Steering column play

[72442conv]

I have been trying to fix some issues with a Gen 2 GTM that I recently bought. This car has a tilt steering column, not the telescopic. One thing that has been driving me up the wall as I drive the car, I have this play in the steering wheel, there is about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch where you move the steering wheel from side to side and nothing happens. I though the problem was in the rack and pinion, but I was just in the car and noticed that the issue is not the rack. If I grab the steering tube that is under the dash and hold it still, I can move the steering wheel from side to side. So the issue has to be somewhere inside the column where the shaft that comes out of the firewall goes into the steering column. Looking under there I can see the shaft coming from the steering column, just slides into the bigger shaft that goes to the firewall. There is not a great fit there, and that is where the play is at. Can this be somehow eliminated?

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

There is supposed to be a small shim in the kit that wedges in there and tightens up the gap between the inner and outer shaft. My guess is that the builder either couldn't get the shim in so they just left it out, or got sloppy drilling the hole for the bolt that holds the 2 shafts together or some combination of the 2. You might have to get creative, but there should be some way to get the pieces shimmed back to where they fit tight with very little slop.

[72442conv]

There are no shims there or a pin :( I will try to drill a hole in the outer shaft, thread it and put a small bolt in there to see if I can get that bolt tightened against the inner shaft to take the play out...

[Shoeless]

Interesting, I’m going to have to refer back to my manual and see if I completely missed this myself. I’ve kind of ignored the manual for a bit, but I don’t remember seeing this myself. Glad I’m still early in my build.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

In the latest manual I have here, there is a photo of that shim/spacer on page 209....

[72442conv]

What revision is that manual you have?

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Hard copy version...I don't see a revision number.

[Shoeless]

My page 209 is the rear control arm and I have Rev 2G (on the cover). I tried reading through the telescoping portion of the instructions, as I have the non-telescoping version, to see if I'm missing something. Is this the spacer you are seeing Shane?

BTW if this is the spacer, it was not in my kit.

https://i.imgur.com/4vMFCLG.jpg

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Yes, that's the photo I was talking about. I know I've had builds where there was no shim in the kit or the shim would not fit or we did something completely different, but the bottom line is that this is usually where the "slop" is at in the system....the fit between the 'Vette column and the FFR steering shaft. One way or another, you will have to figure out a way to get those pieces to fit tight in order to eliminate the slop.