i HATE not having a tilt wheel (91 LX) my brother in law has a spare wheel/column/etc out of an 89?.. how much of a pain in the ass is it to swap these? can i swap them? can i retain cruise control?
Yes it can be done it is not that difficult. Besides the column you will need the correct column trim for an 87 - 89 tilt wheel. You will also need a cruise control wheel from the same years, not sure if an earlier one would work maybe something from 84 up. The column needs to have the 3 pin connector to the wheel for horn & cruise, you will have to cut & splice 3 wires as the connectors under the column to the main harness are different.
I can go into more detail later I am at work now, but this is a rough sketch of what will need to be done. It can all be compleated in about 3 - 4 hours easily. I just changed Frankenstangs 90 something column out for my old 87 column.
Yes it can be done it is not that difficult. Besides the column you will need the correct column trim for an 87 - 89 tilt wheel. You will also need a cruise control wheel from the same years, not sure if an earlier one would work maybe something from 84 up. The column needs to have the 3 pin connector to the wheel for horn & cruise, you will have to cut & splice 3 wires as the connectors under the column to the main harness are different.
I can go into more detail later I am at work now, but this is a rough sketch of what will need to be done. It can all be compleated in about 3 - 4 hours easily. I just changed Frankenstangs 90 something column out for my old 87 column.
Ok sounds like you have all you should need. I'll kinda go step by step best I can here since I don't know how knowledgeable you are.
1) Disconnect your battery as you will be unplugging and plugging together various electrical connectors. I can only guess you have an active airbag module in your wheel. Not sure if Ford uses any sort of capacitor to ensure the activation of the bag in an accident, and I'm sure you don't want to find out the hard way, so this will help let it discharge safely.
2) I would next remove the bolt connecting the column shaft to the universal joint/steering knuckle in the engine bay. This makes it easier before you loosen the whole column. The nut should be a 11/16" and the bolt is 5/8" I used a few extensions and my impact to reach down to remove it.
3) Next remove the column trim and the lower trim/knee pad from the dash under the column the air bag cars have the plastic trim, a metal backing plate and a lower frame bar that you will have to remove.
4) Once you have everything exposed you can remove the 2 nuts that hold the hood release these should be 9/16", you will want to use a 9/16" deep socket.
5) Under those should be another set of 9/16" nuts, I would loosen these and run them all the way down but not totally remove them yet. Further down on the column there will be 2 more 9/16" nuts loosen them the same. Once they are all loose you can then remove them all and let the wheel set on to the drivers seat.
6)From here it will be easy to access the turn signal assembly. Remove the 2 screws holding it in place and lay it over to the side.
7) Next remove the lock cylinder. Insert your key and turn it forward one or 2 clicks till the set pin will press in, once it does pull out on it and remove the cylinder.
8) Now you will need to remove the actual ignition switch. You will need to use a VT27H torx type tip.
On the airbag cars there is a clip attached on this that helps align and hold the column trim on. You will not need this for the new column.
9)The last wires that should be attached will be a 3 wire plug that comes down from the 3 pin connector for the horn and CC buttons, unplug this. On the older 87 column this plug was more square with blade style connectors not the round pin style. I'm guessing the it will be the same on the 89 column you have. That is ok.
10) Now there might be an additional plug for the airbag, Frankenstangs car already had the airbag wheel off the car so I don't know first hand if there was an addition wire harness/connector. If there is unplug this and now you are ready to remove the old column.
You may have to wiggle the column around a bit as you pull on it so it will work its way loose from the steering knuckle.
11) When installing the new column if the wheel is attached try to position it so it is close to the same orientation as the old column. It would also help to have a second set of hands to make this easier but can be done by one person. Slide the new column into the opening in the firewall and push it back onto the knuckle shaft. Don't worry about if it is going on correctly as it is shaped to only go on in one position.
Once you have it in place bolt it back together.
12) Now from this point you basically reverse these directions reattaching the ignition switch, key cylinder & turn signal switch. For the horn you will need to identify which wires on your car harness are what if they are colored the same as what was on Frankenstang then the black and yellow/gray are your horn wires they are the outer 2 pins on the 3 pin connector. The blue wire/center pin is what transfers the signal from the cruise control. On the new column the pin arrangement is the same so you can trace these and attach them accordingly. If you want once everything is reattached to the column you can reconnect the battery and test the horn, as for the CC you will have to wait and see till you can drive the car and hope the buttons on the new wheel are all still functional.
13) Once everything is reattached raise the wheel up and align the two brackets and bolt it back into place.
14) Reinstall the lower dash pieces and knee pad.
15) Now there is a difference in the 87-89 & 90-93 instrument bezel, both have a rubber piece that covers the gap between the bezel and the column trim. I have put the newer bezel on my 87 and Frankenstang also has the airbag bezel. If the rubber piece is missing you will have a small rectangular hole exposed on the top of the bezel.
On my car I have the rubber piece but the pins that hold it in place have been damaged and do not hold it securely. What I have done is actually place the rubber over the top of my column trim instead of under it, keeping it in place and filling the rectangular hole.
Other than the hole on top the older column trim fits the newer bezel and knee pad fine and looks original as it does on the older aero cars. Here is how it looks in Frankenstang.
Hope this helps, any other questions just ask and I'll do my best to answer them.