Steering Column Questions

[austin.minter15]

Okay, so I bought my Cobra a few weeks ago for a steal of a price. Like I expected, there is a lot that needs to be done on the car to get it back up to where it needs to be. The car is a Shell Valley and one of the things that I don't really like is how high the steering column is in the car compared to both an original and other manufacturers. The column is about 1" from the top of the dash. I was hoping that someone here who has a Shell Valley has addressed this issue and can help me with some ideas.

The car is currently with Dave Brady having some major body and paint work done to it and he suggested a tilt column such as an "ididit" universal tilt column. I want to go with an original 16" Moto Lita steering wheel and by the time that I put a tilt column and the 6-pin hub for the steering wheel in it seems like I would have a steering wheel in my chest with that set up. I also do not really care for the OD of an ididit column and like the "small" column better. There isn't really much room for adjustment in my car and was hoping there was another option out there.

Have any of y'all had this issue and found a way to address it or know of someone that has figured this out? Thanks guys!

[Sydney]

Hi Austin,

I have a 12 year old Shell Valley. Judging from your pictures, it looks like your column location is similar to mine. I had the opposite issue. I fit my column as high as possible for leg room. I ended up making all new column supports under the dash and in the engine bay to make it fit how I wanted it. I have a 13.5" steering wheel and I have about 2-3" legroom before they hit the wheel.

I looks like your column is tilted more than mine, which I think means that the hole in your firewall is lower than mine. You could try raising the hole in the firewall some thus tilting the wheel lower, That would require a taller column support on the foot box and possibly longer linkage though.

I used a Flaming River Roadster column and their linkage. It was just a little bit larger diameter than the Shell Valley column. Their stuff is very nice quality.

Sydney