I currently have paddle shifters on my Indy, but they arent the best.
Theyre mounted under the steering column and end up twisting a fair bit.

So I would like to make some new ones.

This is the sort of design I will be looking into



My problem is, I have a standard sierra steering column, with the ignition barrel etc on it. If I remove the ignition barrel the column becomes pretty wobbley as this holds everything where it should be.

Obviously for that design above, I need a tube that sits over the column (which cant be done unless I remove the barrel)
So I need some thoughts on how that can be made to do the job of holding the column steady as well as mounting the paddles too.

Next up is my steering wheel boss.
This is the style I have at the moment



Which is pretty large! It means I cant get the paddles close enough to the steering wheel. Are there any that are much smaller that would work?


My other thinking is, what is actually involved with making my own steering column?
Can I replace the top section with a UJ on one end, mount a couple of bearings to the 'chassis' and run a length of tube through with some kind of boss welded to the end for my steering wheel? or is there more too it?
Then the paddle mount tube would also be incorperated with the bearings.

I didn't have the paddle shift problem but I did want to replace the Sierra column in my Locost sprint car with something a bit more suited to the job.

I used:

A couple of metres of 3/4" OD Tube
2 of these 3/4" Spherical Housings: http://www.mcgillmotorsport.com/housing-for-3-4-com12t-spherical-bearing-641/
2 of these 3/4" Spherical bearings: http://www.mcgillmotorsport.com/3-4-spherical-plain-bearing-com12t-teflon-lined-rod-end-264/
2 Circlips: http://www.mcgillmotorsport.com/circlip-for-3-4-com12t-bearing-702/
1 Quick release boss (cheapest linked but you can get more expensive versions): http://www.jjcraceandrally.com/race/quick-release-bosses/motacorsa-quick-release-boss-3-bolt-splined-peg-release-in-black-for-racing-brisca-kit-car
2 of these lovely UJ's (one double weld and one with spline to weld): http://www.abperformance.co.uk/products.aspx?cat=33

I welded the fist Speherical boss to the chassis at the bottom end of the column top section and welded a mount plate to the other spherical boss and put a matching plate on the chassis just behind the dash panel so that I had some adjustment of position.

Use the splined UJ onto the steering rack and the weld/weld UJ between the two bits of the column.

Then weld the quick release boss on the top.... but for flippers sake remember to put the spherical bearings onto the tube first!

It made the steering significantly better, changing from an old Sierra column with Rally Design UJ's (search this site for those!) it was much sharper and the whole things felt tighter.

I believe AB performance then do the column over tube and paddle set to fit over such a column

It wasn't a particularly cheap job but then again it is the steering so worth spending money on. Weight was also reduced.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

[Edited on 8/2/16 by Doctor Derek Doctors]

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Originally posted by Doctor Derek Doctors
It made the steering significantly better, changing from an old Sierra column with Rally Design UJ's (search this site for those!) it was much sharper and the whole things felt tighter.

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quote:

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Originally posted by MikeRJ

quote:

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Originally posted by Doctor Derek Doctors
It made the steering significantly better, changing from an old Sierra column with Rally Design UJ's (search this site for those!) it was much sharper and the whole things felt tighter.

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With the potential downside of having no collapsible steering column.

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We made our own column assembly from scratch for our Phoenix. It has needle rollers top and bottom. The top bearing housing incorporates the paddle shift pivot points. The paddles themselves are titanium.

SPYDER - that is really good work. Lovely engineering.

AB Performance have modified Sierra columns to fit their paddles. There are pictures on their facebook.

Some great ideas!

I quite like the sounds of making the whole column again....
Its already road registered so no worry about the IVA crushable section I suppose

Any idea what wall thickness tube you used?

I was looking at the AB performance stuff, but its £400+
I'm pretty confident I can make the whole lot myself for a fraction of the cost, but we will see!
If all goes pear shaped I'll be giving him a call to place an order

I removed the lock/top casting. Machined an ally cylinder to the same internal dimensions as the casting, so it fitted the Sierra column tube and excepted the original top bearing, had an external diameter to take paddle and secured it to the tube with a couple of grub screws. The paddle was fabricated from ally sheet. Not the prettiest but it works well.

Best picture I can find...

[IMG]http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z282/adrianthorp/Picture036-1.jp g[/IMG]

[Edited on 11/2/16 by adithorp]

Photobucket is blocked at work

I'll have a look when I can.

sounds like to remade the top casting section that has the ignition etc into just a cylinder sleeve? and used the original bearing that sits in that casting?

could be an option, but I would need to get rid of the massive boss on mine to get the paddles close enough to the wheel