Guys, I am rebuilding my column shift steering column and turing it into a floor shift model by deleting the lever for the column shift. My question is I ripped apart my column and noticed that the three screws that secure the turn signal housing into the lock plate are missing. Are these required? What do they do? Can I just grab springs off the shelf? Because I have never seen these springs what type are they similar to, ie. emergency brake springs, bic pen springs, etc?

Thanks
Mike

Jim Shea has excellent papers on the steering column here- http://jimshea.corvettefaq.com/
Look on the right side, click on "A-F car steering papers", scroll down the page to "Std Strg Column 67-68 Disassembly & Repair Paper #1 (Rev 17JA09) pdf formatLink", and click on that link.
That should give you the info you need, other than where to get the springs, and yes, the screws are required. Good luck,
BillL

Thanks, I had the paper when i started to put it together that's where I noticed I needed the springs (item 9) When I took mine apart the springs where not in it.

Mike

I may have written the paper on the 1967 -68 steering column but I have not worked on that type column for many years. I am sure that the three springs on the screws are really just an assembly aid. They keep the locking plate fully extended on the screws while you "camlock" the locking plate into the open end of the steering column jacket.

I would think that you can carefully position the parts without the springs and then carefully tighten the three screws to lock everything up. You want to make sure that the tangs on the inside diameter of the locking plate are aligned with the slots in the top of the column jacket. Push the turn signal unit down applying pressure and twist it clockwise. Tighten the three screws in a criss-cross fashion to avoid cocking the locking plate. You could damage the column jacket if the plate is not installed correctly.

Jim

Thanks! I seen a few people on here had the same type of question but never found an answer.