Benny, You need this, http://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/ratchet-shifter-plate-for-stock-shifter.347584/ Now's the time.
Did some dismantling on the weekend. Firewall is ready to be worked on: Floor: cleaned it up to see how bad it is.. From underneath: Amazing how it looked absolutely rust free from underneath...man...bad news...
A little update...have not worked on or in the car during winter as my garage is not heated. Refreshed the heater box. I flushed the original heater core and pressure tested it for 24 hours and found it to be in excellent shape. cleaned everything up. and reassembled it: also cleaned up the control unit. took every switch apart and gave them a bath in the ultra sonic cleaner. Those vacuum switched would not work without a good cleanup of all the passages inside. they were all gooed up. Thanks to gsfred for the control housing that was not melted in the back: went with the best looking decals by now...but they are not backlit....
Another piece finished....tilt column. took it apart completely. I even removed the inner tube. Fixed everything. New lock cylinder and key. Removed all the concrete style grease. regreased everything painted it. I am quite happy with the rattle can finish gave the steering wheel refinish as well...looks much better now. I still need an original steering wheel nut and securing clamp. if anyone has spares?
Last weekend's work: weird feeling cutting the car apart: ordering patch panels overseas is way to expensive. I did order the left front floor pan and shipping cost me a small fortune. so I had to improvise with the rear part. quite happy how it turned out for the first try I had: next step....butt welding... I did however order a set of body bushings now....