chevette steering columns...

[wayne petty]

all this thinking about steering columns. made me think about the chevette column...


it has a differnt feature that might be usefull for street rods...

the lower shaft has the ability to slide into itself totally... like 12 to  18 inches.. i have not measured one .. enough to get the starter past... as that is the only easy way to get a starter off a chevette...

since it is a gm column the inner shaft should be able to be swapped into other housings..  and yes chevettes have tilt columns...  so whole units could be swapped in...

[C9]

Interesting . . . I swapped an S-10 column for a Lumina column.

Don't know for sure on the S-10 bit, but others identified the 9/16" x 36 spines on the 3/4" shaft as S-10.

The Lumina column is tilt and fairly short.
Might work for and oddball install where the owner wants a short column that ends under the dash and has tilt.

I did the swap cuz I had no use for the small splined S-10, but do have an interest in dis-assembling a GM tilt and see what it would take to make my own tilt column.

Vis a vis the steering shaft subject I find the very common 36 1/2" -37" GM shaft to be easy to adapt to your own home-made steering column as well as being a good length for many hot rod type cars without cutting the shaft.
I don't mind cutting new splines, but I don't like to weld on steering shafts.

The pics will give you an idea of how well the 37" shaft fits.
A lot of guys like to cut the shaft back close to the firewall, but it's not necessary.
Granted, the intermediate (DD) shaft needs to be parallel to the frame for even more room.

Headers look to be a non-problem.
Cylinder #7 - back left - is a touch close to the aluminum jacket, but no big deal.

The 430 455 Buicks are fairly wide, especially when compared to the SBC.
It looks as well like most SBC block hugger style headers would work with no problem since the U-joint is down fairly low.

Ergonomics inside the car are very good as evidenced by the pic of the interior in an early stage of building.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

Interesting.

About 1 month ago I passed a Chevette on the freeway. The Chevette was under it's own power at near 60mph. No smoke from the tail pipe

[Deuce]

and yes chevettes have tilt columns...

My brother and his wife had a Chevette with the tilt. They ordered it new, loaded ... she got it in the divorce. :cry:

At the salvage yard I worked at part-time, we had over 25 Chevettes ... and my brother's was the only one I ever saw with a tilt. But having one would be kind of neat.  

[C9]

Interesting.

About 1 month ago I passed a Chevette on the freeway. The Chevette was under it's own power at near 60mph. No smoke from the tail pipe

Freeway?

Or the highway headed for Wickenberg . . . downhill and with a tailwind?*

The no-smoke makes me surpicious....



*We found it interesting climbing the hills with a strong headwind while towing the car (box) trailer.
First time I ever saw the truck's gas gauge move....

[model a vette]

All of the FWD GM cars had columns that only went as far as the firewall. Plenty of them came with tilt.
Tilt & Tele on some of the FWD Caddies.
Ones with automatics and column shift had a cable that worked the trans shifting. Pretty easy to adapt to shift an automatic in a rod.

[Bib_Overalls]

20+ years ago I rented a Chevette at the DFW airport.  It was all they had in the Government rental class at the time.  It was hot and since the Chevette had A/C I turned it on.  And the car would barely accelerate.  So I turned it of.  Once I got out of the airport, on the freeway and up to speed (about 65) I turned the A/C back on.  It was like hitting a brick wall.  I drove that puppy for two miserable weeks.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

Interesting.

About 1 month ago I passed a Chevette on the freeway. The Chevette was under it's own power at near 60mph. No smoke from the tail pipe

Freeway?

Or the highway headed for Wickenberg . . . downhill and with a tailwind?*

The no-smoke makes me surpicious....



*We found it interesting climbing the hills with a strong headwind while towing the car (box) trailer.
First time I ever saw the truck's gas gauge move....

tis true...... I also see a Vega or 2 now and then under their 4 cyl power. No smoke from the pipe.

Sometimes I see a V-8 powered Vega go past the work place in the mornings.  Have not seen the Hudson pickup truck drive past  for a year or 2 .