In my opinion this joint should not be welded. The joint forms part of the collapsible steering column arrangement (as far as I know). It's also illegal, at least in Australia, to weld any part of the steering assembly.
Many other vehicles have a similar joint which is nothing more than a piece of cloth-reinforced rubber. i.e. a piece of conveyer belt. It's a while since I looked at one of these joints but maybe a substitute can be fabricated from a couple of pieces of reinforced rubber cut from radiator hose or similar. More pieces add rotational stiffness, and redundancy. BTW, when the horn failed in my Alfettas I simply replaced the rigid earth strap across the joint with an earth strap fabricated out of flat braided wire. If you push the wire so it 'fattens', this allows a considerable amount of give/flex to prevent it tightening across the joint and snapping. Beatle Oz -- to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected]
