Hello
yes turning radius seems our biggest concern (over bumb steer-that seems fine). we marked the floor with the oem steering(after original conversion) and now marked it with the rack travel and they line up within chalk lines of each other. so we shall see how that lines up in the future on the road. as far as the arms, they are low carbon hot rolled steel, good for a few psi. the pattern took some time to find and make, i started with a wooden block and made a 3-d pattern then transposed that onto the steel and milled it out, it took a few hours but i have pretty good cutters so it was not that bad, the mill is fun.
Jake

hello Tobias
here is an ruff update...the steering column comes through the firewall and needs to be supported to prevent vibration and binding - how did you support your column (if it is similar to mine) we are planning to use a second (the first is by the double u joint and rack) borgeson support bearing right after the universal joint or on the mercedes shaft...see photo/drawing - ill try to have a real pict. soon this is all i could do on luch. - Jake

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What I did is simple, cut off the bottom of the OE column about 2"
up from the floor. Then on a lathe turned a piece of stock to fit the inside of the column, about 1.847", and the lower part that goes through the firewall, turned it to 3/4". To support the 3/4" segment I used a go kart axle bearing which is self centering before you clamp it solid. They are made with a bearing that sits inside two shells and it can rotate to the position you like, then clamp it solid. I milled two flats on the 3/4" part for my U joint to clamp to and drilled all the way through the column end for a 1/4" aircraft bolt. This way you can slide it into position without having to remove the column.
Is this all clear?? If not I'll try again!!

Tobias MB
3 MBs

i think i followed you alright...ill print it and show my dad...he has a whole bunch of different bearings and supports we can try and modify...much like you talked about/some different...the Borgeson joints are 3/4 hiem joints that mount to the frame.- Thanks Jake

They mount at 90degrees from what you need, not inline. The gokart ones work perfectly and cost like $10@. The Borgeson ones are race car parts, expensive and are .007 larger in diameter, made just for steering shafts.
The way I did mine was to mount the gokart bearing to a piece of sheet metal large enough to cover the hole then mounted the sheetmetal piece to the body. This leaves no holes for fumes or heat to pass through.
Tobias MB
190/5.8

Go Toby! Jeez, some of the solutions you come up with amaze me. Hope that talent'll be unnecessary on The Lap

__________________
"If God had meant for us to walk, why did he give us feet that fit car pedals?" Sir Sterling Moss

Michael
2014 E63S Estate
2006 SLK55
1995 E500
1986 Porsche 944 turbo

Tobias, a little off topic, but im in charlotte nc. I sent you a pm. Maybe we can meet up. Alot of people meet out at the abandoned KMart off of independence. There were 100 cars out there last saturday. Anyways, good luck with the install and I hope to see you around.

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1993 400e
Charlotte

Tobias -
the bearing that you used we had a few of and that is the basic layout for our final design...however i do not want to cut the OEM shaft so we are building a 2.5" tube to extend from the fire wall and that has a selfcentering bearing at the end that holds the OEM double D shaft on center...after that is the single u joint sending the shaft to the in frame Borgeson heim joint and then through the double u joint into the rack...thanks -Jake
the "tube extension" will also be welded to a piece of flat stock and then gasketed to the firewall for the same reasons.

In that your steering shaft has different construction from the dash down to the box. I just explained what I did to mine to
accomplish the situation. The bottom of the shaft was cut to facilitate R & R but in your case of an extra joint and going to front steer makes that part of the shaft unnecessary. Sounds like you have it all solved and just keep the joint angles within the
specifications of the joints.
Good luck,

Tobias MB
190/5.8

Tobais
Thank you for keeping a "steading conversation" and good advice as to what you had to do...i think it is pretty cool to have a fellow thinker/do er here that i can talk to about things that ive never even met-thanks.
Here is a real update...please note that the shaft is made of WOOD...as a test lenght before i cut my double d shaft.-Jake
and the joints turn smooth-no bind and within the tolerances...

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here is a side view

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straight on....also note that the FIREWALL BEARING is not inplace as we were making it durring these photos...

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and looking down at it...

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Looks very good and sound with lots of room now for installing headers resulting in more power. Looks like you have room for a V8 in there now....why not??
I'll have to post a picture of under my hood now to show what fits into a 190!!
Have my left front fender all cut out and the new flare to go in so the 9.5" wheels will fit....onward we go...!!

Tobias MB
190/5.8

Yeah, but what about the 11s on the rear? I mean, you DO plan to add nitrous, right?

Hehe - can any of you imagine a 190 boiling 315 width tires? Through 3 gears??

Sorry for the off-topic content - keep up the great work, looks like a great project!!

__________________
"If God had meant for us to walk, why did he give us feet that fit car pedals?" Sir Sterling Moss

Michael
2014 E63S Estate
2006 SLK55
1995 E500
1986 Porsche 944 turbo