Power Steering and Tilt Wheel for the '65 (continued)

Here you can see how the neutral switch mounts on top of the column INSIDE the engine compartment. It's very close. So close in fact that the tabs for the electrical connection had to be bent out of the way and pigtail soldered on to accommodate hook up. The three bolts in the firewall just above the switch is where the column support bracket was originally mounted. I put the bolts back in the holes just to fill in the holes.

Using the original bracket to mount the column to the dash, you can see that the steering wheel is about in the right place to allow comfortable driving. You will also notice that while I had things apart, I removed the '83 ignition key assembly (along with all the stuff inside that was used to lock the steering wheel and shifter) since I intend to use the stock '65 ignition key. The column piece is a glass-filled plastic and so I removed the ignition key boss with a Dremel tool and filled in the hole with kitty hair and painted everything semi-gloss black.

Since the  PRNDL indicator for the '83 is an integral part of the instrument panel and the '65 has no provision for such, I found an indicator from a '68 pickup. You can see it here just resting in place. I'll have to redo the lettering on the clear plastic insert because the '68 was a Powerglide and this truck will be getting a 700R4. A pointer will be rigged up later. The '83 turned out to be kind of the best of both worlds for me, because it had cruise control and it's built into the turn signal lever, but I didn't have to mess with the wiring for the windshield wipers and headlights. Those items can all remain stock '65. So there you have it. I was totally amazed at how easy the whole task was. It sure is nice having a donor vehicle!

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