Yes...I needed another tool to remove and turn a metal plate...didnt have one...where I needed to line up steering wheel the horn sleeve was on the bottom..so I just put like that till I get the tool to remove the spring...

Give a gal a break...i was going in circles with the linkage...and really didn't care if the wheel was upside down...lol...I was tired...hot...a
Still looks better than the chevy steering wheel..can we agree on that w

 

Your doing fine. Once you replace the cable and get everything else set up you will be smiling! That's just the way it is with these older cars. Actually, once I had mine where I thought that I wanted it, I was getting bored! So I keep tinkering! The MAW's will kick in also.

 

Kenneth we can blame that on Eric he didn't mark the steering wheel with a up and down arrow....


Ima fix the wheel when I get the cable, Manuel will bring the tool I need...


@ ziff thank you so much.....and know I cant wait to get her up on the road.....

thanks everyone for all your help Again hugs to u

 

^^^ What Ken said.
Should look like this with wheels straight

 

Perhaps not, but I did send you a photo of the wheel in position in the car it was removed from.



- Eric

 

Terry, straighten out the wheels on the car and see what position the steering wheel ends up at. That's the best place to start. I don't know whether you just straightened the steering wheel or whether the car wheels are straight. These steering wheels should only go on one way. If it's that far out of whack there may be some serious adjustments needed on your tie rod sleeves.

BTW, the Olds Rocket always points 'up'.

 

Ima just leave it upside down....Ima little backwards anyways being left handed...I like it this way better........still dont matter didn't have the proper tool to remove the metal plate......geez man uall r a tough crowd

 

No worries. Most important thing though. Does the horn work?

 

IIRC if you mount the wheel wrong, the horn contact may be out of position and you won't have a horn, which I believe state law requires?

 

You don't need to remove the metal locking plate to change the steering wheel.

- Eric

 

Allan -Horn works Yes...I needed another tool to remove and turn a plate...didnt have one...where I needed to line up steering wheel the horn sleeve was on the bottom..so I just put like that till I get the tool to remove the ... get it that's why I its upside down so I could still use the horn

 

Yes right you don't if it was put on right....once we removed the chevy wheel.....the sleeve where the horn goes was towards the bottom the only way to turn to get the sleeve to the horn on top was to remove the plate....and twist....don't forget guys this car was just thrown together.......once you start peeling away at the covers u see everything that is wrong with it....


I will take a pic tomrw and show u boys what Im talking about

 

This is not mine, but mine looks like this one


U see where the sleeve is for the horn, well mine was located where the lower circle is....


How would I get it to the top position....

 

You can get a cable from most of the Olds parts vendors, Parts Place, Fusicks, OPGI, etc.
However "Shift Works" has a nice cable that is adjustable at both ends. You might give them a call.

 

Also you can buy that lock plate removal tool at most generic parts stores. Napa should have one, Auto Zone, ORileys... It looks like a big "U" with a long bolt through it and a wing nut on the bolt i think. Pretty cheap too I think.

 

I'm a bit confused.


The locking plate, as far as I can recall, only goes on one way (it has the single larger spline at the top, just like the steering wheel should), so removing it would not have helped you.

Also, as nice as it is to have the tool, you can get it off and on without one - I've never had that tool, and I've done it many times on many cars just fine.

I think we need pictures of your car to understand what's going on.

- Eric

 

hey Steve thanks for that info cuz last week I was calling around for a cable and couldnt find any local orileys, napa, autozone, gonzalez, I am going to try 2more local shops that come recommended for older cars someone told me about today..tomrw at wk I will look at those u mentioned....


understood Eric I will get u a pic tmrw, but member everything is done wrong or backwards or upside down....look at the pic I posted early

 

I saw a shift cable for sale on e-bay for $35.
LINK

 

awww sweet Kenneth thanks *--*....saw it this morning...

And WHAT THE HECK - it's so coooool outside...dog on Texas weather geez mannnnn

Up early and back to OT, I've missed out the past few weeks

 

Kenneth does that matter if its for a 442...just wanna make sure before I purchase..

I called every classic part stores, all the worldwide auto parts stores...NADA man NADA

 

No, 442, Supreme, Cutlass, and F-85 would be all the same for normal automatic floor shifters.

- Eric

 

I know what you're saying Eric, but zmall tecknikal point heer - in 72 the f85 was a 4 door sedan and couldn't be ordered with D55. Moot point for Terry really.

Terry, lots of peeps seem to think every Cutlass 2 door A body is a 442. All Eric was saying is that ANY of the 70-72 A body 2 door coupes that had the console shifter would have this cable. So you could feel comfy knowing it's for a 70-72 Cutlass Supreme coupe (Hardtop or convertible) and be getting the right part. Make sure you get the cable for regular floor shift and NOT the dual gate shifter though.

Here's an example of the one you want from IN LINE TUBE http://www.ebay.com/itm/69-70-71-72-...item5b05bd8d36 Fusick wants around 80.00 for the same part

 

Eric,


Im sorry I didn't take the steering wheel off...But u see the sleeve where the horn contact goes it's on the bottom of the steering wheel


Does this help...hope so

 

Since your steering wheel is up side down, wouldnt flipping it up right correct the problem? I think what your calling the bottom is actually the top, about 11:00
Steve

 

isn't that line stamp in the shaft supposed to be at 12:00 when straight ahead?

That would explain some stuff

Remember this car has been the object of Neanderthal Engineering.

Sorry, didn't mean to insult Early Man.

 

I know Im learning a lot with u all and this blessed car, but when I see something for the first time and not sure that's why I turn to the Masters....But here's my LOGIC...

Yes Octania the car was put together by Victor Frankenstein.....so everything that can be wrong will be wrong and upside down and backwards...

@ steverw - If It would of been an easy fix like you mentioned YES I would of flipped the steering wheel, BUT as I stated in 2 other posts the sleeve for the horn contact was not where it should of been, so since I didnt have the correct tool or the experience to remove one of the metal plates like Eric mentioned... I just put on like that

Anyways I cant drive her right now until I order my parts

Kenneth I found a guy here on this website selling parts, Im getting a shifter cable, original radio (thats exciting), grills, front left blinker socket, and the water resevouir...and what ever else I can from him...But will probably wait till friday...

Got home last night to a busted water pipe to the washer...ughhhh

 

Lots of good parts sellers on this site. Is he local? Seems like all the Western state cars have the least amount of rust but get parted out just the same.

 

No Allan hes not local for me He's in timbucktu Alabama...but he has what I need so Im going to get a few parts at a time, hopefully I am waiting for some pictures...

I am still looking high and low here in san antonio....but still need all the other parts

 

Thomas Johnson? He's a good guy. Goes by Olds442redberet here on the site. He'll work with you.

If you can't get everything there, consider John McNeel (2blu442) in Oregon. He has lots of parts stashed too and is closer.

 

Terry, take a look at the rag joint that connects the steering column to the steering box.

The original rag joint was fastened with one larger-diameter bolt and one smaller-diameter bolt, so that it can only be connected one way.
Some aftermarket rag joints have bolte the same size, and can be connected either way - that is they can be connected 180° out. See if it looks like you could rotate the rag joint and reconnect it.

- Eric

 

Allan I see uve been to timbucktu, cause how did u know who it was ..... great that's good to know...and I will check out the other guy as well.. thank you


Eric I will do that this weekend....once I get the steering wheel off again I will post another picture so I am on the same page as u all...


My stomach is bruised from leaning over the car to pull up the linkage from under the hood..I saw purple spots I was like wtheck man....and broke 2 nails!!!!

Thank you guys u are the best of the best!!!!

 

Terry, here's what Eric is describing to you. The rag joint is on round piece on the top left of both pics. I'm showing you both sides so it's easy to recognize. It attaches to the intermediate shaft (the long piece) which is in turn attached to the column spline by the cowl. What Eric is suggesting is that if Dr. Frankenstein put the rag joint in 180° out, that would account for your steering wheel being 180° out as well. I made sure I took pics before I did this to get the right orientation. My steering wheel ended up looking like it should. Minor adjustment will be needed at the tie rod ends to make the rocket line up 100% perfect, but not much really.

Steering components - Rag joint and hardware top left;



Steering components - Rag joint and hardware top left; backside



Steering wheel alignment; out by just a smidge prior to alignment.

 

Ha! If you're like me, the ones that are left have lots of grease under them that you can't get out.

 

No I recently bought a small brush for my hands and long finger nails...


Only during the weekends I let them stay dirty!!!!


Have a great morning boys!!!! see u on the playground one day

 

See if it looks like you could rotate the rag joint and reconnect it. Ok Eric, Great I need something to do to the car this weekend, I will work on that...

When Ive never worked on a part before I can SOMEtimes get a little intimidated with unfamilar parts..

Allan oouulalaa, steering components nice (hardward) new parts are so so soooooo....I will keep it clean...exciting to me

Guys can someone post a picture of the parts in the car...I WANNA SEE how it looks...

Thanks

 

Terry, those aren't new parts. They are original to the car but cleaned up and painted. Yes it is nicer to work,with parts that aren't filthy. Best thing is they fit perfectly as they're supposed to.

 

Question, when uall clean up ur parts, what's ur process on doing that

do uall sandblast then primer, paint...tell me tell me

degrease sand primer paint

 

I have 2 methods. I have a media blasting cabinet for stuff like this. It will easily take things the size of an intake or wheels. For larger things I resort to sanders and wire wheels.

I degrease and scale as much crud off the parts before they go into the media cabinet. They get cleaned with solvent after to remove any residue. Those steering parts were painted with VHF high heat paint, no primer. Olds didn't prime them either when the car was built.

Use clean gloves when handling the parts prior to painting. Hands on contact can leave small amounts of body oil whic can affect adhesion.

You can also powdercoat parts, but it's pricy.

 

Allan thank you for that information, back in 86-90 I worked and supervised in a metal factory where we cut,stamped,soldered, cleaned, polished, then silver or gold plated the finished product..
I used to work very closely with the machinist there, learned so much from him and he had like a 58 chevy truck

We had the same procedure on the most part

 

Morning Guys!!!!


Too close for comfort, had to be up by 4:45am this morning and struggled to stay up and watch the game and kept falling a sleep..finally turned off tv...but I didn't see the over time


BUT we WON...SPURS ROCK!!!!!