Next up was the steering column. As seen in last weeks photos the 89's column was the correct length. The shape of all the parts was a perfect match as well. I did need to swap the bracket that holds the column to the dash structure as well as swapping the floor gasket setup. I was able to work the floor gaskets off both and knocked the metal part of the brackets loose but I ended up cutting the rubber part of the bracket from the 68 column (forgot to get a picture). Anyone that has ever put a van column in a pickup is familiar with having to make a new hole in the column for the bracket to index in to. This one was no exception. I did not want to take the time to disassemble the column to do the drilling and cutting so I rigged up my shop vac over the existing slot so that I could drill, cut and suck all the metal shavings out at the same time - worked like a charm!
First I drilled a 1/4" hole at each end I stepped the hole up to about 7/16 and then used my angle grinder to cut the part between the two holes. I swear I took some more pictures but they weren't on the camera so this is all you get, pic 1 is the vac hooked up, pic 2 is the completed hole, pic 3 is the bare metal painted. I installed the column and popped on the 68 horn button. The 89 button would be cool if it weren't for the silly little horn icon at the bottom. Column installed and functional - check!
-Richard