[alfa] steering boxes

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Pat Hood asks " Does anyone know definitively if the steering box from a '74 Berlina will interchange with the box from a '74 GTV? I believe it to be a Burman box with the u joint, but my parts lists do not include the steering boxes for crossreference."
 
The June 1974 Catalogo Rapido (which does not list the USA-specific deviations from standard) shows the complete steering column (105.35.23.002.00) and all of its subordinate parts except the steering wheel itself as being exactly the same for the 2000 Berlina, GTV, and Spider, and all of the parts below the steering column shaft and housing as being exactly the same for all 1750s and many 1600 and 1300 models, presumably the contemporary Juniors. What it does NOT show is any u-jointed versions.
 
In the main parts books the USA supplement for the 2000 Berlina includes the u-jointed column among some fifty pages of amendments dated January 1974. I  bought the main book and the USA supplement from ARI at the same time (ergo after January 1974) and the main book includes no amendment pages. While it could have been a non-updated, non-current copy its agreement with the June 1974 Catalogo Rapido suggests, but does not prove, that the universal joint was probably a USA-specific variant.
 
Will the universal-jointed Berlina column interchange with a non-jointed GTV column? A fly in the ointment is that the January 1974 USA amendment pages include the firewall, so there are some unidentified changes which could conflict with a steering swap. The odds are that they are not insurmountable, and I would be comfortable assuming that any 2000 column could fit any 2000 car with at most some minor modifications around the firewall.
 
 
John H.
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