Thread: Install Ididit column in model A roadster pickup

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For anyone installing a column into a model A Ford, this is how I went about it. The original cowl mounted gas tank has been removed, and I am using the upper dash rail as supplied by Henry Ford, and a Brookville roadster 1932 style dash (which is a bolt in using original model A nut-certs that are in the original body). The dash and upper dash rail are removed, and a structural support of 1" square tubing x 1/8" wall thickness is made up to span between the door jambs. When installed as I have shown it, it clears the inside of the dash by about 1". The offset in the center of the bar was made to run behind the instruments, as there is not enough room between the underside of the Billet Specialties gauge cluster and the lower lip on the Brookville dash to offset the jog downwards into that area. (note that if you are running individual gauges that are not mounted in a cluster, you might have enough room to do that.) The 2 square tubes that run in towards the firewall have 3/8" nuts welded into the ends of them, and each has a bolt thru the firewall into the nut for added support. The column drop is bolted to a 1" x 3/8" flat bar x 6" long that is welded to the 1" square tube. Down at the floor I cut a hole, then welded in a 3" length of exhaust tubing that has an inside diameter slightly larger than the 2" Ididit column.---Note that I used a 36" long peice of exhaust tubing as a dummy column to set all of these angles properly, when tack-welding things together---I didn't want to get weld spatter on the new column). I bought the longest column that Ididit offered, 32", and I am glad that I did, because only about 3" of it extends thru the floor. I have not welded the collar at the floor completely yet, as my steering wheel has not arrived yet, and although the column drop will adjust to any angle, the welded collar won't. If I have to monkey with the column drop, I can always add a spacer at the top of it, to drop the column a bit, but once that floor collar is welded solid, there will be no more angular adjustability. When the dash is bolted into place, there is about 1/8" clearance between the flange on the bottom of the dash (which extends towards the firewall 1") and the face of the column drop. The drop that I used is a 3", as I have a tilt column that will be tilted down while driving and up to let my fat old body in and out. I think if you were running a non-tilt column, then you would want a 4" column drop.