[Lil Red GT]

The start of this thread goes back 2 1/2 years when we first picked up the GT. The PO has installed that hideous black perforated vinyl steering wheel wrap tied down with the vinyl shoe laces. The wrap had practically disintegrated on the top where it was exposed to the sunlight through the windshield. The first thing Maria did was buy a wooden replacement steering wheel from OGTS and she had it installed before I got home from work that day. The problem is that the PO had obviously been into the steering column during his ownership and had clocked the hub off-kilter. The bottom spoke of the steering wheel sat at 5:00 when pointed straight ahead.
Over the 2 1/2 years of ownership we tackled more pressing issues; new disc brakes, new front and rear suspension, new carb, new header, the list goes on.
It's been a stormy winter here in NorCal with little chance to drive the classics so it was a good time to attend to the smaller issues, like clocking the steering wheel. We're also refurbishing the center consoles, but that's another thread.
Got the correct steering hub puller from OGTS and got the hub off pretty quickly. Just needed to clock the splines a few notches over and we're off to the next project.
And then it starts...

 

[Lil Red GT]

Pulled the hub off, then the center spring just to look around and out drops a ball bearing onto the floor. I know the turn signal detent uses a ball bearing in it's mechanism but I hadn't touched the inner horn ring. The next day I consulted the GT Encyclopedia Britannica (a/k/a Gil Wesson) and he confirmed my suspicions that ball bearings randomly falling out of the steering column was not a good thing. So I ordered a new inner horn ring.
At this point I need to stop for a moment to say that this thread is probably not going to cover much new ground compared to the dozens of threads on this subject already posted on this site. And the tech sheet Gil sends with the horn ring is an excellent resource; between the Opel GT threads and Gil's tech sheet, you have all the information needed to dive into the steering column to make repairs. That said, I created some techniques that I hadn't come across in my research and added pictures that might help the next member during their search.

 

[Lil Red GT]

The biggest reason I really didn't want to dig this deep into the steering column is because I loath removing and replacing steering column ignition switches. Both my Mopars are pre-1970 with the switch in the dash so it's a two minute job to R&R.
Ran out of time, to be continued tomorrow...

 

[Michael A. Smith]

I do not want to hijack your thread but I am concerned about what I detect as your thought that all you intended to do is "re-clock" the steering wheel by pulling it off and moving it over a few notches. It is not necessarily the problem and it may not be that simple. A toe-in adjustment done incorrectly can cause that problem, whereby the toe-in measurement may be spot-on with the factory specification, but the steering wheel appears to be pointing you slightly off-center. One way to determine if this is the case is to turn the steering wheel lock-to-lock in both directions and see if the distance is equal. If not, the wheels need to be aligned. If the distances are equal, return the steering wheel to its original position and then proceed as you intended.

A correct toe-in adjustment starts with the rack-and-pinion perfectly centered. The steering wheel should then also be in its center position. It will not be if it has been previously removed and replaced incorrectly. The challenge, of course, is to find that point where the rack & pinion is perfectly centered -- easy to do on the workbench, not so easy in situ.

 

[Lil Red GT]

Michael,
After we went through the front suspension a couple of years ago we took the GT to an old-school alignment shop. I just dug out the paperwork. Their notes are close to your message; they wrote that the steering wheel is not level and toe adjustments required. They set the toe to 0.12°, a positive number. My cars are all set to about 1/16" toe-in.
After I'm done and the steering wheel is back on I'll do the lock-to-lock turning exercise as a gauge. Regardless of the outcome I'm taking it back to the shop to have the toe adjusted in. Thanks.

 

[Lil Red GT]

Going back to the center spring. The spring rests inside the inner horn ring with a flanged C-clip as a pedestal to keep the spring from rocking in the cavity. The C-clip snaps into the end of the spring but its a tight fit going down the steering shaft. In fact, pulling out the spring separated it from the C-clip. Fish the C-clip out from the horn ring and snap it back on the spring, and smear some grease on the shaft when reinstalling.
Next up is removing the lock cylinder from the sleeve. Turning the key to 'Run' and pushing down on the peg inside the hole will release the lock cylinder. Then remove the Phillips headed screw holding the sleeve in the tube.
Now the fun part is removing the outer cover. First, three screws imbedded deep inside the cover must be removed. The one on the right above the lock cylinder is pretty easy to get to, same with the one on top, around 1:00. The left screw is nestled behind the ignition switch wiring harness and will take some time.
Actually removing the outer cover takes some time, be patient. With screw holding the lock cylinder sleeve removed, the sleeve will slide slightly to the left and right. I found that pulling the cover straight back (towards the seat), then rotating it counter-clockwise gives enough room to slide the sleeve down to the left, clearing the lock cylinder hole. Once clear of the hole, push the sleeve up to the right and slide the cover past the ignition switch. The first 20 times you try it, it doesn't seem like it's ever going to come off, then on the 21st attempt you'll get it.

 

[Lil Red GT]

Before getting to the internal horn ring, the brass horn ring has to be removed. Be careful pulling on it, a brown wire runs through the top of the internal horn ring and plugs into the brass horn ring.
[Edit] When reinstalling the brass horn ring, you have to feel a definite 'Click' when inserting the brown wire terminal into the back of the ring. Simply sliding the ring back into place won't work; you need to apply resistance to the wire so that it completely engages with the ring.
I think I know why the turn signal ball bearing fell out without being disturbed. The horn ring looks original; the dark green wire ran from the ring down the steering column; the OGTS wire is a lighter green.
Check out the original horn ring next to the new one. The ball bearing wore a path into the peaks.
Before diving in this deep, I couldn't picture how the ball bearing and spring were integrated with the horn ring, the setup seemed unnatural. Once inside it's obvious, but I still wonder how the engineer who thought this up actually got his supervisor to sign off on it.
The spring sits in a cavity and the ball bearing sits proudly on top, waiting for the slightest movement to knock it from its perch. In the one picture I pulled the spring up out of the cavity to orientate it for the pic; the next picture is the ball bearing sitting on the spring, mocking the installer. I slathered dielectric grease on the BB to hold it in place, and smeared some more inside the horn ring cavities.

 

[Will I. Finish]

Thanks Michael and Lil Red GT - my steering wheel never locked until I took it apart a couple years ago and I never considered locking it to correctly align the steering wheel. Great information.

 

[opeljohn]

Just my .02 on this. If you are going to go this deep into the steering Column, I would first pull the steering wheel and hub. Then disconnect the column at the lower knuckle. When out of the car, pull the splined shaft out. This makes it much easier to remove outer cover and access internals.

 

[Michael A. Smith]

Michael,
After we went through the front suspension a couple of years ago we took the GT to an old-school alignment shop. I just dug out the paperwork. Their notes are close to your message; they wrote that the steering wheel is not level and toe adjustments required. They set the toe to 0.12°, a positive number. My cars are all set to about 1/16" toe-in.
After I'm done and the steering wheel is back on I'll do the lock-to-lock turning exercise as a gauge. Regardless of the outcome I'm taking it back to the shop to have the toe adjusted in. Thanks.

Turn the steering wheel lock-to-lock and then turn it back again but stop at the half-way point. That will approximate the centering of the rack-and-pinion and the steering wheel should be in the straight-ahead position. As for the toe-in measure, the 0.12" equates to 1/8", the maximum specification according to the Factory Shop Manual that specifies total of 1/32"-1/8". That specification is for the total of both wheels -- in other words, each wheel at 1/16" would get you to the outer limits.

 

[Lil Red GT]

Just my .02 on this. If you are going to go this deep into the steering Column, I would first pull the steering wheel and hub. Then disconnect the column at the lower knuckle. When out of the car, pull the splined shaft out. This makes it much easier to remove outer cover and access internals.

Interesting. I hadn't planned on going as deep into the column as I did. Pulling out the steering column is just another set of bolts and disconnecting the wiring harness. The column has been out before because the tear-lock bolts have been replaced.

 

[Lil Red GT]

As for the toe-in measure, the 0.12" equates to 1/8", the maximum specification according to the Factory Shop Manual that specifies total of 1/32"-1/8". That specification is for the total of both wheels -- in other words, each wheel at 1/16" would get you to the outer limits.

The toe was represented in degrees not inches, which I've never seen before. And it was a positive number which I interpreted as toe-out. The "before" setting was -0.19°. But I agree that 1/16" toe-in is the optimum setting.

 

[Lil Red GT]

I found the technique to installing the horn ring while keeping the BB in place. It works best with two people. Maria sat in the driver's seat while I knelt down outside the door. I pulled back the white pinball flippers while she centered the horn ring, visually lining up the peg to the hole at 2:00. With her left hand pushing down on the BB, compressing the spring, she was able to slide the horn ring in place. Releasing the spring pushes the BB up against the roof of the cavity and it's in. A mirror placed behind the horn ring confirms the BB is in place.

 

[Lil Red GT]

Lock Cylinder Replacement
No matter how careful you are, the center cross within the sleeve will disorient from the lock cylinder. There's a lot of information out there on how to align the crosses. Gordo wrote up an excellent tutorial, another member (didn't get his name) has written up a procedure, and Gil's tech sheet also spells it out with illustrations. Studying them all helped me gain an understanding of how the pieces interact, but still with the sleeve installed in the tube, I wasn't able to seat the lock cylinder and snap the peg into the sleeve hole.
I eventually removed the sleeve and rotated the cross until the safety lock bar in the top of the sleeve recessed into the sleeve. As you press the bar down with a finger you can feel the spring tension holding it in place. At that point I inserted the lock cylinder (key in Run position) and it seated. Again, this was done outside the column in my lap. I then slid the sleeve/lock cylinder with the key inserted up into the tube. Half way there. Lastly, align the ignition switch cross with the bottom of the sleeve, gently wiggling the key until the switch seats. Reinstall the small holding screw.
I rotated the key from Lock to Start and everything worked. To be absolutely sure, I reattached the neg bat cable and started the car.
The random pic of the brass horn ring showing the connector was supposed to be added to post #7.

 

[Lil Red GT]

Reinstalling the outer cover is much easier than removing it. I found the best way was to start on the lock cylinder side. With the key removed, push the cylinder down into the tube while canting the cover to the right as you maneuver the lock cylinder into the opening. Next either push or pull the sleeve back up far enough the slip the left side of the cover past the ignition switch.
Here's where I ran into my first real issue. The three holes in the cover don't align with the attachment holes, it's off by a half-a-hole. I was able to start all three screws, but the cover didn't align with the other cover on the steering column. When the two covers are aligned, only one screw can be started. The pics illustrate the difference. You can see the gap at the top when the holes all align. I also noticed that the satin black that I painted the cover and the outside of the hub doesn't match the rest of the column.
I want the covers to line up, so I'm leaning towards setting only one screw, taping the other two attachment brackets to eliminate rattles, and installing the hub and hoping it sandwiches the cover tight enough so it doesn't move.
Any other thoughts?

 

[Will I. Finish]

I have removed that cover half a dozen times and replaced it a half a dozen times without instructions. You seem to have a lot of good information the only thing I can add is that its just one of those things that required a lot of 4 letter words and just playing with it until bingo it all of a sudden fits correctly. Just thinking about it again is frustrating. Good Luck. The only thing that kept me going was I knew that it would fit.

 

[Michael A. Smith]

The toe was represented in degrees not inches, which I've never seen before. And it was a positive number which I interpreted as toe-out. The "before" setting was -0.19°. But I agree that 1/16" toe-in is the optimum setting.

I have been educated. About fifty-five years ago I did wheel alignments almost daily in the Texaco station, when I was an undergrad and we always measured the toe in inches. I was unaware until I looked it up that measuring in degrees is considered more accurate because (and this makes sense, especially considering the propensity to move to larger wheels) inch-measurements can be affected by changes in tire size.

Convert Toe Inches to Degrees

Convert Toe Inches to Toe Degrees

robrobinette.com

.

The idea that the toe-in measure can be affected by tire size is especially pertinent with respect to the methods used by the shade-tree mechanic in the home garage: measuring at the front and rear of the tire. Bigger tire, smaller tire, same angle in degrees but different inch measures. Back when I was doing wheel alignments, we had a tower that clamped into the wheel. The tower was about 4-ft long with a sight glass on one and a target with gradients on the other. Setting the towers vertically, we could read each side's camber angle and, when set horizontally, we could read the toe-in although, for toe-in, the target was changed to read in fractions of an inch. Because the towers were a fixed length at about 4-ft, the toe-in measurement was less affected by differences in tire size although there could be an error introduced if a non-OEM sized wheel and tire was used on the car.

 

[Lil Red GT]

Great info. So is a + degree setting toe-in?

 

[Lil Red GT]

I have removed that cover half a dozen times and replaced it a half a dozen times without instructions. You seem to have a lot of good information the only thing I can add is that its just one of those things that required a lot of 4 letter words and just playing with it until bingo it all of a sudden fits correctly. Just thinking about it again is frustrating. Good Luck. The only thing that kept me going was I knew that it would fit.

I looked at it again last night and there's enough material on the hole bracket to egg it out. It only needs maybe 1/8".

 

[Michael A. Smith]

Great info. So is a + degree setting toe-in?

I suspect that is the case but you would have to confirm that with the shop