those that have done flaming river steering column swaps
The shaft is just a 3/4" steel bar and if you look online (Speedway motors) you can find a bearing and carrier that will fit and you would just have to attach it to the factory firewall bracket. I went a little different route but the theory is the same.
Sorry don't mean to hijack here but I'm in a similar boat.
I remember seeing this mod and also am going to install a tilt column in my '69 Dart. The plan was to get one of their universal floor shift tilt columns (full length). I knew there was going to be a trick with the firewall, but the problem I'm now seeing is the overall length of the column. The way IDIDIT says to measure is from the end of the shaft to the top of the collar http://www.ididitinc.com/pdf/HowToMeasureASteeringColumn.pdf. The longest they show is 35" in their universal. I measure the column that came out of my car and it's 37" according to that same measurement. So that makes me think that won't work.
So now that I'm seeing this shorty column, I'm starting to think maybe that's the way to go. I assume you have to buy the shaft between the column and steering box separately? Without modifying my firewall, how would you suggest getting the bearing flange to work? Attach it to the original plate similar to your old setup you built? I think if I did that, then there would be a funny looking gap around the shaft where it goes through the firewall right? I'm open to some input here.
The shaft is just a 3/4" steel bar and if you look online (Speedway motors) you can find a bearing and carrier that will fit and you would just have to attach it to the factory firewall bracket. I went a little different route but the theory is the same.