1971 cutlasssupreme

Roaming the locale pull-a-part yard the other day and stumbled onto a 1979 Cadillac. steering column had tilt and telescope and all functioned great yet. My question is will this fit into a 1971 cutlass? Only thing that looks different is the diameter of the column.
I think it would be a cool addition for my Non-OEM cutlass to have a telescoping column. But I will not cut up dash etc to make it fit either.
Any inputs?

joe_padavano

No idea, but the 77-90 full size cars are based on the 73-77 A-body cars, and those columns do fit in the 69-72 cars. Be aware of things like the location of the dimmer switch and wiper controls. Also, the tilt and travel columns require a specific steering wheel, so you're stuck with the Caddy wheel unless you can find one from a similar Olds column. A four spoke wheel won't work.

Koda

That reminds me, I should dig out the wheel and column from the 70 Toronado I pilfered once in a junkyard.

1971 cutlasssupreme

Joe,
wiper and dimmer control are not on this column, so that will be a direct match to the original, however my concern would be if I could use my olds steering wheel,,, surely the splines would match up? but I'm wondering about the transition area behind the wheel to the column. Without going back out and measuring diameter of the column any ideas if they would be the same?

joe_padavano

From above:

Allan R

However, IF you removed the travel component of the tilt and travel, and locked the travel in position the Olds wheel should fit, right? Naturally the 79 column wouldn't be the proper look for a 71 Olds. I recently went to a show where a 72 VC had been fitted with an 82 Cutlass Column. Not travel, but definitely tilt. The multi function switch did create a wiring re-issue for the owner apparently.

1971 cutlasssupreme

Absolutely on the "not looking proper for the car"! ,,, If I cant successfully integrate it to look correct, it will not happen. I have not taken a telescoping wheel apart to see how it is different and figured someone on here would have insight. I'm going back out later this week with the wheel puller and do a partial disassemble in the pull a part yard and make a decision....

Allan R

Can I suggest you contact Scott Winn? He's Oldspackrat on this site. He dismantles cars and likely has a column you can use at a reasonable price. His phone number is 317-727-7041 and you can PM him on this site using this link: https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...=newpm&u=29498

I have a rebuilt 69-72 tilt column that will work, but I'd probably be asking too much $$ for it if you're not building a show car and shipping would be a beach from here.

Allan R

When you take off the wheel, which is typical removal BTW, the bowl underneath has a slide lock lever that's used to allow movement of the wheel. The slide feature will lock the wheel height into a desired position when it's fully pushed to the right. Move to the left allows a spring arrangement to activate, which allows a spring to move the wheel to other positions.

I'm not sure if the wheel will actually fit onto the bowl. I remember having this feature on all my 98's and IIRC the wheel base has an outer sleeve that is wider to slip over that bowl.