Most of the brackets supplied with VW kits are made by welding a piece of 2″ tubing to a plate and utilizing the original mounting holes. This type of bracket is not used for many reasons.
1. Any bracket that is welded to a plate has the inherent weakness of the weld. This is an area where there is a lot of twisting stress.
2. The strength or weakness of the bracket depends upon the thickness of the plate.
3. The thicker the plate, the stronger the bracket. HOWEVER the thicker the plate the further the VW box is moved away from the frame and the closer the pitman arm gets to the down pipe. Clearance can be an issue here.
4. Utilizing the original bolt holes creates an offset from the bolt holes to the mounting tube. When the car is turned this could cause the bracket to flex, depending upon the thickness of the plate and its strength.
5. On some kits it is suggested that an additional hole be drilled into the frame forward of the mounting tube and that the plate part of the bracket be secured to the frame with this additional bolt.
Note that an MG-TC’s frame is boxed in some areas. This means that you can not simply drill a hold through the frame and bolt something to it, lest you risk crushing the frame tightening the bolt. Everywhere a bolt or rivet passes through a boxed part of the frame there must be a sleeve inside the frame. By bolting a piece of solid 2” bar stock directly to the frame you eliminate the weld and the bracket becomes virtually one with the frame. The location the bracket bolts to the frame is where two rivets originally went through sleeved holes. An additional feature of the current kits is that the (outer) steering tube/column is welded to the adapter. (The original tube on the BC box is simply pressed into place and has an interference fit.) When the welded tube is attached to the VW box it makes a considerably strong assembly, which attaches to the car to make for a very solid construction. The bracket used is held with two (grade 8) 3/8″ bolts. Bud has sold his brackets to several people who bought kits from other sources to find the bracket supplied was inferior to the one he provided. Many people make a big deal out of removing the two rivets and slightly drilling out the holes, though this is not a difficult task and is easily reversed. As far as coming through the bulkhead in the middle: only on one occasion has there been an installation where there was a slight interference between the column and the bulkhead. All of the other kits have gone right through the hole. The closer to the frame you can mount the box, the more clearance you will have with the down pipe.
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