Fixing a wobbly steering wheel

This post is mostly for any TR6 owner whose steering column wobbles up/down, side-to-side, and axially (in and out). I put up with it all for a while on my new to me TR, but it finally wore me down, so over the last couple of days I pulled things apart inside the dash to see what was the problem.

Turns out the last owner must have had the steering apart and really screwed things up when they reassembled things. The spring clip that is supposed to go under the clamp just behind the dash was hanging out down by the firewall. I couldn't believe my eyes - and to make it worse, they had reassembled the clamp with a snipped up piece of tin can pretending to be the clip. I threw out the tin can, put the clip back where it was supposed to be, and tightened up all the bolts. All of a sudden, the steering is solid as a rock. No wobble, no slop, no squeaks.

So the moral of the story is, don't let the fact that you bought your car in Tennessee from a NASCAR wannabe enthusiast lull you into believing the car is properly put together...