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... and speaking of wanting to put gas in, but can't open the hood, just this week while in/near El Paso, I was beating my way back to the airport in a new Mitsubishi Galant rental, and was going to fill 'er up before turing it in. Pulled into the gas station and went looking for the button to push to open the fuel door. Said door was flush mounted on the body w/ no finger grip, so there had to be a release gizzmo somewhere, right? None to be found anywhere. No Operator's Manual in the car either. Tried pushing the door, thinking maybe it was a pressure-release sort of thing -- no dice. Asked two other fellows there if they had a clue, and none did. Ended up just leaving, and when I turned the car in explained my frustration. Tank was about 1/2. Avis agreed not to charge me for gas (would have been about $30 or more) and the gal showed me how it is done. No, there is no button or lever; Yes, you do push on the door, but just on one side, gently like this (you dolt!!, she did not say, but did not need to) and it tilts out neat as you please. DOH!!! BUT SHTOOOPID!!
One of my buddies grabed on to the ZF steering box out of the last basket case 356 we had. He replaced the old VW box with the ZF, pretty much a bolt in operation if you have the earlier tie rod ends on your car, other wise you will need the smaller dia rod ends used by earlier VW and Porsche 356's. It steers far better than the VW box, seems to have far less wander just driving down the road....they are not cheap but may be the best solution short of rack and pinion steering.....
I noticed that the steering shaft was rubbing on the top of the steering shaft tube that runs through the IMs body. This may be what is causing the heavy steering and the steering wheel not returning to center after a turn. I was able to adjust the steering box to give the steering shaft about 1/8" clearance. Not much, but I didn't want to change the steering box's angle (in relation to the steering shaft) too much. I'm not sure how much 'give' the steering rag-puck has.
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