Tilt Steering Column

[Rick Andersen]

One of the few things I don't like about my Crown setups is how hard it is to get under the steering wheel while getting in and out of the driver's seat. I have seen a couple of late model Vairs with Flaming River tilt steering columns. Can anyone advise of a model # or part # to order. If Flaming River had been around a few years earlier Mr Trevor might have included one of their steering columns in the Crown kit.

[Dayton Parkville]

I have an old Ididit Column in my car. If my memory serves me correctly, we bought the 32 inch column . We added a mounting plate to the bottom. It does not telescope but the tilt is real nice.
when I bought mine, they were not offering anything other than turn signals and cruise control. If I had it to do over, I would have ordered it with the bright light switch in the turn signal stalk. It does have emergency flashers. One great point is the Ididit column does use a GM type connector at the bottom that follows the GM wire color layout.

You might enjoy this information

http://www.ididitinc.com/universal-stee ... tFS_Univ-5

[Rick Andersen]

John,

Educate me on why I would need the plate at the bottom.Does the plate bolt to the firewall? Would it be best to pull my column and measure the length of the shaft or is 32" the magic number? When I went onto the Summit site I found that they offer a tilt column for jut a little over half of the price of an Ididit or Flaming River column. Does their column appear similar to your Ididit?

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-7 ... /overview/

[Dayton Parkville]

The area of the column where it would connect to the dash column drop needed to be a little bigger than the original Corvair column. We welded the flange plate to the bottom of the column. It had 3 bolt holes. Where the column goes through the floor board needed some additional stiffening. The flange plate seemed like the best idea at the time. I don't think there is a dime's worth of difference between Ididit and Flaming River. Ididit went through the needed R&D long before Flaming River came around. I would guess that is the main difference.
You needed to be prepared to do some fabricating for the column drop at the bottom of the dash. You may find you don't need the bottom mount and that is good if you find you don't need it.
I do like the tilt feature in my car. I am lucky not to have the engine sitting right behind the seats. There is probably 12 inches between the back of my seats and the front of the radiator



I'll go back through my photobucket account and see if I have any pictures of the column and flange

[Rick Andersen]

Thanks for the info. I'm sure it will be very valuable after I jump into this project.

I am more impressed with your car with each new photo!

A tilt wheel should make all the difference in my car. It is a Crown conversion and I raised the seat tracks in order to let them slide back over the top of the sub frame. It's a bit snug under the steering wheel when getting on and out of the driver's seat.

[Rick Andersen]

I'm guessing that a few of you won't understand this, but today I finished a car that many thought was finished years ago. If you own a Crown Corvair I urge you to install a "D" wheel as your steering wheel. It made my life much more enjoyable. I can actually get out of my car without crawling on my hands and knees! No need for a tilt wheel - just turn the wheel flat on the bottom to get in and out. It cost me $133 on summitracing.com

[sherwood park rexin]

Great idea!

[pbeck]

Looks good, Rick. I've been thinking about replacing my wheel as well. I don't need tilt or tele cause I've got a quick release hub, but was wanting a wheel with a top indicator and "button" holes on the sides, ie, nitrous purge and line lock. That wheel looks like it would do the job.

[Mannyd]

That's the type of wheel I'll be buying. It's on the long "to buy" list. Did you get the adapter kit with it?

[Rick Andersen]

Already had the adapter. Gotta have one to use the factory shaft with a Grant steering wheel. Manny - what other parts besides the steering wheel the are you still lacking?