by 1972nail » Thu Feb 14, 2019 8:42 pm
Yes, bends in the lower half are common because it fouls on the subframe, gets forgotten about or whatever when the front subframe is dropped, I've bent some myself, and straightened them in a vice or whatever. Straightening the top bit should be OK but that bend looks very severe and localised in one place. i would be scared of creating a weak spot at the bend or a counter bend below the top bushing.
Like you Mike A, as far as I can make out from the parts book, the centre column is the same and only the outer casing is different. So getting any column may make it easy enough to build one good one out of the two if you had too.
As far as the WD40 fix is is concerned it is for ease of application with the car fully assembled. Possibly stripping the column out and greasing it may be more effective.
As far as the heavy steering is concerned, the HPF has slightly longer (or shorter, I'm not sure which!) steering arms and lower suspension giving more negative camber. Both will have an effect on the steering weight.
I doubt if a sticky column will have any significant effect. The thing that has most effect on steering weight is castor angle. A slightly steeper castor angle will add a lot of weight to the steering at low manoeuvring speeds but add quite a bit to straight line stability and stability on bumpy roads.
Somewhere between the recommended setting of 2 to 4 deg should give you the compromise you find acceptable. From memory Phil Dawson (the 1970's rally driver and CCC magazine contributor) wrote that he found 5 deg the most suitable for rally / racing work but it left the steering too heavy for everyday driving, with 3-4 degrees about the best compromise.
Editor of the VVOC Magazine ReVival
"When you have a Firenza like mine, who needs any Minis?" copyright David Maxwell 1979.