Ferrari Mailing List: Workin' on the 308

Description:

After finishing the front suspension work (new brake pads, new brake lines, new 
sway bar bushings, repacking the [recently replaced] A-arm bushings) and 
completing the oil/filter change on the 308, the weather here in SoCal still 
sucked, so I decided to tackle more projects on my beloved 308:  Re-aligning 
the steering wheel with respect to the front rack, and rebuilding the steering 
column switches.

After doing my front end alignment a while ago, I noticed that the steering rod 
ends were not equally spaced (i.e., screwed into the tie rod ends a different 
number of turns).  On the drivers side, it was held by just a few threads 
(3-4).  To set it up so the wheels were aligned and the tie rod ends were held 
by the same number of threads on each side, the steering wheel would be cocked 
60 deg to the right.  So the steering linkage needed to be disassembled and 
then reassembled with the correct alignment.  I know, anal thing to do.  But it 
bugged me.

Second problem was the light switches on the steering column.  They had gotten 
flaky over the years.  The switch on the end of the light lever failed a while 
ago and I bypassed it.  The high/low switch was intermittent.  Time to repair 
and clean it all up.

Doing all this, of course, requires removing the column nut, which no one (at 
least on the list) seems to have.  I stopped by the mechanic I use, and he 
didn't have one either.  He did have a broken one that he had made up a while 
ago, consisting of a 22mm socket inserted in a piece of pipe.  He had relieved 
the end of the pipe leaving four tabs to fit into the grooves on the nut, but 
they had been broken off trying to extract a nut.  He said I could have it.  
Having more time than sense, I took the broken tool home and attacked it with 
my Dremel tool and wire welder.  Amazing what you can do with too much time on 
your hands and some basic tools.  I re-relieved the end to create four tabs and 
welded on a sleeve around the pipe to reinforce the tabs.  Looks cobby, but it 
does work.  Nut came right off.

Once the nut was off, I pulled the steering hub.  Easy then to remove the 
plastic housing containing all the switches.  After several false starts, I 
finally figured out how to disassemble the entire thing.  Lots of little 
springs and ball bearings.  Lots of time on the floor with a flashlight, 
looking for little parts.  Lots of stuff gumming up the contacts.  Stalk end 
switch had a solder connection disconnect.  Ended up cleaning it all up, 
replacing the wires in the light stalk, re-soldering as necessary and putting 
it all back together.  Only a couple of parts left over (washer portion of the 
wiper switch was a total loss).

Then I attacked the steering linkage.  What a PITA.  All the connections were 
frozen together and very difficult to get to, even with the drivers seat and 
steering wheel removed.  I'm not a big guy (5'9", 185lbs), but that car was 
built to be serviced by midgets.  Finally got it all apart, equalized the 
threads on the tie rod ends, pointed the wheels straight ahead and reconnected 
everything with the steering wheel in the lock position.

Took it out this morning, and, strangely enough, it all works.  Just like it 
should.

For those interested, I've attached some pictures.  And if anyone needs to 
remove their steering wheel nut, I've got the tool.

Bob
'78 308GTS
'01 Corvette Z06 
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Workin' on the 308	<– Date –> <– Thread –>
From: robert_h_bowser [at] juno.com (robert_h_bowserjuno.com)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 22:21:32 -0800 (PST)