I have a 74 that I had restored by a local shop that pretty much specializes in Vettes. Nothing spectacular, just a good solid driver with a snappy small block and a 400 turbo tricked out to 3/4 race: which took about five years to hammer it all together.

To be honest, I have cerebral palsy, and at my age, it's not as comfortable or easy to handle on the road as it was when I was a twenty-seven year old kid in college tooling around in a blown 66 roadster that would suck the eyeballs out of your head. I'm a sucker for Vettes, what can I say?

Anyway, I'm having a problem with the steering column. Yeah, it's a tilt / telescopic unit, but it just doesn't allow the steering wheel to extend far enough to grab on to comfortably. I though about pulling the column back about four inches and using a hotrod link below the rag joint.

I've been told this can't be done because the column is bolted to the firewall and it's just not long enough. They suggested an aftermarket column might work, but the car is mostly stock, so I don't really want to junk the stock column. That's not to say I haven't had to make some concessions; like raising the brake pedal and swapping out the steering wheel for a smaller mahogany one. It makes it easier to get in and out of the car.

So there must be some kind of fix for this. Any ideas? If not the car has to go.

 

You could put in a non-telescoping wheel. The non-tele wheel extends further into the passenger compartment so it might work better for you. Try to find someone in your area who has one to try the fit.

Here is a pic of a tilt and non-tilt column together. The one with the steering wheel is the non-tilt.



Rick B.

 

I compared the position of the aluminum mounting capsule on the driver side of the steering column as a common mounting point for all steering columns. From that point I found the distance to the end of the upper steering shaft. For T&T columns it was the distance with the telescoping shaft extended to the maximum toward the driver. So what you want is a steering column with the greatest distance from that common mounting point to the end of the steering shaft.

1969 through 1976 T&T column - distance is 19.4 inches
1977 through 1982 T&T column - distance is 16.7 inches

1969 through 1976 Std column - distance is 18.3 inches
1977 thorugh 1979 Std column - distance is 16.4 inches

One thing to keep in mind. There are two distinct designs of C3 Corvette steering columns (not counting the 1968 type). The 1969 through 1976 columns and the later 1977+ columns. Basically the later steering columns actually moved the steering wheel further away from the driver (toward the instrument cluster), opposite from what you want.

So as you can see from the above table, your current T&T column is already placing the tip of the steering shaft furthest rearward toward the driver. The photo comparison shows a 77-82 T&T versus a 69-76 standard column. The above comparison does indeed show a 1.6 inch difference. However, if you were to place your current 1974 T&T column into the picture you would find that its steering shaft would be extending 3.0 inches further rearward than the standard column in the picture.

There just isn't any direct replacement steering column that is a better design for your needs. Installing any steering column but an OEM type will also seriously compromise the energy absorbing and collapse features that was originally designed into your vehicle's steering system.

I think that what you want is an aftermarket steering wheel with the greatest offset from the hub mount to the steering wheel rim. Unfortunately, I don't have any of that information. You most likely would just lock your telescope feature all the way rearward. So losing the ability to telescope
the upper steering shaft would not be a problem. (Some aftermarket steering wheels indicate that they will not work with a T&T column.)

Good luck. I hope that you won't have to give up your 1974.

Jim