tilt

I would also like to know which column would be a direct bolt in for a 65 F/B with a 4-spd.

Thanks Dave

 

i use the FR tilt column... I have nothing bad to say about it other than you have to splice the wires yourself and that the output shaft to the steering wheel is GM splined...

 

If I recall correctly, there was a post on here about a guy's Ididit power rack and pinion system breaking. If that is true, I sure wouldn't want anything else they manufactured with something as important as steering.

 

Just a quick note...ididit does not manufacture any rack and pinion kits.

 

I have a FR column and a Lecarra wheel. Like stated earlier, need to splice the wiring but not difficult. Very pleased with column.

 

With '67 down you have a solid column right? No rag joint and the steering shaft goes all the way into the gearbox as one piece. This would mean that you have to change the gearbox also. Be sure to add that all up and there's usually an install kit that's >$100, I believe you're looking at ~$1000 to put it into a solid column car.

It would be nice to have tilt but I couldn't justify it for the cost so for safety I swapped in a '68-'69 collapseable column and had my gearbox rebuilt with a short shaft. If I come across a reasonable cost tilt column later it'll slip right in.

Is it their midsection that's in the way or legs pinced between the seat base and steering wheel? I also installed foxbody seats and mounted them 1"-2" farther back and have plenty of slide room now (6'1").
Jon
Jon

 

I have the rag joint type steering column.
The wheel hits their legs when they get in.

My current column steering wheel is toast, as is the horn wiring, so I can sort of budget that toward a new column.

 

Just out of curiosity, what is the difference between the 65/66 Flaming river replacement column, and the 67 and up? I assume it's the column length??

 

The Ididit columns are good pieces, and they use Ford turn signal switches, not a GM one. Designed to connect easily to your existing wiring harness. The length of the columns is the same, but the electronics are different. 68 uses a different steering wheel diameter and the mounting to the dash is different too. 67 is kind of an oddball - 65-66 will interchange 68 and 9 will too. 67 has traits of both of the others.

Dave

 

67 depending on if it is early or late mfg date will have either the same as the 66 or the 68. Mine is early and is darn near the same as my 65.

When I change both of them out, I will have to look at which column uses the best electrical hook up. I do not want GM style and have to splice the wires!

Mel

 

I messed around putting a 68 column in a 66. It would work, with mods with a 68 steering box. I have an extra one in case I need it, The 68 box would have worked in the 66 V-8 with PS. The 68 Pitman would have attached to the 66 susp. So now, just have a 68 and am able to use a nice restored 66 woodgrain wheel on the 68 column and the horn works(Mustang blah sounds) TS will cancel on a left turn-most of the time!. So, if you use the 68 column in your 66, the 66 woodgrain will work. It does slide into the larger 68 column. If you didn't know Mustangs well, it would appear to be orig.

 

I went with a ididit steering column due to issues with flaming river. No personal experience though. I was very pleased with the ididit. Easy to put in did have to adapt wirig to column but took maybe an hour. I ordered a universal coulmn since i needed the double D to go with the rack and pinion. You will need to run a horn relay which I did not due to painless has a horn relay unless you have aftermarket wiring harness. I ordered the gm splined steering wheel version but I am going to run a aftermarket steering wheel from billet spec. Have pictures of it in if you want to see it. I went with the paintable version.

 

you will need to get another steering box... i got the FR box with the column, it was just under 400 for the box and another 300 or so for the column.
You can adapt your old box to your new column if you wand to put the effort in and attach a "u" joint between the two....

 

I am sort of planning on doing all of this with the borgeson power steering box swap.

I just want to plan everything correctly, box, coupling (u joint vs rag), column, steering wheel/adaptor etc.

Getting good info from this thread

 

Did you ever complete this? Looking to do one on my '65 now. I'm 6'2", so how did it work for our boys? (Men now I would guess since this thread is so old!)

 

I have had the column in my car for several years, I chose to do the wiring different than instructed. Since I would have to unpin the wires or cut to use the GM connector, I decided to use a Molex connector instead. It is smaller in size than the WIDE Gm connector and I need a couple of extra positions since I elected to use the turn signal hi beam switch FR had available at that time. I am using the Lecarra steering wheel and it fit well.

The only disappointment and negative I have with this is how damn close the wheel is placed to me. Arms out driving is a thing of the past, even elbows out is a fond memory. If and when I decide to go to the EPAS steering I will spend a lot of time figuring out how I can make the column shorter to give me some more room. Given your height, you might want to think long and hard about this.