Anyway, I have a '69 Mach1 which I am restoring slowly, and it was originally a non-tilt car.
I’m tall and I hardly fit into y brother’s '70 Mach so I bought a complete tilt-away steering setup from a '69 Mustang.
I’ve had at all restored and it all seems lovely but I’m trying to install it and there is a 2-3 inch gap between the end of the shaft and the rag joint on the steering box. The Rag joint is original and came with the Tilt setup, the P/S box is original from my '69 and it’s been rebuilt too, but I cannot fathom how to bridge the gap - here’s a pic of the shaft poking out of the column, does it look correct or have I bought something that cannot do the trick?
It doesn’t look like the correct inner ( sliding ) shaft end for that steering column. It should have the same diameter and shape of the splined rag joint that it slides into. Have a look at this video ( from a 1970 West Coast Classic Cougar ) at the 7:22 point, and you can clearly see the end of the steering shaft, where the rag joint would attach. Don Rush even says the same thing :
And with this video, again you can see the end of the steering column shaft ( which is round ) and where the rag joint would attach. Look at the 3:28 time point for this 1968 Mustang :
If I recall ( correctly ? ) the installation of some of the Flaming River column components required cutting and refashioning the end of the inner steering column shaft. Hope this helps you.
The shape (perhaps not too clear in the photo) is the same “D” shape as shown in those two videos.
It seems more to be an issue of length - is this a collapsable column? Should I just drag the centre shaft out of the column more (I did try this but didn’t put too much energy into it in case I broke something)?
One thing that intrigued me was in the video of how to replace the indicator return https://youtu.be/ddxBfWYifQc at about 16.15 the guy in the video talks about a white thing that appears to clip under the steering wheel - I don’t have one of them, do I need it (assuming yes I do…) or are they specific to a '69 Cougar?
First, my shaft is too short…
next, watch these videos…
next, pull on it, it will make it longer…
wait it gets better, lube it up, and press it in to the desired length…
Hi Jeff :
Sorry if I led you astray with the ‘too short’ shaft on you steering column - the image didn’t seem to clearly show the “D” profile of the end of inner shaft. Glad it worked out for you - the inner shaft is what allows for the collapsing mechanism, should the steering wheel itself impact you during a collision. Hopefully you cleaned it up and applied some anti-rust coating on the metal, to ensure it can slide back and forth, if ( god forbid ) it needs to !
You also mentioned the cancelling cam for the turn signal switch in you original post. It was on all 1967 - 1970 F, D, K and A models ( Cougar, Marquis, Lincoln, Meteor and the equivalent Ford lines ) with the Tilt wheel. Yes you do need this part as it functions to return the signal switch / stalk to the center position, when a turn is completed. In the case of the Cougar, Mustang and T-BIrd that would be the tilt and tilt-away steering wheels. The Part number was C7SZ-13318-B and it was a white nylon part. The reproductions ( as seen in the WCCC video ) are black.
