New guy 79 factory 4 speed wagon.

[t5montecarlo]

There is a return window. I have no experience with this brand. It is complex piece, so I can't imagine they designed it from scratch.

At the very least, you can add up the cost of the shroud, the lever, and the rack kit and compare to the used column cost. Hopefully, the person shipping the used column packs it well so the lever doesn't bend and the shroud doesn't crack. The shroud in my Monte Carlo is cracked near the bulge for the lever from how it was packed and shipped to me.

Did you compare the measurement I showed in the picture to any picture you got from the S10 person?

Have you looked at car-part.com to see if a column matching the applications I listed, or those listed on the Brock website, to see if you can get a deal on a junkyard column?

 

[Mighty]

I’m waiting to hear back from the s10 guy. Out of curiosity what would be a fair price to ask for my non tilt manual trans column out of a 80 (I believe) Malibu? I might be able to sell it eventually to offset the cost if I do buy the s10 column and he wants some coin for it.

 

[Mighty]

I can snap a better full picture tomorrow.

 

[t5montecarlo]

That is a very good question. I had some of those and sold them for about $100 each about 10 years ago. I haven't sold any since then. The steering column prices on eBay have gone way up. I recommend looking at sold prices on eBay and also see if there are any on Facebook Marketplace, and then decide.

Pull out the turn signal stalk before you package it so it doesn't bend or break the internal parts...and pack it well!!!

 

[Mighty]

Will do. Yea, I see the prices people ask for columns but I wonder how often they sell lol. There’s a sherwin Williams automotive paint center not too terribly far away from the shop. If I don’t end up buying the s10 column I think I can take a piece of trim over there and they can match the red color if I end up buying the parts individually. If the s10 bowl is too short judging by your picture maybe the only place there would be a gap is on the bottom side of the dash? If that’s the case it might not be too noticeable. What a bummer. I’m obviously not super knowledgeable about cars but I just can’t believe GM made such a specific column during that time frame in history. The muscle car wars was over and i always thought they were just cranking out cheap economy vehicles left and right. One would think a column from say a monza, Vega, caprice, celebrity, or corsica would be identical. Or maybe one from a Pontiac/Buick/olds model. Unless at that it wasn’t like today where almost everything is interchangeable when working on something GM. Were manual transmissions really starting to die off in that time frame? I guess that saginaw transmission in the A bodies was pretty specific too compared to one found in another model due to the shifter location. More often than not now I wish the car was still bone stock. I remember when my dad bought the car I hated it lol.

 

[t5montecarlo]

You should be able to buy the proper paint/dye color from Dixie Restoration Depot or Mikes Montes. It is like lacquer. An enamel paint lays on too thick, which is what I learned on my Monte Carlo column. You also need to clean it well to remove all traces of things like Armor All, or the like, and then spray it with an Adhesion Promoter.

There is more than 1 flavor of the red/burgundy interior and different years have some slightly different colors. Yours is called Dark Carmine in 1979. I have included images of the trim pages from the parts book. You can confirm the color code from the Body Number Plate which is in the trough at the base of the windshield.

If the Sherwin Williams place can color match, bring a piece of the steering column and be sure you don't get an exterior enamel paint.

I have a feeling the S10 piece may be OK. If there is a gap, it will be small and only visible from the bottom. The shroud tucks a long way in on the Chevrolet model. It may be that in a Buick, Pontiac, or Olds version the dash covers less of the shroud so they chose the longer one for use in all 1978-1981 A bodies. The column is not different between Chevrolet, Buick, Olds, and Pontiac.

I think all the Saginaw steering column parts are the same across all the columns for a large range of years within the same families of tilt, tilt-telescopic, non-tilt, manual transmission, and for automatic transmission. The car platform differences would include the length of the shroud and the length/configurations of the jackets (metal tubes), which would have to be unique for each car platform because they each have different a dash and floor/firewall.

Yes, manual transmissions were dying off. I blame the dealers for stocking the lots with automatic transmission cars helping to train people to forgot how to drive a manual transmission. The manual transmission used to be "standard" equipment and the automatic was "optional" equipment, so there was more opportunity for price markup.

The Saginaw in the A body is not unique. What is unique is the mounting bracket for the shifter. The bracket moved the shifter a long way forward.

Did your Dad buy the car new?

What did you hate about the car?

 

[Mighty]

Good write up about the paint. I’m actually doing my own project by myself on a 97 dodge ram diesel and I had the entire dash out of it to install a new dash topper. I also ordered some color matched paint from a place called dashskins and it’s almost spot on to the factory color. I went out everyday and sprayed the dash down with soapy water and wiped it clean before I painted it. I couldn’t find the correct color parts I needed at any junk yards and after so long I just said the heck with it I’ll try painting it. My dads always been a car guy and back when I was really little I can remember him having a 76 vette and a 71 riviera with a 455. He still has pictures of a 68 RS/SS that he did his own restoration on in the late 70’s early 80’s then sold when my older brother came along. He sold the vette and the riviera back around 94 or 95 and didn’t have a toy for a while. Then we had a neighbor move on next door that had (still has) a 69 z28 and another one move in across the street that had an early 70’s el Camino with a 400. I guess after a few years of hanging around them he wanted another toy car. I was used to going to car shows and the race track and really wanted him to buy a 60’s Chevelle or nova or something “cooler”. Mom stayed home with us kids back then so I kind of understand why he picked up the wagon. By the late 90’s those older cars were already going up in value. I walked outside to see the new project car and at 12 or 13 years old I just thought “what the hell is this?” Now here we are 25 years later and the A/G body cars have gotten really popular. Someone had the car listed for sale on the wall at jegs and my dad spotted it when he and one of the neighbors were in there getting parts. One of the reasons he bought it was for the manual transmission. With the original drivetrain gone (other than the saginaw that I’m keeping) I want the interior to remain as original as I can. I even asked him if he thought he could get into contact with the guy he sold the original engine to but he said he was an older guy even back in the late 90’s so he might not be around any longer. The older I get, the more I appreciate older stuff. I understand the guys that want to go as fast as possible but I’d rather have a stock 14 second 67 396 chevelle, or 70 Buick GSX than a 9 second turbo LS whatever the heck. And those older cars probably require way more maintenance. Oh and that’s what I meant about the saginaw being a/g body specific, the shifter location.

 

[t5montecarlo]

That is a very cool story. When I was in high school, 1960s muscle cars were 10 years old and they were a dime-a-dozen and at their cheapest. They were driven in all kinds of weather with no worries because they were the daily driver.

I bought my first wagon, a 1979 with 3.3-L V6 and 3 speed on the floor, in 1989. It cost $650 and my intent was to take it apart and use the clutch parts in my Monte Carlo SS. After looking over the car, I decided to keep it as is. After about a year, I found a 3.11 1st gear Saginaw 4 speed and put it in. Then, I found a 4.03 1st gear Camaro T5 and put it in. It became my model for how to put a T5 in my Monte Carlo. In about 1995, I found a very clean 1983 wagon with a 305, so I took the 1979 car apart and scrapped it. After a couple of years, 1983 wagon got a 4 speed and then a few years later it got a Chevette T5 with V8 gearing. The 1979 wagon really got me liking wagons; they were like a truck with a built-in cap. I felt I had a wagon before others realized how cool they can be. Many people who saw the floor shifter in my 1979 wagon didn't know they were offered that way, but that was the "standard" package (the lowest cost version) for the wagon.

 

[Mighty]

I’m 95% certain ours had a 4.4 267 v8 in it. One of these days I want to go through my parents basement and see what all my dad kept from wagon when we tore it apart all those years ago. There’s boxes full of old car parts mostly from the wagon, and my brothers 85 regal down there some where. I’m curious to know if he kept anything for the air conditioning or power steering or anything like that. Also, I had that conversation with a friend of mine not too long ago. My dad tells us the story quite often of the blizzard of 74??? They had here in Ohio. My mom got in her 73 firebird which had a 350 and drove all the way to work only be told it was cancelled for the day so she drove home. It must have been wild to see those small/big block muscle cars creeping around in 3 inches of snow with slush caked all over them back then lol.

 

[t5montecarlo]

The 5th character of the VIN is the engine code. J is for the 267 2 barrel and H is for the 305 4 barrel. Both were available in the A body with a 4 speed in 1979.