Steering woes.....some fixed, some discovered

I got the new steering box installed.  It came from a business in Illinois called Chockostang......how cool a name is that?  It definitely solved the problem of excess play at the steering wheel; there is essentially none, now.  The new box:

It is at the other end of the steering column that I am now having problems.  The turn signal "cancellator" is broken and as I got into taking that out I discovered another broken part in the turn signal stalk and a dry, worn bearing.  I will be looking into fixing these problems in the days ahead. 

Mike suggested in a comment to my last post that we consider a rack and pinion steering conversion for the car.  This would bring the steering action up to modern standards, but the conversion kit costs $1400.  It has also been suggested that we convert to power steering, especially because Brian intends to use wider, radial-ply tires which will add to steering effort.  I did some research on the Vintage Mustang forum and found that some say power steering is a necessity while others say the steering effort is only an issue in slow manuevers like parallel parking.  Also, it's a $900 kit and adds complexity.  We decided against it, but it could be added later if it turns out to be a real problem. 

In the meantime, I have been working on other under-dash installations, starting with the fire wall insulation pad:

The driver's side fresh air vent, parking brake tube, and steering shaft housing:

The heater and defroster plenum and ducting.  This is the complete heater and plenum ready to install: 

This is a two-person job and I got Carolyn to help by attaching the nuts to the blower motor on the engine side of the firewall.  This is what it looks like installed:

On the engine side, I left the heater hoses in a loop that I will cut later when I know the exact length I need to connect the hoses to the engine:

The windshield wiper motor and control arms were installed:

Ready for the wiper blades:

And lastly, the clutch control bracket and clutch and brake pedals were assembled:



And installed:



This was another two-person job, with Carolyn starting the bolts from the engine side:

Next up will be installation of the three-point seat belts, which were ordered before we went to Florida.  Between the seat belts and the steering box, we have gone over budget for this past month, so things may slow down a bit.