Well, here is more detail. It's originally a '70 4spd, manual steering car (no "quadrant" or shifter on the column). I bought a '70 power steering column from a 318 column automatic car (+ p/s pump, hoses, brackets & gear box). Since I didn't want the PRNDL "quadrant" on my 4spd car, I just took the steering shaft out of the power steering column and put it into my 4spd steering column. Everything seems to fit/function just fine.

Also...this car has had the front frame rails & k-member replaced, so there's no guarantee every dimension on the front is "dead on exact" to what it should be. And... this car was in a front end accident with this same column though nothing looks "collapsed" on it & the front end impact wasn't that bad. I mainly replaced the frame rails due to rust, but it was "tweaked" a little.

As I mentioned, I had the steering shaft/coupler engaged "almost" all the way (when I had the steering wheel upside down), but I couldn't get it to slide in that last 1/4". I tried & tried to push the column further forward to engage the shaft/coupler better, but the metal ring at the bottom of the column where it goes through the floor (2 bolts) was bottomed out (hit "nubs" on column & couldn't move forward any more). At the time, I just figured that I had the coupler pushed too far down on the steering box splines & I could just slip it back a 1/4", put the roll pin back in an everything would be kosher.

Now, with all the wiggling I can do by myself & the coupler already connected to the steering shaft & slid down towards the towards the end of the shaft so the pivots are "just barely" inside the coupler & the coupler won't even engage on the 1st spline of the steering box, let alone the second spline. I've got the mark on the coupler lined up with the missing spline of the steering box gear, but it doesn't even get close enough to mater. At first, I tried to leave the coupler on the steering box & slip the shaft/pivots into the end of the coupler, but I couldn't line it up alone & I was afraid of losing the pivots, even though I taped them a little bit in place. I may have to try it this way again???

So, I'm starting to wonder,"Did I shear off that nylon pin inside so my column is 2" shorter than it should be?" and also wondering, "Is the frame alignment off more than I thought in the steering box attachment area?" and for both questions, "How do I determine if this is going on & what do I do about it?" You guys have been very, very helpful (several of you) and I'm just hoping that one of you will say "Ahah!, check this or adjust that" All of your help is appreciated.