I am still running my old column. You can remove the shift lever, but it will still have that hole there that it slides into. You will also have to wire the other end of the shift linkage (under the hood) up into Park so that you can start the car. Not sure if the linkage for a floor shift will hook to a regular column ... it might. From what I just read, in doing this, the 70-72 cars have it possible to remove the key at any time when locked out like this ... like running down the road, except your steering wheel will now be locked in position ... not good. AND... without a neutral safety switch in the mix, it creates the condition where you can start the car in any gear, so you really have to be aware of what you are doing everytime you start it. That almost bit me one dark night. I thought I was in Neutral. This is a detail I would like to correct in my own car. If you have the stuff ... do the swap. Your car probably needs a new rag joint anyway by now ... always a good idea if in there. You will probably need to check for changes in the run as far as connectors, etc. I would hope you have compatibility between the years. I haven't done one, but it looks fairly easy once you get it loose under the hood ... should just drop down off the dash once unbolted. Probably easiest to swap your existing ignition switch into the new column. Otherwise, you might want to grab the door locks from the parts car and swap them all over, so that you are only using one key (the "no-buck" approach).... Or get the later switch rekeyed to match your doors.
switch for C-4 floor shift http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=68610 if you are running an aftermarket shifter, it should come with...neutral safety/backup light switch... ......
There you go ... nice picture in there Frank. Good look at the shift control rod that goes into the tranny too. I have to swap mine. Had them flip the column rod when the trans was rebuilt, but the leverage is wrong.
If you don't want to swap up the entire columns, you can just swap out the top two "collars" under the steering wheel. In my opinion, just about the same work load either way you go. If this is a factory set-up on the parts car, then there is a rod that goes from the tranny to the steering column. This rod keeps the car locked in PARK when the key is out of the ignition and not in the RUN postion. The floor shift transmission also has linkage with two ears on it. One ear is for the above described tranny to steering column rod. The other ear is for the rod that goes to the shifter. There is a seperate wiring harness that goes from the neutral safety switch on the tranny to plug into the wiring harness at the bottom of the steering column.
Awesome info guys! Thanks for all the input! Im doing the factory floorshift setup. So basically the only problem i'll have is, if I don't switch columns the car can come out of gear without keys correct? I Never have removed a steering column so i'll see what work is involved in the project today
You could still use your existing column, and hook up the tranny to steering column rod as I noted. Everything would function just fine. The reason to swap out the top two collars is to get rid of the shifter on the column, as well as the transmission gear indicator. Mainly a "looks" kind of thing.
It's pretty easy to pull the column. I drove around for years, in a car that was column shift and converted to floor, that I never did anything to the column...I guess I was lucky.
alright thanks! and Dave I was thinking the same...I would be just as lucky and not have anything go wrong. But I have the other column so what the heck, I'm just gonna do the whole swap with the entire column. doesn't look too bad
