early /late steering columns

[alan pettit]

are later steering colmns easy enough to retro fit in an early car? Ive got a lovely old mountney astrali boss (not the new horrors) but its for a late spit not an early mk3 ,its too big for the splines on the earlier column. rather than spend ages trying to get the correct boss i though a 1500 column might be a simpler alternative. ive never had a 1500 but the key goes into some sort of steering lock on them i think. Can i just get a later shaft and strip out all the key assembly and then fit the shaft into my old outer part? Or has anyone got a mountney boss for an early car they want to swap for a later type one? This is the nice old thin alloy type not the nasty big black things everyone seems to stock nowadays.

[drofgum]

Alan,
There is a change in the 1500 steering shaft at commission number FM 100021. From that car on the column is based on that of the TR7. Nothing from the impact joint up seems to be interchangeable. Before FM 100020 the column was essentially the same one as ever with some parts common all the way back to the Spitfire4(Mk1).
                                                                                 Cheers,
                                                                                 Paul

[alan pettit]

ok i think i have been sent a tr7 type one . its about 20mm diameter as opposed to about 15mm which looks like the early width. Ive tried counting the splines but too much christmas cheer recently plus age creeping up have made this a bit futile. Does some kind soul know how many splines there are on an early type mk3 column?

[uksnatcher]

36 splines on the earlier columns (upto 1978 )
IE:
Herald, Vitesse, GT6 1,2,3, Spitfire 1,2,3,4, TR4,5,6

48 splines on columns 78 onwards (1500 spitfire, tr7 type)

[alan pettit]

THANKS VERY MUCH FOR THE INFO . MUCH APPRECIATED

[CHRIS211083]

Alan, i have an Astraili boss for the early column thats not needed. Pm me.

Chris.