72 duster Build progress
Today I decided to to do some work to the column and get cracking on making it a "manual" column.
In the picture below you will see where Marked where I planned to cut,I cut the gear selector section out of the column with a cut off wheel as well as the area where the shifter use to be.
I then spent a couple hours with some very abrasive discs on a drill knocking down all the high spots to get it looking "rounded" like a manual column looks.
I then stuck a bolt through the cage into a hole in the exterior shaft and weld the bolt to that shaft and to the cage....reason why I did this was to stop the shifter portion of the column from moving because I will need to put body filler in that seem.
I also took the 2 spring loaded steel chunks out of the column (one locks the sttering wheel when the key is out of the ignition and the other locks the shifter when the key is out of the ignition) and I cut the back portion of the steel off so the only part of those steel blocks that is of any use any more is the steering wheel lock portion of it....( sorry guys..I forgot to take pictures of that part).
tomorrow I will do some more final smoothing out most likely and then I can move on to using some filler to clean up any imperfections and then primer and paint!
I will keep everyone posted on the progress. (sure beats the price of buying a new column LOL)
Today I decided to to do some work to the column and get cracking on making it a "manual" column.
In the picture below you will see where Marked where I planned to cut,I cut the gear selector section out of the column with a cut off wheel as well as the area where the shifter use to be.
I then spent a couple hours with some very abrasive discs on a drill knocking down all the high spots to get it looking "rounded" like a manual column looks.
I then stuck a bolt through the cage into a hole in the exterior shaft and weld the bolt to that shaft and to the cage....reason why I did this was to stop the shifter portion of the column from moving because I will need to put body filler in that seem.
I also took the 2 spring loaded steel chunks out of the column (one locks the sttering wheel when the key is out of the ignition and the other locks the shifter when the key is out of the ignition) and I cut the back portion of the steel off so the only part of those steel blocks that is of any use any more is the steering wheel lock portion of it....( sorry guys..I forgot to take pictures of that part).
tomorrow I will do some more final smoothing out most likely and then I can move on to using some filler to clean up any imperfections and then primer and paint!
I will keep everyone posted on the progress. (sure beats the price of buying a new column LOL)