Steering Column Paint Question

[tonybowtie]

I am installing a rebuilt GM tilt wheel column. It came painted black but I need to paint it blue. When installed there is a gap between the plastic column cover and the head of the column exposing a few inches of the wiring harness on the underside. My question is did GM paint the harness that is exposed or was the harness installed after the column was painted? If I need to remove the harness for painting, where can I find that procedure?
Thanks for any help.

[69Z28-RS]

Wiring harnesses should not have paint on them (not from the factory).  Parts are painted independently prior to assembly in the manufacturing process.

[69Z28-RS]

I may be wrong with my prior response...  I found a prior post by JohnZ where he states:

"The columns were received from Saginaw Steering Gear in black primer, and painted interior color at the car assembly plant; the tag defined the TYPE of column (regular column shift, regular floor shift, tilt column shift, tilt floor shift, etc.)."

It's not clear if the wiring harness was a part of the steering column at that point or not...?  Maybe johnZ can respond to this?

[Mike S]

John Z may be correct (I'm sure). My 67 NOR has what looks like black paint (or maybe primer from Saginaw?) on portions of the flat ribbon cable coming out of the inside area of the column. Not the whole harness but just a portion closest to the column.

[tonybowtie]

Can anyone say how far down the column was the column and harness painted the interior color? I've seen a 67 coupe where the column and harness were painted down to just past the bracket but I'm not sure it's original.

[Mike S]

 Looking at mine it has what looks like traces of either black paint or black primer on the harness just as it exits the upper housing to just above the collapsible metal plastic cover area. That would put the harness in the vicinity where Chevy painted the column to go with the interior color.
Being the rigid harness coming out of the column was likely not masked off and its placement prior to paint was done ad-hoc, I'm sure you will see differences between cars where the paint edges are.

Mike

[69Z28-RS]

I'm sure JohnZ is correct with his statement (he always is)..     but he didn't address whether the cable was installed 'before' or 'after' that assembly plant painting of the column was performed, and I have no idea on this. 

I did go down and retrieve my original column which I'd removed from my 'original unrestored Z28' and took some detailed photos, which showed no paint residue on the ribbon cable (photos attached)...

[Mike S]

 I wonder if the process is different between 67 and 69. It looks like your cable routing is way different and on 67 there is no securing the harness connector to the column. It's just a stiff ribbon harness. On my 67 harness there is no paint on the connector side and wires but closest to where it exist the upper column there is paint (or primer) on the harness.


Mike

[ban617]

I wonder if the columns were painted prior to assembly & that's the reason for no overspray on the the wiring & holder .......

[JohnZ]

Saginaw Steering Gear painted the column parts black primer before assembling them and shipping the completed column assembly to the car plants (they had no way of knowing what interior color the car would have that the column would end up in). At the car assembly plant, the column was painted the specified interior color in a low-temp paint system (along with the ashtray and glove box door).

[Mike S]

Hi John,

 So based on that then it's probably black paint over-spray I see (my interior is black) on the harness nearest where it exits the upper column and is clear of paint nearest the connector on the other end.

Mike