Tilt steering column in a 1970 Charger

[Kern Dog]

No 1970 Charger ever came with a tilt steering wheel but I'm working on putting one in mine.
If I were swimming in cash, I could buy one of these:



Did you see the price??



Sure, it would probably be a simple matter of pulling my stock column out and installing this one but come on.....What fun is that?

[Kern Dog]

The column that I'm using came out of a 1975-79 Chrysler Cordoba with a floor shifted automatic. Now that I wrote that, I suppose that all Cordobas were fitted with an automatic transmission.
The floor shift left the top of the column free of the PRNDL1 indicators so it looks like you'd want.
Backing up a bit....maybe you ask...Why a tilt column? Pretty simple, really. If you've driven a car with it, you probably like it. Late model tilt wheels are not the same though. These often pivot from the firewall so all that happens is that the steering wheel moves UP or DOWN, no actual tilt occurs. I suspect this is due to air bag deployment patterns. If the new columns tilted like old cars, an upward tilted steering wheel could knock you in the chin and snap your head rearward like a punch from Mike Tyson.
Here is the column I pulled from a Cordoba in a junkyard:





In Mopar columns from 1970 to , when you turn the key, the ignition switch is right next to the lock cylinder. It sends the signal to the dash harness through the 14 gauge wires. The Cordoba tilt column is made by Saginaw, their main customer was General Motors so these columns are mostly GM components adapted to work in a Mopar. In these columns, when the key is turned, it moves a rod that runs down the top of the column...



This is with the key out.



This is with the key in the RUN position.



The rod moves a slider in the GM version of the ignition switch. This of course means that the wiring down here is nothing like our Mopars have.





Here is the end of a stock 1970-78 ignition switch:

[Kern Dog]

This column came from a car that had cruise control. My car does not so I'll have to figure something to replace the turn signal stalk at least.



Below the lock cylinder is a low wattage light to help one see to slide in the key.



The physical fitment of the column in the car is the easy part. The firewall plate is different though...



No problem. I can cut and weld whatever I need to so this looks OEM when installed.
The engine bay side uses a hybrid steering shaft where the firewall end is GM and the other end is all Mopar.



I've actually done this swap before back in 2008. I had a 74 Plymouth Duster that I modified to look like a 71 Duster 340.



I wish that I kept better records on how I made the wiring work. THAT is the hard part for me since electrical stuff is my weakest point.
I do remember that the steering shaft had to be shortened to install the column in the Duster so I expect the same here. The firewall end has a rag joint connection. Back in 2008, I just cut the shaft near the rag joint mount and shortened the shaft the amount that I needed. Here is the other end:



Traditional Mopar pot coupler. I have a Borgeson steering box which uses Perter Bergman's own hybrid coupler. I'll have to finalize the steering shaft length after I get the Charger column out to get the coupler off.

[Kern Dog]

The wiring.
Yeah, that is always the hard part for me. If I could find an OEM wiring diagram for a 75-79 Cordoba with tilt wheel it sure would help but I have looked and looked. Since the GM ignition switch has wires of another color in another pattern, I'll have to make some sort of adapter plug connector to join this column to the stock dash wiring.



The GM setup has one more wire than the Mopar connector. This is the male end that is part of the dash harness:





This is the end of the stock Mopar ignition switch.



I have to find a way to match up the functions of the GM switch to the Mopar wiring connector. If I don't stumble upon a wiring diagram, I'll have to put this column in and try connecting wires until it has power in RUN, starts the car in CRANK and powers the accessories in ACC.
Then there is the turn signal wiring....



Blue connector is stock MOpar, black and white is GM. Note that nowhere do the wires match up in color! Again, I have to mock it up, test each function until it gets turn signals then make a hybrid connector.

[Kern Dog]

The added length of the tilt column means that a stock type steering wheel won't work because then the rim would be too close to your chest. A fairly shallow dished steering wheel is ideal. I've used an aftermarket wheel for years so this will be used again.



Man, that is an old picture from back when I had an automatic!
I will need to find a steering wheel adapter to fit a Cordoba tilt column.

[Derwud]

Look at American Autowire Classic update wiring, they should have a GM to Mopar Conversion.

[John_Kunkel]

A couple of cars that I experimented with installing tilt columns in turned out to be less than desirable. While the installations went well, the most comfortable wheel position put the rim of the wheel dead center in the gauges so I had to crane my neck to view the gauges clearly.

Something to check BEFORE starting the conversion.

[Kern Dog]

Duly noted.
I've had tilt wheel in 3 vehicles. In every one. I've adjusted the wheel to tilt down below the standard 90 degree angle.
My plan is to make the column a bolt in, plug in affair where it can be installed and later removed with no modifications to the car itself. This will allow me to leave the car as is.

[Mike DC]

What John said. Study the wheel position to your body & seat, and the sightlines to the gauges, before you commit to stuff. 

The OEM column points the steering wheel a few degrees away from the centerline of the car.  (The column is closer to the car's centerline at the front end of it, where it meets the steering box.)  That's why the column doesn't emerge from the dashboard squarely in front of the driver.  The steering wheel rim itself is actually still pretty centered with the driver.  Although this angle means the outer side of the steering wheel rim (closer to the door) is an inch or so farther forwards (closer to the front of the car) than the inner side of the rim is. 

Many cars have steering columns pointed off-center like this.  Having it a few degrees/centimeters off square is not a big deal. 

Some of the oddities of the Charger's driving position/controls start making more sense when you realize Chrysler designed the B-body platform for 2dr and 4dr cars.  The dashboard & steering wheel layout is a compromise for both.  The 4dr Coronets & Satellites have higher roofs than the 2drs and the front bench seat is higher & closer up.   
             

[Kern Dog]

I appreciate the suggestions pertaining to the "ergonomics" of this.

[Nacho-RT74]

Dunno if this comment worths, BUT since as far I recall since 75 (or maybe 77?) B bodies got duplicated the accesories sources. Can't recall if it was at the input aside also the output due the extra accesories added along the years. The pink traced wire is one of them. So on them is not the tipical red input and 4 outputs (accs-black, starter-yellow, Ign1-blue, Ign2-brown) like your 70.

Also on these laters B bodies, Ign2 bypassing the ballast was not anymore sourced from ign switch, but from Starter relay.

[Kern Dog]

I wish that I understood you. 
Electrical matters are difficult for me. A guy at FBBO did post this diagram:



At first glance, the ignition wiring does look similar to this tilt column. The wire count looks right.
I'll look closer at it tomorrow.

[Kern Dog]

The wiring may be simpler than I expected.
The diagram that I posted before seems to match most of what I have here. I am making pigtail adapters to test the functions of each wires:




This will plug directly into the stock turn signal connector of the harness. The end with the blue butt connectors will be tested, then soldered to the wires coming out of the column.



The one below is for the ignition switch itself:



I found a connector to graft into the wires so I'll cut the butt connectors off one end and solder the wires there, test the other end where the column wires join in, then solder those to the ignition switch.

[Kern Dog]

I have 2 tilt columns here, they are basically identical aside from color. Both have cruise control functions, neither have keys for the ignition, both are partially complete...
The blue one is missing this:



The black column had that horn collar but is missing other things so it will just be used for misc parts.

That tube/collar is the base for the horn wire. I needed to pull it from this column to use in the other one. Getting it out is more difficult. The GM based column uses a different design. The steel circle plate that serves as a locking mechanism for the steering wheel is held in place with a thin lock ring in a groove in the steering shaft. It is under tension by a spring behind the plate. I had to make a tool to help move the plate toward the firewall to allow access to the lock ring.





The spring inside is compressed, the lock ring groove is exposed and the ring gets pried out.



The turn signal switch looks different than a Mopar unit but the function is the same.



I decided to practice removing the ignition lock cylinder since I need to replace it in the blue column, the one I'll be putting in the car. The red arrows point to the slot that retains the cylinder in place. You just press a flat screwdriver in to compress the tab...



Screwdriver tip points to the tab on the cylinder.



Now with the cylinder out, the next one will be easier.

[Kern Dog]

The locksmith that I use told me today that these GM based ignition locks can't be easily opened and changed. They are sealed. This means I'd have to either use three keys OR have the door locks modified to match this new key.

[Kern Dog]

Finally, a bit of progress.
You know how it goes sometimes...You start a project then get distracted with other things,
It has been about a week since I did anything but today I made a few steps forward. One obstacle was the wiring. Trying to make two different wire arrangements work together may be easy for some guys but not for me. Electrical stuff is still a bit of a mystery to me. Lucky for me, a guy on another forum posted a wire diagram that showed me the way.



It showed that the wires for the ignition/starter switch was almost identical. Blue to blue, red to red, yellow to yellow, etc. There are two wires on the column that are left over listed as "Ignition 3" ? Huh ?



The 12 gauge pink and 18 gauge black seem to be oddball wires. No matter. I laid the column in a 72 Duster to test fire.







It cranks over and runs! Now to see about the turn signal wiring.



As you can see, NONE of the wire colors match up from one connector to the other side connector. Using the wire diagram, I labeled each wire.



These are the two wires that seem to go to nothing:

[Kern Dog]

Knowing that turning the key gets it to turn over and run is a huge step.
I did install the new ignition lock cylinder. The tilt lever and turn signal levers got cleaned up too.



The column came with cruise control but I won't use that. I wish that I had a plain turn signal lever to use but I don't. At least this lever is in good condition.



I had some spare parts in the shed to mount an aftermarket steering wheel...



Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to get this tested to make sure all the turn signals work. The plate at the firewall will need to be modified or maybe I could use the one on my existing column?  "Jigsaw" has the same design....



The shaft on the engine side of the firewall needs to be shortened as well.

[Kern Dog]

Backing up a bit, the adapter for the aftermarket steering wheel is available new but it is fun sometimes to see what I have out in the shed.



There is a hole offset that allows room for the horn wiring.



The adapter has a splined hole in the center that somehow matched the size and spline count on this column...



The cover has an oval hole that needed to be filed a bit oversized to fit.



But it did.



The cover leaves a small gap that may or may not close up once the nut is tightened down. That can't be done until the steering wheel bracket is put on. It will go directly against the black cover.

[Kern Dog]

On the other end, the lower shaft was removed from the rag joint coupler.





To remove the rag joint hub, a Cotter key comes out....



Then a roll pin gets drifted out...





Boom...

[Kern Dog]

The reason for removing that hub is to allow removal of the support plate that attaches to the firewall. This plate is a different pattern than the stock plate.







Stock firewall plate:



Tilt column plate:



I could probably make a plate with the Charger firewall bolt pattern on it and just weld the tilt column plate to it.

[70 sublime]

In my old 69 Charger I ended up just making a firewall plate for it also because I did not have one laying around at the time and was ready to put the steering column in