Looking at your photos, I can't help but get the feeling that U1 & U2 are a tad too far in at the bottom ?
This would certainly explain your clearance issues.
Like I say, just a sneaky feeling as it is very hard to tell from a picture
Here is a picture of my steering set up.
Have a good bit of clearance & will have a good deal more once I ditch the round tube extension & replace it with a piece of solid round bar.
Ignore the radiator, that was a Micra one & has since been replaced with the better VW Polo one
