Well ... took a little while but I figured out how to get the collars off the column. All in all switching the collars is gonna be easier than swapping the entire column to a floor shift version. I happened to have an NOS rear floor shift collar in my parts inventory. This is the collar closest to the dash that has the shift handle on a column shift car. The first picture shows the floor shift collar installed ... Unfortunately ... I did not have a floor shift front collar which is the part that has the ignition switch. The column shift version has the holes and slots to mount the shift indicator ... the floor shift version is smooth. What I did was fill in all the slots and holes with PC-7 Epoxy paste and let harden overnight. I then used a dremel to sand it smooth. The second picture shows the collar after a fresh coat of Traditions Nutmeg color paint ... Not 100% smooth and perfect but close enough .. Once Everything is dry I'll put it all back together ... I also isolated the wire that normally powers the light bulb in the column mounted shift indicator. Once I have it all back together I'll run this wire to the floor shifter so that light works ...
Yes ... the NOS collar was red oxide primer ... Here it is put back together ... hope it holds ... haven't road tested yet!
