"....I guess my question would be why would you take a chance rebuilding one of these, when for $300 you can get a new column from Ididit or Flaming River, sized to fit and assembled with new parts by people familiar with what they are assembling? ...."

I don't know Swifster, these colums (factory GM) are pretty simple and easy to rebuild, with all the parts needed available through GM. They are aslo pretty easy to modify (shorten) to fit almost anything.

I redid a mid 70's Chevy van tilt unit for my 37 Dodge, cost of the column, bearings etc, I was into for well under $100, knew it was the right legnth, and did it in a morning (to include shortening it). It's not the fancy chrome/stainless setup, but I wanted painted anyway. I also got a lot of satisifaction from doing it myself.