Thread: 1953 chevy pickup questions

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Hey i am restoring a 1953 chevy pickup. I am putting a small block chevy with a turbo 350. I just got done putting a 1977 nova front sub frame. Now i have some questions I was wondering if anyone the nova frame had powersteering so now i need a new steering column and i just want a basic steering column with turn signals and a tilt would be nice so if anyone knows what works good that would be helpful and another thing is for my brake mater cylinder if u guys know one that works good with those old trucks and the brake pedal that matches up pretty good
thanks

When I did my 55 Chevy Pick up I used a 81 Olds Cutlass tilt column and got all the connecting pieces from Borgeson.

It was easy to install and everything when together easy.

I used the btake pedal and master from the same car, with a little trimming it fit great.

On that steering column that u used did it come with the key on the steering column cause I like the key being on the dash and if it is on the column is there any way u can cover it up so there is no key hole

Seems to me that the key-on-column thing came along in '69 or '70, so you would need to find a column from a '68 or earlier. The column from a van was supposed to be the right length, but there are other choices, too. Personally, I'd suffer the cost, and get an aftermarket like an Ididit, or something that is the right length. You can also shorten and adapt your original by using the right sized bearing that fits inside of the housing and has the correct inner bore for the shaft, then use the Borgeson parts to connect to the steering box.

I used the clip from a 77 Trans Am andalso used the colum , pedals, brake booster and E brakeEverything from the Nova should fit but might have to fab up a few brackets at the most

Rrumbler covered it mostly. For passenger car columns '68 was the first year of switch in the column, for vans and trucks the clean columns went into about '72 or so. If you want the tilt you'll be competing with a lot of other folks, especially the muscle car restoration guys......which means harder to find and more $. On top of that, 40ish year old parts means cost to restore the column to get rid of slop. That's why his suggestion of a new one makes muy sense. Both Flaming River and Hellix make similar looking ones of the mid-60s GM columns.

Full-size Chevy and GMC vans had "keyless" columns which could have tilt all the way up to 1979 or so.

I've had one stashed away for like 20 years and STILL don't have the dough to build the rest of the truck around it!

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Shea