Last night's episode

I was headed home from a rather uneventful day, and stopped at my storage unit to check on a couple of parts for someone. When I locked the unit up, and tried to start the car, the steering column broke internally. It was stuck in accessories, and I could not start the car. I happened to have another column at the storage unit, so I decided to swap them. This was about 8:00. Long story short, it took me until 5:15 this morning to get the donor column in, even with help from my brother. It needs some finish work, and the high/low beams do not work, but it is driveable for a few days, until I decide whether to get still another column with a working high low beam switch.

Holy cow! You did that all night?? What a bummer man. Ouch!

dang dude!

Remember I LOVE my cars and I keep them because they are fun! (That is what I tell myself when something breaks at the wrong time)

I betcha your brother will watch the caller ID a little more carefully.

Awhile back when I had the BLue OCC that's in the cover photo up top, I stopped for gas in the Ocala Natl forest about 20 miles east of Ocala, FL. My kid had to pee and I topped off the tank. The fuel pump died right there at the pump. Short version: I rolled it out of the way of the pump and called AAA. I also called Dr. Olds who had a couple of wagons (bought one sans motor that I sold to Pat and it's in the Great White North now, but I digress). He said it was okay to have it towed to his house. We finally got there around 9PM and he already went and bought a new fuel pump for me at the parts store. We finished the fuel pump swap at 4AM and I woke up my wife and kid and we drove the last 40 miles to our hotel. I checked in at 4:30 and checked out at 7:30 as we had an event at 8AM.

I was useless, but that fuel pump is still in the car over 40K later and now living in England........

Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do baby....

More fun today. I stopped at my dad's on the way home, and now the starter quit. I ended up walking home (about 1 mile). I will walk back early tomorrow morning, and swap it out with a geared one I have there. Thank goodness I am a hoarder, and have spares.

My dimmer switch rod actuates properly, so I am going to swap in an FWB switch, and rewire it a little, so I get flash to pass. I did it to my 91, and it is a nice upgrade.

Would Peeling the left side column (how people steal these cars) and disconnecting the linkage have worked?

I had this happen on my 85 Grand Prix years ago, flat head screw driver had me started back up in a minute, destroyed the column but u pull it was littered with them back in the day.

I have a good 93 column if you need

I have a couple of good columns, and may get another one from the local yard. The local yard even has one in the correct color. Getting one from the local yard costs me less than shipping. Any year column will work, because they do not have VATS. The 91 column does not have "press brake to shift", but other than that they are the same. I put a 91 column in it. I only have to adjust the dimmer switch, cut a groove for the jeep shaft screw, and all will be good.

I installed a remanned starter today. I forgot how heavy the are. I needed a jack to lift it in place while I installed the bolts. I decided against putting the FW switch in after spending the money on the starter. I was going to use a small geared starter, but the bolts would not go through the mounting holes. I did not feel like grinding the knurled part, so I got a "stock" starter.

The ongoing story...Yesterday I replaced the steering column again. The one I put in a week and a half ago would not dim the headlights. It turned out that it has a broken dimmer actuator. The latest one is having trouble with the turn signal cancel cam. By the time I have all the bugs out of it, I will not have any hair left. I wish all the immobilizing stuff would stop, so I can get around to things that are already in need of attention.

I found the ground wire on the battery was loose yesterday...maybe the starter was not bad after all.