Without any further ado, let's introduce Part 2 of the Bumpside Build-Off. For those who missed last month's kickoff (March '07), I'm building a '68 Ford F-100 in friendly competition with Custom Classic Trucks Editor John Gilbert and his '72 F-100. Getting right into the issue at hand, the bulk of the Fatman Fabrications Mustang II IFS was installed last month, except for the steering. The Fatman kit comes with a power rack-and-pinion unit and all the components to mount it in the frame, so we needed to round up the parts to complete the rest of the steering system up to the steering wheel. Going toward the cab from the rack, Borgeson supplied the U-joints and steering shaft--they can help you put together a system with up to 10 U-joints!--and ididit has their Retrofit truck column ready to ship that bolts right in place of the stock unit.
I was going to use my stock column and adapt it to a double-D shaft, but it was shot to begin with. Plus, being in somewhat of a time crunch (who isn't), the ididit column solved a bunch of problems in one fell swoop. I don't really like contemporary-style steering wheels, so I picked up a Grant 15-inch wheel with a wood rim and drilled stainless spokes. Given the overall late-'60s/early-'70s custom mood I'm going for, this wheel seemed to be perfect for the period, and it's similar to Mustang wheels from the time I'm drawing from. I also got a set of '68 Mustang buckets that are actually the same seats used in the Ranger package F-100.
Installing all this is fairly straightforward and only requires light fabrication work, mainly C-notching the bottom of the frame to get clearance for the ends of the rack-and-pinion; Fatman includes the pieces to weld in.
Everything else is up to good planning and careful measuring. All the companies in this story have very helpful tech lines, which I have called, and good Web sites to help you through the process or answer questions. Follow along with us each month, and go buy a Bumpside and build your own!
My '68 F-100 is (or will be) the truck in the foreground, while John's is the Gasser. We have a year to get 'em whipped into shape before we face off!
Here's the stuff from Fatman Fabrications I didn't get to last month--the steering. Along with the instructions, there's a power rack-and-pinion unit and hardware, rack extension, tie rod ends, and C-notch pieces.
To complete the steering system (minus the pump), I got ididit's '67-72 F-100 truck Retrofit column in the tilt, floor shift, plain steel version, complete with wiring ends, knobs, and a horn relay. I also got a Grant (naturally) 15-inch wood/stainless Mustang-style steering wheel that fits with the theme I'm goin' for, and their horn/mount kit. To tie everything together, Borgeson supplied an 18-inch double-D (DD) shaft, U-joints, vibration dampener/U-joint, and a rod-end shaft support bearing if I need to run more than two U-joints.
I had already removed the stock steering box from the rag joint when I did the IFS, so I dismantled the stock steering column. There's a clamp that holds the bottom of the column to the bracket on the firewall. Both the clamp and the bracket need to come off. The bracket is held on with three bolts. | 
Unhook the wiring to the column, followed by the two bolts at the column drop that also hold the column cover. |
It didn't take a genius to figure out there was something awry with the truck's steering from the time I got the keys! I didn't stop at removing the column--I took it apart to have a look-see and found what you might call a little bit of wear! All the more reason to put one of ididit's columns in your truck. | 
There's actually a rubber seal for the hole in the floor where the column goes, but it's hard to tell here because it's all rusty. I hadn't expected this, nor did I know it was even there, but I looked on LMC Truck's Web site and found they had new ones, to my relief. |
There are two staples that hold the seal to this stamped steel piece onthe upper left. Remove them and put in the steel piece with LMC's new seal (right). | 
Since I ordered the bare steel Retrofit column from ididit, I primered it the night before to keep it from rusting until I get around to the far-away stage of paint, but you can get them in aluminum or chrome as well. Slide the stamped steel bracket on the column first, followed by the seal like so, and the column is ready to go in. |
Once you get it in there, thread the bolts into the column drop to hold it in place, then you can fiddle with the stuff on the firewall. Don't forget to put the column cover back on before you tighten the column drop bolts. | 
Here's that stamped steel bracket installed on the inside of the firewall, with the seal in between the two. |
I blasted and primered the bracket on the outside of the firewall that the column is clamped to before putting it back on. I picked up this nice stainless steel clamp at an off-road race shop locally instead of using the crusty, bent old one. I ordered my column with 1 1/2 inches off the steering box side, not knowing if the stock-length one would interfere with the upper A-arm on the Fatman IFS without having it all in front of me. | 
With the column in, it was time to look at the rack-and-pinion unit. Fatman supplies these pieces to notch the bottom of your frame to make clearance for the ends of the rack. |
After marking the frame and making sure the ends of the rack would be centered in the notch, I fired up our Miller Spectrum 375 plasma cutter and went to town--with safety in mind, of course! | 
After some careful work with the grinder and some good chamfers on the edges, it was time to weld the notches in with our Millermatic 210MIG welder. |