Topic: Restoring Steering column

[S412gofast]

I am restoring a steering column for a 67 GT350.  The car was converted to manual steering sometime in its life and the steering column was also switched out to accommodate a rag joint steering box that was installed.   I obtained a long tube steering column for the non-rag joint steering box I obtained.

when restoring the column where does the interior color end and how? example: taped off line or paint spray fade
and where does the engine compartment finish start?

Any other details in restoring the column are appreciated

[ruppstang]

The interior color of the tube extends in to the engine compartment to the end of the tube.

[Bossbill]

I've noticed on my Shelby that the tube, collar and upper hub are just different enough in paint application that I believe they were painted separately. For instance the lower collar has a slightly better finish quality than the upper hub. That is to be expected if they are painted apart.

On the upper portion of the tube there is what appears to be a date in light colored ink stamp. I'll look later to see if I can decode it. I thought at a glance it was a 3 digit day of year?

[J_Speegle]

The interior color of the tube extends in to the engine compartment to the end of the tube.

+1

Outer tube painted all the same color from top to bottom at the same time before assembly



These may have been preassembled before being shipped to the car assembly plant by another plant. Some documented details support this possibility

[J_Speegle]

I've noticed on my Shelby that the tube, collar and upper hub are just different enough in paint application that I believe they were painted separately. For instance the lower collar has a slightly better finish quality than the upper hub. That is to be expected if they are painted apart.

In my experience that observation is interesting since the vast majority I've seen have much worst paint and condition on the surface exposed to the engine compartment elements as one can see in the upper picture posted above. Plenty of chances of spilling/leaking brake fluid, heat, grease and other things

On the upper portion of the tube there is what appears to be a date in light colored ink stamp. I'll look later to see if I can decode it. I thought at a glance it was a 3 digit day of year?

Guess you referring to the stamped number rather than had written markings some times documented

For 67 steering column main tube  I've got month. day of month and year as a single digit  all in a string of numbers - no spacing

The method of marking when the steering column changed for 68 and up assembles

[Bossbill]

Jeff -- I think I'm using the wrong terms/names so let's go to basic numbers.

Part 3511 is a bit different in quality of paint application than 7228.
As we go down the 3514 tube the paint is good near the 7228 but not near as nice as it gets into the engine compartment.

[Bossbill]

After this discussion I went into the shop to take a pic of the date numbers on the column. A lot of times I can see the number better with a picture using zoom than I can in person.

After zooming in it appears the date is "2  107" or Feb 10 of 67. This make sense with the rest of the car. The orientation and colors are fairly apparent in the pic.

The column is a bit worse for wear toward the floor since the POs did some shade tree things while "fixing" clutch bushing wear. Suffice to say the bottom of the column is quite scratched up. When I got the car if you shifted your foot got close enough to the high beam switch to actually hit it with my foot.

[S412gofast]

Thank you all for your inputs!