STEERING A PATH TO COMPLETION

Ever wished you'd just bitten the bullet to correct a mistake when working on an old car, instead of going down a complex path trying to make what you opted for fit?

- RUN BY Graeme Hurst OWNED SINCE 1979 PREVIOUS REPORT May 2025

In my previous report, the Healey was the fresh recipient of a new steering box. The decision came at considerable expense, costing £1600, and equally considerable logistics, with the bulky item being shipped out to Cape Town in mate John Ryall's container, a process that took several months and involved the use of his import permit here in South Africa.

All well and good, except I'd got confused over the description of the part when ordering and pulled the trigger on the non-adjustable (versus the adjustable) variant, having assumed the 'adjustment' aspect related to the screw to set the float on the box. It turns out (when I liaised with AH Spares after opening the packaging) that it relates to the other end of the steering column, specifically the adjustable steering-wheel boss.

The reason for my spectacular error is complex, and rooted in a CAD drawing in a press release I saw some 20 years ago, with said render omitting the adjustment screw. Anyway, not wanting to get into the red tape of claiming a refund of import duties via a third party, or the logistics of returning a steering box from 6000 miles away and knowing we'd never needed to adjust the steeringwheel position in 40 years anyway - I elected to live with the mistake and simply stomach the cost of a non-adjustable steering-wheel boss to make what I had ordered fit. Job done. Or so it appeared, until it came to installing the car's horn control the circular unit containing the indicator lever and horn button in the centre of the steering wheel.