[Healeys] collapsible column

[John Sims]

Send it to me and I'll post it.

John Sims, BN6
Aberdeen, NJ
 
http://www.healey6.com


-----Original Message-----
From: healeys-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:healeys-bounces at autox.team.net]
On Behalf Of allen c miller jr
Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2010 7:41 AM
To: Healey List
Subject: [Healeys] collapsible column

In February I drove a 2010 Toyota compact head-on into a truck tractor
parked
in the slow lane of Jamaica's only limited access highway. Even at moderate
speed (30-35 mph), the front end was pushed back to my ankles. Thanks to
modern 'progressive failure' technology, I walked from the crash with
shoulder
and lapbelt burns and chest bruises from caving in the collapsible steering
column. As soon as I walked off the plane, I began designing a collapsible
column for my 100M racecar, a project that had been in the left brain phase
for two years, but never got off the sketch pad. A week later I finished CAD
plans and perspective renderings, sourced parts, and took a BJ8 high ratio
(12:1) box to Don Breslauer in Connecticut, a noted custom fabricator with
extensive racing team experience. He tweaked the design and worked out the
fabrication issues. The next day later I took home a ready-to-mount box.
Even
with the prototype, my savings were 60-70% over the costs of sending a box
to
England for conversion, given shipping and the currency conversions.