Don and Howard, that turned out to be the issue. Thanks for the guidance. I wasn't sure if the column (shroud) could be repositioned or not, so thanks for clearing it up. I loosened the brackets and put a pry bar against the steering box to push up the column until the gap at the wheel was about 1/8", then tightened the brackets again. Worked great.



The steering wheel nut sits just proud of the column itself, which is how it was prior to removal.



I noted the bearing sounded terrible. It must have gotten a bunch of dirt/sand/dust in it. I cleaned it all out, blew it dry, then packed it with fresh grease. All quiet and smooth now.



With that addressed I put the rest of the dash back together, as well as the rest of the front trim. I'm very pleased with how it all came out. I also tested all the electronics and I'm happy to say that everything works. I had corrected nearly all the electrical oddities that I had found (ignition switch set up wrong, all the red wires for battery power were wrong) so I wanted to be sure I hadn't screwed something up. The horn even works better now.



-Kevin

I'm trying to get the steering wheel back on I don't remember it begging this hard to seat it fully. It's not sitting all the way down, and I've cranked all much as I can on the main nut. It felt like it went on to the splines okay before I tightened it up. What am I missing?

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Join the club!

That metal work looks great. I wish I had those skills.

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I agree that's a more reasonable range. I hope somebody picks it up and works with it. It has some issues but looks to be a good candidate for a full restoration.

Thanks for letting us know about the car. It'll be interesting to see what the others look like as they become available. I'm wondering if the asking price of $30K is a bit optimistic? The car will need literally everything done to it. The price of restoration would be significant.

-Kevin

That cleaned up nicely. What did you use for it?

My guess is that tracing the wires will lead to an electric fuel pump somewhere back by the fuel tank. I can't think of much else that would require a toggle switch. Mine had something similar, except the electric fuel pump was already removed when I got the car. I removed the rest of the wires and the under dash switch.

-Kevin

Thanks Don.

Small progress last night. A few more items mounted: cigarette lighter, ignition switch, speaker grille and heater controls, and the steering column.

Next I need to hook up the shift linkage again, then set the shift indicator to the correct position. I had to replace it because I broke off the pointer, and the position is lost when it's removed. Then I'll put the gauge cluster back in and test. I'll leave the radio out for now on case I need to get back in and fix something. Much easier without that in the way

Made some progress today. Unmasked the car, then started putting things back in. Before I could install the passenger door panel I had to get the door aligned better. It's always struggled and was pretty far off. After messing with it for over an hour I think I got it in a decent spot. I had to mess with the glass alignment as well, and that's when I found out that somehow I had missed the rear window track when I installed the window. It wasn't in the track at all. I got that all sorted out.



I then worked on the windlace. I measured, cut and gave myself some excess, the pulled the foam inner out to one side, leaving just fabric for a few inches at the end. I then folded this back on itself and tucked it under the door panel and window trim when I installed them. It gave it a nice clean look.






The rear was stapled to the tack strip. The front has no tack strip and holds with tabs. It's not as strong as the staples in the back, so I'll have to be careful not to rip it out with my feet. The color of the windlace is good match to the blue vinyl on the doors. It's also a compliment to the body color and the dash/window trim color. I'm happy with the choice.

I then moved to the dash. Before installation I cleaned off the rear of the mounting holes for grounding. I'm pretty sure there are some other areas that I still need to clean. The two side mounting tabs for the dash come to mind.



I put the dash in and loosely installed the mounting hardware. Started to put back some of the controls and knobs, then ran out of time. I'm excited to get it back together and see if I managed to mess anything up.





-Kevin