Ah Dave!
I had a lathe too, being an engineer I had acquired an old'ish school lathe which was small and compact but had a good level of functions. When I moved from Kent to North wales I had a lot of workshop tooling to move and moving to a bigger space I had decided to up grade the lathe when settled so gave the old one to a friend before the move.
That was in 2000 and I still haven't got around to it yet although I still miss the lathe on probably a weekly basis---------guess that means I'm not settled yet!
One little tip for those of you who are now wondering if your nylon spring loaded steering plunger is sticking. .Jack the front of the car up at the front cross member and raise both wheels off the ground then manually turn the wheels from side to side, making sure first of all that the steering lock has been released! The advantage here is the reverse of the steering wheel input and although heavy it should feel smooth and evenly loaded. don't get confused with the oscillating type feel that will be fed back through the wheels, a ryhmic feel like pulsing, this is normal and is in fact the effect of the universal joints throughout the steering column when rotated by the front wheels. the plunger feels more like a creaking micro judder and is there all the time. you will probably feel it through the steering wheel if you move it slowly with the wheels also raised.
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