Quote Originally Posted by 35fordcoupe
thanks everyone for the replys.

randyr- im not sure what the difference is b/w an '87 and '97 column either, but I also have that collar for the firewall. is it safe to shorten it on purpose like that? i assume its designed to be collapsible in the event of an accident right? the '87 doesn't use a chip in the key right? is there any anti theft issues or any problems with the stock column wiring that you have run into? what steering wheel are you using?

i am using the engine that went with this column and the computer has the anti thef edited out so whether or not i use the keys with the chip in it shouldn't matter right?
I assume it's safe to shorten it like that. I learned how to do it on another forum. I was thrilled that I didn't have to resort to cutting the column to shorten it. I didn't collapse it all the way to the bottom. My guess is that the collapsible steering column was designed to go with the "crumple zones" on the fenders & frames of the newer cars in case of front-end collision. We don't have "crumple zones" on our cars, thus a collapsible steering column isn't going to help that much in a head on collision....which we hope & pray never happens to anyone! If you're still using the stock firewall, you may not need to shorten it.

I don't have mine wired up yet but I will probably incorporate some kind of kill switch or other anti theft device into the system when I get that far along. As for the chip in your keys, I don't know anything about that.