GTV Steering wheel offset

[BBRT]

My 74 GTV 2000 came with a small diameter Autotechneca steering wheel and boss. I have procured and refurbished an original wheel. Because of the woodruff key the original wheel is offset by about 40 degrees when the front wheels are straight ahead. Originally this offset was able to be accommodated by using the appropriate set of holes in the aftermarket boss.
Is there some easy way to adjust for this? Would a wheel alignment be able to adjust for an offset of this magnitude?

[rowan_bris]

a wheel alignment will fix it

[McAnnik]

    Yes Rowan. A wheel alignment will be beneficial.. it needs to be specified that the outer (short ) track rods need to be set to factory specs first, then proceed with other adjustments. Should not be difficult with a competent shop with good alighnment equipment. Any major tyre sales distributor could manage this. Have a good wheel balance job done while your there...............cheers.

[Colin Byrne]

So I thought I'd elaborate on the process I use (pretty sure it's the same in the workshop manual), these cars can be a real pain to get the steering centred, particularly if there is wear in any of the many linkages that make up the full system.  I've yet to find a wheel alignment place that can do it properly!

Step 1
Lock the steering wheel in the centre position, I've done this before by jamming a block of wood between the pivoting arm of the steering box and chassis rail, and then using a big G clamp to lock it in place.

Step 2
With the steering locked the driver's side toe is adjusted to the desired level using the driver's side short steering arm, I run between parallel and just a couple of mm of toe in on the rally car and a little more on the road car to help tracking.

Step 3
measure the dimension of the drivers side short steering arm that has just been set and translate that measurement to the passenger side short steering arm.  This step is important, both short steering arms need to be the same length so that you have the same Ackermann curves left to right.

Step 4
Now that you've set and locked the length of the short steering arm on the passenger side, using the long centre steering arm adjust the passenger side wheel to the chosen toe setting.

Done! You should have the car tracking straight, even Ackermann left to right and the steering wheel in the centre.  Due to the relatively coarse threads on the ball joints, sometimes a couple of small tweaks are required to get it perfectly centred, but only a test drive will tell you that

Of course you could just put in a steering rack........

[BBRT]

Had it done this morning by guys at local Bob Jane, they have looked after our cars and tyres for years.
I am quite relieved, thought it might become an issue like most other things related to the car.
Thanks for your advice.