Steering Column Bracket

[Dennisfly]

I have the standard steering column gas tank bracket on my 1929 Fordor Town Sedan. I want to replace it with the 1931 style that mounts on the dash rim to lessen the chance of a fuel tank leak. None of the suppliers stock them anymore but a local club member was nice enough to give me one.

I looked at Tom Endy's pictures and instructions and it looked pretty straight forward. The problem is his pictures (the first and second ones) shows access to the back side (upper) of the dash rim to place a nut on the bolts of the adapter piece. My picture (the third one) shows no room to do this. I removed the dash wind deflector and the windshield molding but still no access.

Anyone know how to get around this?