So, I have seen tons of stories—tech articles—about how to adapt a tilt column to an aftermarket IFS or Mustang II-style frontend. What I have not seen is how to adapt a tilt column to a stock steering box or even an aftermarket firewall such as the one that was installed in my pickup. What I plan on showing in this article are a few tricks that will allow you to adapt a tilt column to just about any situation you may cross in your classic truck build. On a ’55-59 Chevy pickup the stock steering column is attached to a long tube that travels all the way down to the steering box. The inside of the tube has a shaft that travels from the steering wheel to the steering box. This shaft is ¾-inch solid round bar and can be adapted to fit onto an aftermarket column. In this case, we are using a Classic Performance Products (CPP) tilt column with and without gear selectors. I will be using a five-speed manual and the other truck has a 700-R4. For the sake of page space we will not go into detail about how to hook your automatic transmission up to the column.
Aftermarket floorboards and recessed firewalls give you the opportunity to move things around when it comes to column position. I filled the original hole in the firewall that the stock column went through and moved the column up 2 inches. This gave me some more leg space while still retaining a good steering shaft angle. Since my firewall had been recessed and widened I had no option but to go into the crease of the new firewall. The position where your steering column goes through the firewall could vary dramatically on what firewall, if any, you choose to install.
This leads me to aftermarket frontends like an IFS or Mustang II-style suspension systems. CPP has come out with a combo of cut-to-fit steering ¾-inch DD steering shafts and ¾-inch DD U-joints that help adapt an IFS to your tilt column. So whether you have a stock setup or one that’s completely aftermarket CPP has options for you. CT
