Made some good progress today!
I looked at the header to motor mount again and trimmed the motor mount with a grinder and got 1/8" clearance. That will fit a sheet metal heat shield. I plan to have a heat shield between the header and the urethane and aluminum.
Took the steering shaft assembly out because it looked like it needed to be lengthened a bit to give it more offset from the header. Turns out they had stuck the shafts in too far and that limited the knuckle movement. You can see the end of the shaft inside the yoke.
These are small, that's just a little yoke.
Cut the first section apart, which is where the greatest angles are.
Here's the assembly, and the shifter bell crank is behind. The flat plate was originally in line with the hook that goes in the transmission yoke (another little yoke)
I put it in loose, measureed, took it out and tacked it, then put it back in. I only added 1/8" over the original, but I'm not obstructing the U-joint angle now.
We have some clearance now.
I think plenty. The tightest spot is the top U-joint yoke to the header, and it's OK.
I enlarged the hole in the motor mount bracket made to hold the steering carrier bearing so the rod end could come through it. That made an improvement in clearance too.
Now I have to build a plate to hold the rod end in place. but the interference's have been resolved with a minimum of work.
Pay no attention to the blob of silver paint. I had ground off an attachment weld and painted the bare metal, in the dark. But it won't rust.
Thanks for dropping in!