Ignition Swapp

[turbojkt]

My 16 year old son is swapping out a bad ignition on a 1980 Z and where it is clamped to the steering column, there are 4 screws holding it on. Two of the screws are not accessible. They don't have heads for screw drivers, or they are capped. Do we need to drill these out? What's the best way to get them out?

Any suggestions would be appreciated? This is our first experience with Z's.

[Bambikiller240]

Originally posted by turbojkt

They don't have heads for screw drivers, or they are capped. Do we need to drill these out? What's the best way to get them out?

Any suggestions would be appreciated? This is our first experience with Z's.

Use a small drill bit to drill a hole in the screw heads. Insert and EZ Out (Screw/Bolt Extractor) and remove the screws. Replace them with standard metric screws or some other metric screws of your choice that require a "special" bit (like Torks, or Hex capscrew, etc.)

The reason for these OEM headless screws was to make it difficult for someone to "quickly" steal your car by swapping in a different ignition switch.

[sblake01]

Originally posted by Bambikiller240

The reason for these OEM headless screws was to make it difficult for someone to "quickly" steal your car by swapping in a different ignition switch.

Which I never understood since all a thief would have to do is unplug the electrical connector from the back of the switch and connect it to another ignition cylinder or just hot wire it from there.

[sweetgrrl]

if you have a small enough screwdriver you dont really need to remove those...i was able to replace my switch while leaving the lock cylinder in the car.

holly

[Bambikiller240]

Originally posted by sblake01

Which I never understood since all a thief would have to do is unplug the electrical connector from the back of the switch and connect it to another ignition cylinder or just hot wire it from there.

I hear you Stephen. I always wondered about that too. These screws seem to be good for nothing more than a false sense of security.

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Sweetgrrl is also correct in that if someone is small enough, and limber enough, they could replace the electrical portion of the ignition lock assembly without removing the entire assembly from the steering collumn.