The lower bowl, or the piece closest to the dash has a pretty sizable portion broken off facing the drivers door. Just big enough to stick your two index fingers inside and pull back on a little cube shaped metal block which gets the engine cranking. The mechanic next door to my brothers shop has the column at the moment. If I catch him Monday I’ll ask him if I can snap some pictures of it.
New guy 79 factory 4 speed wagon.
- Thread starter Mighty
- Start date
Was going back through my Wagon pictures on my phone and found a few pictures of the column when I still had it in my possession. Here you can see the broken section and I zoomed in on the “little cube shape block” I had to pull back on with my fingers to start it in the past. Forgive my ignorance on not knowing what the parts are called.
This is broke too but I’m pretty certain I remember my brother saying that at least this piece wouldn’t be hard to replace.
I had forgotten you had a tilt column; I included an exploded view of the nontilt column...sorry.
That shroud is unique to the 1978-1981 A body and the AMC Spirit. On the custom columns I made, I used one from a 3rd gen F body because it was available new in the aftermarket. It is shorter, but so much of it is buried beneath the dash, I didn't think it would be noticeable. The place I used to get my parts from for a reasonable price went out of business.
Here is an exploded view of a 1980-1981 Citation tilt steering column with key release. It is the closest representation to the one you have.
Are there only 3 parts needing replacement?
36 rack
63 lever
65 shroud
Do you have the spring (37) for the rack?
That shroud is unique to the 1978-1981 A body and the AMC Spirit. On the custom columns I made, I used one from a 3rd gen F body because it was available new in the aftermarket. It is shorter, but so much of it is buried beneath the dash, I didn't think it would be noticeable. The place I used to get my parts from for a reasonable price went out of business.
Here is an exploded view of a 1980-1981 Citation tilt steering column with key release. It is the closest representation to the one you have.
Are there only 3 parts needing replacement?
36 rack
63 lever
65 shroud
Do you have the spring (37) for the rack?
I’ll run next door on Monday and go through the little bin full of parts if the shop owner is there when I get there after work. I’m fairly certain the non tilt exploded view you posted was emailed to my brother from his buddy that works at a GM dealership close by and my brother said it wasn’t right. I literally thought the busted bowl was just a hollow piece of trim but my brother showed me the inner workings of it and now I’m grasping why it’s so complicated. I’ll ask my brother today if he can remember if we have the rack spring and if he can’t I’ll go over Monday and check. My brother had it all disassembled in about 5-6 minutes and is pretty familiar with older GM steering columns but obviously mine is an oddball
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