Hey guys today since the weather was finally nice outside i went out and played with the tbird a little and i had a question about what position to leave the column shifter in. The write up on the website says to leave it in neutral but in neutral I can't turn the ignition or get the wheel to unlock. That problem disappears when i put the column shifter in park, and unfortuanently since the car is not yet up and running I'm unable to test whether or not leaving the column in park will be a problem. I guess I just won't worry about it till the car is actually running.
If you're going to a floor shifter,remove the column shifter componants completely.I did on my other car.
But will that eliminate my problem? I've already removed all the brackets and whatnot in the engine bay all that is left is the shaft running alongside the steering colum inside of the car. Since the thing is not running I really don't want to pull it apart then not be able to turn the ignition.
If they key won't remove in N, go ahead and use Park. I wrote that on the site because I was lucky and got the key out in N. But some others haven't been as lucky. The only thing I'm afraid of, if it's in Park, is that at some point in the future the column could lock up while you're driving. I've never heard of it happening on a Ford column but I do know a person that had that happen on his converted GM column (Olds Cutlass). It is a safety issue and thus the reason why I specified N. However...I do realize that in the real world, N might not be possible. Once you get the shifter shaft out of the column then you should be alright.
Bring some tools over and you can remove the column from my parts car and use it. I might be out that way this weekend. Give me a call like Saturday.
I put it in Park, and youll see right above the key on the column, the lock mechanism, i beat that downward with a hammer and it unlocked the column. Havnt had a problem.
Well I talked to my locksmith buddy and he said that as long as the key is in the ignition then I don't need to worry about the wheel locking up and me crashing into something/someone. He didn't take a physical look at the ignition, but I think once the car is up and running I'll have him take a look just to be sure. Which is good news for me because it saves me a column swap and all that other so i can concentrate on acutally getting the car running. As far as the neutral thing Eric I think that your ignition lock was just worn out.
As long as the key is in there should not be a problem.