Thread: How to extend input shaft on Vega steering box?

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Here's a photo that illustrates a couple of things.

The steering shaft and column are longer than what's being used in your car.
The bottom of the column/shaft is closer to the frame rail than yours - and in fact is now closer to the frame rail than the initial setup shown in the pic.
The intermediate shaft sits lower and it's a straight shot to the Vega box.

Looking from here, I'd say if you moved the bottom of the column over to the left far as you could, more than likely you'd clear the exhaust pipe.

Don't be concerned about the steering wheel ending up a touch 'off-square' in the car.
My 32 is that way and it's not a problem.
The off-square bit is also something done in Detroit on many cars.
My 50 Plymouth coupe had an off-square steering wheel/column that was more severely angled than my 32 and I never noticed it until steering wheel angles entered a conversation one bright and sunny day and we realized the Plymouth wheel was really off square. (A totally stock car by the way.)

Fwiw - the aluminum column shown is home-made incorporating sealed ball bearings and utilizes a non-tilt GM steering shaft that is 37" long stock.

If Ididit used a stock GM steering shaft, you may be able to get a longer tilt shaft - lower piece at least - and adapt it to your upper tilt shaft.

The engine in the pic is a 455 Buick set on center in the chassis and it has more exhaust port clearance than it appears to have in the pic.
My last car with this same steering column setup had a 455 Buick set 1" to the right to gain header clearance, but it didn't really need it so that's why this car has the engine on center.

If you haven't ordered your intermediate shaft yet, I suggest using a Double D shaft and buying the 36" length.
You get enough to make 2-3 intermediate shafts depending on what you're doing.
(The one I bought was cut up and resides in three different cars.)