Steering Column swap

[Bonnewagon]

So as you can see, the white wire is the 12 volt power and it goes to the motor on the early type, but it goes to the column switch on the later type. On the early type, the switch is ground, on the later type, the switch is power. On the early type the extra 5th wire is green, for the delay function. It is included in the body harness on the early type, but it's only in the column harness if it's ordered with a delay system. On the later type, all 5 wires are used no matter what. Oddly, the "B" models continued with the old negative ground system through 86' according to my book. Confused? I was, for a LONG time.

 

[dougfather]

I just deleted one of the duplicate posts. Anyway, to sum up what we know about steering columns (based on other topics on the gbody forum):

78 - Column has no wiper switch, has splined shaft making it unique to 78 only.
79-81 - Column has no wiper switch, has 2 flats on shaft which is used in later years. I have noticed several variants of crusise control switch, if so equipped.
82-83 - Column has wiper switch for a negative switched wiper motor and has 2 flats on shaft.
84-87 - Column has wiper switch for a positive switched wiper motor and has 2 flats on shaft.

As for individual pieces swapping from one typ of column to another, I have not confrimed any of this.

 

[Bonnewagon]

I agree with that grouping, well done. You can add that the column mounted wiper switch comes in 4 variants. Standard wipers-non-tilt; standard wipers-tilt; delay wipers-non-tilt; delay wipers-tilt. This applies to both negative and positive switched systems.

 

[adam6640]

This is not really a reply but another question I have a 1981 Lemans non tilt column shift & I have a 1987 Monte LS with column shift tilt , can I put the 87 tilt in the 81 ? I will keep wipers on dash of 81,no cruise on either,steering boxes also changed I believe in 83 but are interchangeable,I also have a 1978 Olds Cutlass 4 speed tilt column and am planning on going manual on the lemans as soon as I get the rest of the parts, but I am going to get rid of the Monte & want to keep the tilt, appreciate any info thanks

 

[Longroof79]

You will be able to use the later column in your '81 Lemans and keep the dash mounted wiper switch. You simply plug in the larger plug into the column and leave the small plug (from the stalk mounted switch) unplugged. It's as easy as that..

 

[SRD art]

so can I add to this discussion? My 79 Cutlass wagon's column is trashed. The car was broken into before I bought it and they ripped part of the left side of column off to start the car. Then the other day the turn signal lever snapped off. Because of this I recently picked up an 84 Regal steering column to put into my car. I was pretty excited to have the headlight and wiper switch on the column to clean up the dash...until I read this post.

So lets say I want to keep everything in the Regal column functional, what am I up against? Would grabbing an 84 & up wiper motor solve everything? I don't have access to the wiring diagrams yet. Thanks for any info.

 

[Bonnewagon]

To use the 84' system you would need an 84' up wiper motor, and rewire accordingly. Most of the wires can be used as is, but some would need rearranging, like the white power wire. I believe Jack tried this and said the wiper motors are not a direct swap, maybe one bolt was off a bit. Hopefully he will chime in with his experience.

 

[G-Body_Vet]

I was wondering about something and figured I'd add to the thread. Is it feasible or worth the trouble to swap out the '78 splined upper shaft to a '79 & up d-flat shaft? I've never completely torn apart a column and I'm curious if they interchange.

I'm looking to ditch the rag-joint and I really don't want to butcher anything on the car right now. I'd rather have something that fits correctly than some half-*ss rigged BS, especially with steering.

 

[matrx10503]

I have 81 Monte, Column Shift, Wiper Mount in Dash, 81 wiper motor

I swapped in 88 Monte Floor Tilt/Floor Shift column, Wiper mounted in column on directional stalk, 88 Wiper motor

How do I make this happen?

I have no green wire an no white wire....I have purple/pink/black/gray from body harness.

To much trouble going from negative circuit to positive circuit even though I have everything to swap out?

I just simply want wipers to work....I don't care about delay or windshield wiper fluid.

 

[Bonnewagon]

Well, to be honest, the easiest way to get wipers would be to get a pre-84' wiper motor like your original and use the dash switch. But if you are a glutton for punishment like me, then you must re-wire from the column switch to the wiper motor. Did you mount the wiper motor yet? Did it fit properly, any issues? Since you have the pink/black/grey/purple wires in place you would need to compare the 2 wiring diagrams and use the corresponding colors that match up, then add what's missing, such as the white power wire. On your car the white goes to the wiper motor, but on your new column switch, it goes to the column so a new wire would need to be run. The wires would need to be re-arranged in the harness connectors also. Let me see if I can upload the diagrams.