Thread: Steering Column Lenght

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I like to use a mid to late 70's Chevrolet/GMC van tilt. I have one in each of my 32 Fords. For me ... they are perfect.



They are small and have the tilt level and a automatic shifter. They have NO key and they have the P-R-N-D-L2-L1 indicator built on the top of the column.



Here is one mocked up in my 32 3W ...







And here it is finished ...



I am 6 foot 2 inches tall and overweight
The coupe is very comfortable ... even with a 400/500 mile trip ( one day ).



The columns usually cost $125 or so in my area ( at the salvage yard ).
You can also buy a shift indicator lense for them that is for the 700R4 ( OD )

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Here is one just installed this week in another 32 roadster for a friend ...





This is a firewall side shot of one in a 32 sedan ...

As Bob says, 32" is usual but there are lots of issues that may come up, Mock every thing in place and measure twice.
Steve at Limeworks will fix you up with a quality bit of kit, Or the Speedway columns are good too.

FWIW, I used a 32 inch IDIDIT column. The regular steel type was not all that expensive.

Here are a couple pictures of my old '32 3 window to compare with the pictures that Randy put up. I used a '67 GM midsize tilt column which is very similar to the van column that Randy uses, but with a little less length on the shaft sticking out at the bottom. You can see in his coupe that he mounts the column portion at a slightly steeper angle than we did. Both worked fine, but had different steering boxes, his the Malval half rack, mine the Vega mounted tighter to the rail. He uses the tilt feature to compensate for the sharper angle, mine less so. He used the column shift, I didn't. Neither of us likes the ignition key on the column. Individual choices, both "good", but each suited to the builder preference and to accomodate other hardware choices.

Boy, that pink steering wheel sure jumps out at you.

Is this where I insist it's purple?