[Jack21]

Here's what I learned doing my CR steering.

There is a ball and socket where the tie rods attach to the rack. If it's loose, you'll have slop. If it's a rebuilt, you should be able to, as Bob Putnam suggested, lay the boot back and tighten it up, assuming new parts were used.

That being said; if you're running manual steering you should be using the Flaming River rack. It's new, not very expensive, and it works. If power, use '79 up late Mustang power rack. Being aluminum, it weighs about 1/3 the cast iron MII rack, and the passenger side bolt hole in the CR frame is elongated to accomodate the slightly shorter center to center rack mount bolt location. I got the high effort, standard ratio rack rebuilt by AGR. Summit carries them. An additional step I took was to mount the rack up slightly with offset rack bushings to move the late rack centerline closer to where the MII rack centerline would be. Wanted to eliminate any chance of bump steer. Whether it is actually necessary or not, I can't say, but there is no bump steer in this setup.

Replace the CR shaft and couplings with Borgeson (or Flaming River). Use the Borgeson steering damper, Borgeson "DD" collapsable shafting, and needle bearing joints. There is no slop in this setup, and the collapsable shaft will collapse instead of your rib cage if you hit something.

No matter how tight you make the hole in the firewall where the steering column passes through, it will always have some slop. There is a simple fix for this. My column was 2". Took an ordinary 2" muffler clamp and put it around the column where it passes through the firewall, under the pedal set. Drilled 2 holes for the clamp bolts to go through the firewall right next to the firewall wiring harness. You'll need about a 1/8" shim under the clamp. Tighten the bolts, no slop.

There is an elongated slot where the column mounts to the cowl bar. Cut your Borgeson DD shaft so that when you slide the steering column up with the column bolt in place, you can slide the joints and shafting pieces apart or together. When you slide the column foreward, it all stays together (won't come off on you on the road if the setscrews loosen up). Comes in handy later if the steering wheel is a tooth or two off and you have to adjust it.

That Chevette column is no piece of work. Used an Ididit column which does a much better job. The drawback is the Ididit only has wiring for dimmers, e-flashers, turn signals, and horn. Lights, wiper, washer, and ignition gets moved to the dash. It's a piece of rewiring to tackle. (I probably have the worlds only Cobra that uses a real Ford ignition key.) I can dance you through it if you're handy with crimpers and a soldering gun.

Double Venom makes CR steering columns, and it may be a better solution to this as well. Ask him.

One more item. I'm working on this right now on mine. Your upper control arms, and front end alignment won't stay in place unless you take some precautions when putting them in. Don't paint the portion where the control arm bolts to and contacts the frame, or remove the paint if it's already painted. (Spray a little WD-40 on it after it's aligned to prevent rust) On the serrated portion of the arm; file the serrations so they're sharp. On the frame; stipple the area on either side of the bolt slot with a center punch. This should keep the arm from sliding after its aligned. Some guys even make a bracket with a locking bolt to keep the control arm from moving. That will be next if these arms slide around again.