Steering Columns

[fleming442]

They are indeed different. Clutch and I went through the same thing in his square body: the parts store had boxes with both part numbers, but the switches inside were all non-tilt. We eventually found one, but you have to have the old in hand to stare-and-compare. The difference is very subtle.

 

[pontiac guy]

I have also built this column for my 78. The reason you want the S10 Saginaw (pre 94) is because the lower bowl has the lock cylinder in the same location as the G body AND the lower bowl is longer. Longer enough to make it to the dash. While you could use the f body column the lock cylinder will be below the centerline of the column AND the lower bowl won't reach the dash and you will have a gap between the lower bowl and the dash. It will look poopy. There is a good article about the column build online. Look for jazzman steering column build. As stated earlier, it's a lot of work to do it on a straight column. You need a fixture to do it right. You want to control not only the length from the floor to the dash mount but the oriey of the floor plate as well. It's a compound angle. The mounting location of the harness connectors for the turn signal harness will be moved as well if you do the straight column to tilt build so be sure you have a long enough harness on your turn signal can before you fish it thru there. The original parts actually have different lengths. Aftermarket ones are just super long to cover all applications. The lower bearing is also different tilt to non tilt so if you do the conversion be sure you use the right bearing and don't mix and match.

PM me if you have any additional questions.

 

[pontiacgp]

They are indeed different. Clutch and I went through the same thing in his square body: the parts store had boxes with both part numbers, but the switches inside were all non-tilt. We eventually found one, but you have to have the old in hand to stare-and-compare. The difference is very subtle.

It must be real subtle cause I took a trip to my GP to drop of the non tilt column for a manual transmission. It still has the switch installed and the wire were cut to get the column out. The column in my GP is all the way down with the steering wheel off so I had a good look at each and I could not notice what the difference is...

 

[fleming442]

It's a slight variation in where the rod goes into and the position of the slider.

 

[pontiacgp]

It's a slight variation in where the rod goes into and the position of the slider.

thanks...