We got the 86 Blazer tilt column mocked up. The NRG hub and Quick Release are very tight and look to be well made.
http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/...1DD6D640E4.jpg

The column has the key location so my dad cut it off with the sawzall and turned it down in the lathe to prep it for boring a 1-1/8 hole to plug it.
http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/...DBB8CCB3E7.jpg

The press fit plug worked great! You can't even see it after he final turned it on the lathe.
http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/...A01C54340E.jpg

The black half moon low area is in the casting outside of the plug. It's only a couple thousandths deep so it will disappear when prepped for paint.
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I'm waiting on rag joint rebuild parts so we can finish up the column. The "new" ebay Borgeson rag joint I bought has mismatched pins and locknuts. It's obviously been apart before.
[IMG]http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/p603/mx267/Transition%20Camaro/6245CAAF-B050-4123-9191-C3EEDF4DBBD4.jpg[

I welded up the floor x-member seam from the top and bottom along with the subframe connectors and rear x-member seam to get ready for epoxy.

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I finished trimming the front x-member and modified the factory transmission x-member and floor so I can still remove it with the 1/2 height DSE body mounts.

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A lot of elbow grease under way prepping for paint.
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The underside is now in epoxy from the frame rails in. I have more work to do when it's off the platform style lift as the outside areas aren't accessible.
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I put the rear end back in the car for final fit up.
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Parking brakes and axles went in.
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I put the rotors and calipers on to set up the shims.
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Awesome work, Ryan! It's funny- the second I read "86 column" I was thinking about the ignition key area, and all I had to do was look at the second pic posted and see that it was all taken care of.

getting very close!!!

Nice work, it looks good under there. Nice job on the column too.

Nice work! What color are you planning for under the car, black?

Thanks guys! My dad deserves a lot of credit for the progress. We divided up the work to try get something done. It seemed like we weren't getting anywhere for a while there.

He made most of the machined parts. The column is turning out nice. He made this transition piece to go from the lower cover to the 4" upper section. It's got a step in it to slip over the lower cover and hold it tight.


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Thanks Trey! Yes black.

Wow man that is looking great. You and pops are kickin some butt. :thumbsup:

A lot of work getting done , nice going on that steering colum.
Like the steering wheel

Definitely some talent there. Nice job.

Nice work... looking good. That's great that you and your dad are working on the car together. Keep it coming :thumbsup:

Thanks guys!
:thankyou:

I test fit the glass and top dash. The dash fit well enough to install the windshield but I decided to work it some more to get it where I wanted it.

http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/...E171331BB7.jpg

Things line up better and have a more consistent depth with the glass now. I can't wait to get to the point of installing it. The car strangely seemed more complete with it mocked up.

http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/...D6DE63FC23.jpg

We wanted to maintain the collapsable feature of the column along with taking advantage of the telescoping and tilt so we spent a good portion of the day figuring out the best way to shorten the new column and how to make a cover sleeve that would taper down and fit behind the NRG hub. My dad milled down the column tube factory upper mount locations and modified the 68 upper mount so it would bolt together and to the dash the same as the factory. The internal shaft is a 2 piece double D collapsable design so I drilled out the injection molded pins to move up a few inches for new plastic pins.

My dad didn't like the factory open area for the shift tube on the steering box side of the column so he cut the outer tube and re-cut the notches for the bottom bearing and retainer. Looks much cleaner and won't allow dirt to get inside so easily.

http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/...5307D597F8.jpg

I'm hoping to get it assembled and painted in the next couple weeks. Working on the car one day a week isn't enough. :)

Looks great, Ryan! Now I wish I test fit my windshield...

Nothing really to post from last Saturdays work. Cleaned up and primer'd some parts, mocked up the shifter, and put the car on the wood blocks for easier access. Steering column's back together today so I should be able to put that back in this weekend. Just about ready to bring it home for body work.

http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/...C7F7AA1248.jpg

Looking good

looking very good,you are doing a great job:thumbsup:

Very nice! Keep the updates coming!

Thanks for the compliments! :thankyou:

Waiting on parts and Saturday to come around. :ups:

We finished up the column last weekend.

My dad had to turn down the column lock shutter wheel to fit inside the smaller housing ring he made. All of this to taper the housing down to fit inside the NRG hub so I could keep the telescope function.

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The turn signal lever I bought online as part of a dress up kit was too narrow and sloppy. It also wasn't polished billet aluminum as advertised but rather poor quality chrome. I ended up ordering a different dress up kit from Lokar that should arrive soon.

http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/...F8A33B5304.jpg

Both of the new housing rings and the modified one worked out as planned. I have full tilt, about 3/4" telescoping and was able to keep the collapsable feature. The new top housing ring tucks inside the NRG hub so I can use the telescope without having a gap showing.

http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/...D619450163.jpg

The modified tube was worth the effort. No more exposed holes for the shift tube in the engine compartment.

http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/...33E94631DA.jpg

I lost a few posts that I'll have to try to recreate.

Brought the car home for body work and some other odds and ends. After unloading the car and tools I ran out of space. Need to talk the wife into at least a 3 car garage. Once you have one its tough to cram all your stuff into something smaller. Seems like the more space we have the more we collect to fill it. ;)

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I mocked up the vintage air. The bulkhead and components are nice however there's room for improvement with the brackets and plastic housing.

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I made a little bracket to mount the unit and vent on the passenger side. I also welded studs for the v shaped bracket on the top right and bottom left. The v-bracket works for either location so I made another one which really stiffened up the mounting. The main bracket was crooked. I had to slot the holes at a 45 to get the unit to mount level and for the retangular opening to match up to the controller plug. I also welded a couple button head allen's stuck through the cowl to mount the dash support while I was back there.

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I've had a string of bad luck with parts and shipping. The first GM column dress up kit I bought on ebay didn't fit. I decided to buy a nice Lokar kit but it showed up with a two-piece turn signal lever. It's a billet too! I guess the shippers got a little rambunctious. :). It took 4 weeks but my replacement showed up today! Amazon is usually fast but not this time.

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I scuffed, seam sealed, and painted the lower cowl boxes so they could be closed up.

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I had to slice and weld the drivers side to get it to fit. I later ground the weld down and prepped for paint.

http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/...094D222225.jpg

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nice work

Back when I put the front end together the jig didn't want to sit down in the crossmember correctly. After talking to DSE who's never ran into this I decided to slot the motor mount holes equally and use shims to level the jig. Well now that I have all the parts to assemble and align the car didn't have enough adjustment and used two shims on the passenger side and 0 on the left. The factory UCA's had the same issue. I thought it was due to the car being hit. Turns out the subframe was built on a Friday just before quit'n time at the factory just like the drivers side rocker that sticks out an 1/8 too far. Lesson learned is to wait for all parts to mock up and measure everything or get a better piece to start with. I figured it would be fine using the jig. I'm not happy with it so I decided to cut out the drivers side UCA coil over mount and move it over 3/16 where it needs to be. This was a huge job with a cutoff wheel and air saw but it cleaned up nice. I filled in the gap with 1/4 stock and welded it up with multiple passes. It looks a lot better with the same number of shims on both sides and knowing I can adjust the camber as needed was worth it. Before I couldn't get any straighter than -1.5 deg on the driver side.

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I thought a textured finish would be more durable but I didn't like the look of it on the firewall and cowl so I stripped it down. I also went over the car with 80 grit to spray some new epoxy before skim coating with filler.

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The gaps on the aftermarket deck lid didn't fit as well as the original so I added some metal.

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Started working on the door gaps, deck lid filler panel, and fenders.

http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/...C79BF66383.jpg

Sprayed the car in epoxy getting it ready for filler and blocking.

http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/...61B2F9ABA0.jpg
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Nice work -- and even more important -- I'm really glad to see people NOT willing to accept "It's okay" --- like your UCA relocation. Yeah it's a PITA.... but you go forward knowing stuff is right. SO good for you!

As much as I enjoy watching Pro shops do high end builds, for me there's nothing better than seeing a guy with big league skill and a budget do it at home.

Very nice, maybe I'll see this one out somewhere this summer if I'm lucky:goggles:

Thanks Vince!

Greg, you are absolutely right. I was a little hesitant to cut into it, especially without a plasma cutter, but I kept thinking about it. I'm glad I did. Now I can sleep well knowing the root cause is fixed rather than to keep trying to work around the issue. I even thought about making a new offset UCA shaft. That would have been a whole new can of worms. This fix didn't really cost me anything (other than a new angle gauge I dropped on the floor) so it works out well all the way around.

The past few days I have a new dilemma. Ironically the AMD fender with a little tweaking fits a lot better than the factory one on the drivers side. The drivers side fender was hit at one point and has shallow dents and the inner structure is tweaked slightly. It's the only original sheetmetal left on the car beside the rockers and cowl. I'm going back and forth on buying a new fender or use a little filler on this one. The truck freight's a killer. It's nearly as much as the fender. For some reason I buy into the filler stigma. I don't really want any. The skim coat I've put on the car is nearly all blocked off. The fender would require a 1/16" thick or so in some areas.

Ha! Not skills.. Necessity. With a daughter in college and a 6k puppy who just had a third surgery yesterday I can't afford to have someone do it. :G-Dub: I really like the work I've seen from those guys on here and wish I could have them do a few things on my car! (The puppy is a lab who broke both of her front elbows in multiple places jumping).

Thanks for the compliments! I'm hoping for end of summer but it's a long shot. I see you're in Olympia. Hopefully I'll run into you. I'd love to check out your car. I saw a Hugger Orange 69 out in Lacey two weekends ago and it sure got my blood pumping.

I resemble that remark!
Single Dad with a teenage daughter:hairpullout:

Somehow like me, I have a feeling you do the work even when funds aren't an issue.

I should probably change my avatar, I sold the 69 a while ago and now I'm working on a '71. I may enjoy building them more than owning them!

I think I know the orange car, there's a lot of nice first gens lurking around here.

I hear ya on the teenager thing.

Yeah, in reality I pretty well do everything myself or my dad helps me out. I guess I like things done a certain way. Now that you mention it I'm a little afraid of how it's going to be when the cars finished. Or maybe it's never finished! :) I do enjoy tinkering with things. My son wants a 1st gen Mustang so we may start that after this one is drivable.

71 is very cool!! There's certain aspects of both the 1st gens and 2nd gens I really like. It would be nice to have one of each. Pretty sure the wife wouldn't go for that! Years ago I really liked the 2nd gen Reher Morrisons drag car. They later ran a 3rd gen which was cool too. For whatever reason to me the rounded 2nd gen just looks fast standing still.