Terry's AK Cobra Project: Steering column, throttle cable, dash cutout

The requirement is for a BMW E34 steering column along with the lower steering shaft.
There are a couple of dudes on Ebay who know just what you want - for a price.

The steering column needs to have the left side mounting arm cut off and a portion of the top plate.
The ignition lock needs to come out. Try to get a key with it. The ignition switch barrel needs to be turned to a certain position with the key. Then insert a 1mm dia something into a small hole on the edge of where the key goes in. This release a catch and the barrel slides out. I didn't have a key so I had to drill it out. Ideally remove the steering lock mechanism as well. There should be a small steel pin driven into the cast ally which bisects the hole the long arm of the lock is in. Punch or drill it out and then remove the steering lock arm.
Remove the indicator and wash/wipe stalks for later use.
We should now have something like this:

There seem to be different lower shafts. I had the wrong one originally, the section without splines was too short.

So the bearing collar from AK will not fit against the wall of the footwell.
The Ebay guy sorted it out and sent a different one which had longer overall length.

I had to mount it with the shaft bush slightly over towards the engine. The steering shaft down to the rack only just passes the upper suspension mount, moving the bush over a short way gives it more clearance.
And talking of clearance, you probably got a big nut with the steering column that tightens the upper shaft onto the splined lower shaft. Unless you have a wider footwell than everyone else, it won't fit. Leave it off. The nice man at AK swears you don't need it.

When the steering column is fitted, make sure it is properly earthed. The mounts are plastic and rubber, it needs a path to earth for the hooter if nothing else. I connected an earth strap down to the wiper motor bracket.
The dashboard needs to be cut around the upper plastic shroud. AK have etched a line for this. I measured it and the line seemed fairly accurate. I cut inside it, test fitted and only had to open it up a small amount. The finished thing has about a 5-8 mm gap.

You will need a hub and a (possibly temporary for IVA) steering wheel. AK has some suggestions in the manual. I spoke to Merlin and ordered a BMW boss, IVA compliant, and a cheap steering wheel, which actually looks not too bad.

Throttle Cable
While having ones head down in the footwell, I connected up the throttle cable.
And wished I had done it before the body went on at the same time as fitting the pedal box.
The cable from AK has a threaded end with two nuts to secure either side of the footwell wall.
Thing is that the threaded section is too short to give a good length for nuts and washers on both sides of the wall. The solution, then, has a close fit washer on the engine bay side and a single washer/nut on the inside. I had a 5mm repair washer, used the conical drill to open it exactly to 6mm. It is then a close fit over the thread. The cable has an edge on the outer cable sheath which then buts up nicely against the washer. Don't try to fit it with neither nut or washer, it will eventually pull through the wall.

Fitting the nut and washer on the inside was nigh on impossible. I managed it but I so wish I had done this before the pedal box went in. Make sure the throttle arm lines up exactly with the cable as it protrudes into the footwell. We don't want the throttle pedal pulling the cable out at an angle.
The other end of the cable has a nipple with a tiny grub screw to secure it. And it doesn't fit the Jenvey throttle mechanism as one would like.

For the cable to pass completely through the nipple, it needs to be able to pass through the centre of the hole

The thing is that you don't want to have to put the screw tightened nipple right at the end of the cable. We need to be able to secure it past the nipple and also to have it as an extra adjustment. I spoke with the guy at Jenvey and he confirmed it is the way it is. He thought we should have a permanent fixed ball end - as it is at the pedal end - to slot into the mechanism. All it needs is for the cable slot in the mechanism to be bored out past the hole where the nipple fits.