Thread: Chev tilt column in Model A

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When I bought my roadster pickup project, it came with what I believe is a Chev tilt steering column, with a column mounted shift lever. This thing is rather huge and mondo ugly, but being an innovative, cheap, stubborn old guy, I am going to use it anyway. I may find a way to cut the lever off at the bottom of the column where it originally connected to the shift linkage, remove the shift lever up top, and rotate the housing which contained the shift lever so that it faces straight down towards the underside of the column where it will not be visible. (maybe even a little grinder and bondo work on that area) I hope to run some kind of floor shift, maybe a Lokar unit like Don Shillady wants for his roadster. My question is, does anybody have pictures of one of these things installed in a model A or 32, or any similar car. I have a zillion pictures of neat column drops on simple tubular columns a la Flaming River, but that won't work with what I have. Any pictures would be greatly appreciated.

Brian,

Here's an older photo of a GM tilt column in my A-bone. As I remember, I picked up a column from a floorshift car. I removed the big, herky GM mounting bracket, then made my own from sheet stock. Since I didn't cut out the tank, I just bolted it there. It would have been just as easy to bolt it to a 3/4" square tube crossmember, but it wasn't necessary on this one. The bottom bracket is a piece of sheet with a roller bearing attached to it. I believe I bought that piece, but I couldn't guarantee it. I covered the "uglies" from the bracket down by wrapping with carpet, but a proper sized piece of steel tube would work too. Kinda primative, but that was almost 20 years ago.

Well Brian you are great with the pictures! The "lever" that mystifies me is shown on your column at the extreme left of your picture just next to the cord with the 115 vac plug. I have answered your question about a sleeve from Speedway. Just use some sort of marking pencil on the steering wheel and the turn-signal return disk relative to the splines on the shaft before you take them off if you are replacing the turn signal switch. I was able to rent the necessary compression plate tool from AUTO ZONE with a $15 deposit that is refunded when I return the tool. Before that I made a $15 deposit on a steering wheel puller and that was refunded when I returned the puller. In addition, AUTO ZONE has all the plastic sockets and wiring pigtails available, although NAPA said I would have to get them from a junk yard! After all of this messing around I still do not know if the distance of my non-tilt wheel from the firewall is reasonable so as to use the existing bulkhead mounting plate welded to the bottom of my column. It looks OK in the range of 28-30 inches so I think I can make it work by using a suitable steering wheel dish distance and/or moving the seat in or out. Let me know if you understand the function of that lever at the bottom of the column. It sure seems as if Henry Rifle is a good guy to know as well because he has done just about everything before and is near to my location even though there are many other experts on this Forum. Eventually I hope to visit him and/or take some pictures of my own, but in my garage I am usually scratching my head and not real proud of what I have so far, so thanks much for a lot of help from him too. Looking again at Brian's picture and at the Speedway calalog it looks to me that the sleeve PN 910-32600, $21.95 will cover the shifter hole but not cover the tilt connection which is above the shifter. If Brian says the lever at the bottom of the column is to connect to the stick trans and mine has the same lever for a floor shift version there must be some connection to the trans for the automatic as well; probably the folks a Lokar can answer this question and I will try them next week.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don,

That lever attaches to the shift linkage going to the transmission.

I am usually scratching my head

. . . and that's the prime ingredient in hot rodding, isn't it?

Henry Rifle, there seems to be a flurry of threads on steering columns and on the other thread about the Ididit column in your '34 you say the column is 30 3/4" from the back of the steering wheel to the end of the column. My non-tilt '82 Camaro column appears be slightly over 30" for the same distance but I could not get an accurate measurement with wet paint still on it. The distance from the back of the steering wheel to the firewall bracket now welded there for the Camaro gives a distance of 27" but if necessary I can cut off the weld tabs and move the bracket further down the column and reweld it or maybe I just need to buy a 3" dish steering wheel. So I am learning and encouraged by the information on several threads. However from your last comment the lever at the bottom of the column is for the shift mechanism and my column has no shifter, apparently from a floor shift model. I guess this means there must have been some connection to the floor shifter and that in turn is related to the lock plate. Well I have learned a lot, thanks to you and Brianrupnow so I won't make more of a big deal about it until
I chat with someone at Lokar to find out whether I can use this non-shift column with a Lokar floor shift and retain the locking mechanism. Thanks again, although I have to show my ignorance there is help on this Forum.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Hey Don---Just how complex is it to dismantle one of these Chev columns? Obviously you had yours torn down quite a bit to get into the guts of the signal lights. Did you have a set of instructions, or did you figure it out as you took it apart. I haven't started to dismantle mine yet.

Depending on the ergonomics of the situation you may not need a tilt column.

I've been building my own columns at home using a non-tilt shaft from about mid-70's to mid-80's passenger car column shift GM columns.
The shaft proper is approx 27" long.

The column shown is made from 1 5/8" x .120 wall aluminum tube.
It has four machined pieces and spins on sealed roller bearings.
The bearings add to the ease of steering and in the case of my 32 roadster power steering is not needed.

Here's a pic of the finished column for the 31 on 32 rails roadster.
I do have some exploded view photos if you wish.
This column can easily be made from steel if preferred.

Aside from the steering wheel, quick release hub and U-joint I have less than $20. invested.

Here's a pic of the 32's steering column.
This one uses a shaft out of an 80's GM van.
I cut it down and re-splined it.

It has the same basic construction as the previously shown 31's steering column, but has a larger non-quick release hub that bolts to the column/steering wheel adapter.
Both steering wheels are Grant fwiw.

Long as I'm on a roll, here's a pic of the first stages of column installation.

Thing I want to point out here is the multi-hole mounting bracket.
(I did the same with the 32.)
Holes are spaced 1" apart and allows for a little leeway in altering the ergonomics of the car.
The column ended up 1" to the right from where it started out.
(The bracket has gussets that were not installed when the pic was taken.)

Note too the shallow steering column angle.
This helps in the ergonomics dept.
In fact, I copied the ergonomics out of my stock 72 Pinto that I was driving when I started building the 32 in 1985.
It was a comfortable car for the most part and duplicating the seat/column/pedal relationships worked well.

During the construction process I thought a tilt column would be nice, but found it wasn't required.
I'm 6' tall with a 32" inseam fwiw so ergonomics are important.

My 5'1" wife can drive the 32 with no problems.
When we had the car upholstered I had a square foam backpad upholstered to match.
The foam's 4" thick and the controls are correct for her once the foam pad is in place.

One last one and I'll shut up.

This pic shows where the 27" long column ends up.
Alignment with the Vega cross steer box is very good and there is room to build inside the frame headers.
granted the 455 Buicks #7 exhaust port can be a little tight, but it's not too bad a deal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Incidentally, Henry's adaptation/conversion of a tilt column is one of the classiest ones I've seen.

Regardless of when it was done....

C9X Thanks a lot, great pictures and superb worksmanship. I would do exactly what you have done, but I'm a big fat old guy (260lbs) and about 5'-7", in a roadster pickup. This is about the equivalent of a hippo in a urinal, so I need the tilt steering. I think that I have figured out how to do this, working with what I've got. I haven't actually got to the stage where I am doing anything with the column yet, just throwing out feelers for suggestions. I just finished all the friggery involved with the rad-grillshell-hood bracket-electric fan scenario this weekend, so will be moving on to the steering column this coming week. I will post pictures as this evolves.

Thanks for the nice words.

You may find the 32 fits you very well.
I did make the backrest too thick and should have sunk it into the trunk, but it's very livable as is.

My 6'7" friend drove the car once and said the seating was ok, but I think two things were going on there.
One, the car's a heckuva lotta fun to drive and he's sorta used to living in a shorter world.

One other friend, about 5'7" and 220# drove the car and he fit fine as well.

I'll be looking forward to your post and pics....

This picture shows the steering column I have, as it was installed in the 31 roadster pickup project when I bought it. Although the brackets supporting it are crude, and will have to be replaced (the 1" square horizontal tube actually hangs below the Brookville dash I purchased) I think it will not be a huge problem to make a new hanger, probably doing something like the picture Henry Rifle posted. The previous builder who started this project had a mustang steering box in it originally with the drag link running up to the drivers side spindle. I have changed many things, and installed a Vega cross throw steering. The car came with a pair of bucket seats, but in order to gain leg and belly room I think I will use a bench seat base, but pad and upholster the backpanel in the roadster pickup, to about 2" thickness. I think perhaps the biggest part of the puzzle will be to get rid of that column mounted shifter and hide the fact that it was ever there. I think I will keep the column mounted key switch. This column has the headlight dimmer switch activated by the signal light lever, however since it don't seen to have a functional horn button, I may go to a floor mounted dimmer switch and use the column mounted dimmer function to operate a horn relay.

C9x, very nice work but probably beyond my talent. I will stay with the non-tilt '82 Camaro column I have until/unless I can't make it work somehow. I note that the distance from the back of the steering wheel to the bulkhead/firewall bracket is almost exactly 27" and the column is about 32" total length. Brian, it is easy with the right tools to work on the column. First you need a simple two-bolt puller to pull the steering wheel using two tapped holes in the steering wheel under the horn button after simple removal of the single hexnut under the horn button. Then you should see a black plastic cover disk under the steering wheel and you really need a special tool which threads onto the column and has a U-shaped bar which presses down on the disk with a wingnut using the column threads to buck against. I rented that tool from AUTO ZONE. There is a ring clip in a groove on the column shaft which has to be pried out while the disk is pressed down against a rather strong spring; I used a needle-nose pliers and a small screwdriver blade to pry out the clip. Then the black plastic disk should come off the column. At this point I recommend you make a mark on the shaft splines where the next disk below the plastic disk is relative to the shaft splines, although the next part down is a steel disk with a set of u-shaped holes around the edge. After making that mark it should be easy to use your fingers and/or a small screwdriver to pry off the steel disk and the signal-return disk, both of which have a splined hole. Below that there are three small fine thread screws which hold the turn-signal plate in place, so remove them and remove the screw holding the turn signal arm. Note Brookville makes a kit for new chromed parts including the turn signal arm for about $30, but I just sprayed my rusty turn signal lever with aluminum spray paint and it looks pretty good. Then there is a single screw holding the flasher button and that has to be removed. Now all you have to do is wiggle the turn-signal plastic part out of the hole along with a multi-wire pigtail that slides between the outer sleeve and the column. If you buy a new turn signal mechanism ($26 at AUTO ZONE, my original was cracked at the pressure point and not likely to last long so I replaced it), it comes with a new pigtail of wires which easily slide down between the outer sleeve and the inner column. Finally there is a single threaded pin under the turn-signal mechanism in what would be the right hand side of the column and when you remove that the key cylinder will slide out. A new cylinder with two keys was $9.99 at AUTO ZONE. As I said the only problem for me is how to orient the signal-return disk upon reassembly. In principle it does not matter since you have to align the splines on the Vega box anyway and of course you can mount the steering wheel on the splines any way you like but if you want the "cancel" mechanism to be symmetric with respect to the straight position of the steering wheel, the return mechanism should be symmetric with respect to the straight-ahead orientation of the steering wheel. My new friend, John York, at York Replicars told me he has to "phase" the u-joints on the d-shaft, but I think it can be done just by arbitrary orientation on the Vega box splines and reorienting the steering wheel. On my non-tilt unit and without a column shifter it may be simpler than your column and I do not know what you will see when you try to remove the column shifter. In my case there is a plate between the signal-return disk and the outer black plastic disk which has a series of u-shaped cutouts around the edge and a tapered pin in the column which is spring loaded. When the lever at the base of the column is in a certain position (PARK?) and the key is in the LOCK position, the tapered pin will stick up through one of the holes on that plate which is also splined and prevent the whole unit from rotating. That is my dilemma, how to relate the position of that lever to the transmission somehow but I plan to discuss this with Lokar tech folks. Good luck.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

you want the "cancel" mechanism to be symmetric with respect to the straight position of the steering wheel, the return mechanism should be symmetric with respect to the straight-ahead orientation of the steering wheel. My new friend, John York, at York Replicars told me he has to "phase" the u-joints on the d-shaft, but I think it can be done just by arbitrary orientation on the Vega box splines and reorienting the steering wheel.

You probably know this, but the final wheel-straight-ahead alignment is squared away by driving the car then adjusting draglink length to bring the wheel where you want it.

Fwiw - don't set up Pitman arm angle and draglink length so the steering boxes internal stops come into play.
On an early style solid axle front end, that function is taken care of by the stop nuts on the axle.
If stop nuts are new to you - and apparently they are to some considering the cars I see running without them - they're the acorn nuts that hold the kingpin locks in place.

Some of the aftermarket stop nuts - most times stainless and very nice - are overly long and limit the turn radius.
Easily rectified by cutting .120 off at a time and checking the turning radius of the car.
(When my 32 was first up and running it didn't turn very sharp.)
I ended up cutting .250 from the early Deuce Factory stainless stop nuts to get a decent turn without bottoming on the steering box internal stops.
It can be a juggling match to get things set up right, but it can be done.

The stainless stop nuts supplied by the Deuce Factory nowadays is the correct length for most cars.
If memory serves, overall length of the acorn nut is 1 3/16" with a hardened 1/16" thick AN style flat washer.

If you can find a couple of stainless mag wheel lug nuts for Chevy (7/16-NF) there's usually enough room to trim off the shoulder and cut the hex portion down to the correct length thereby saving a few bucks.