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old mac -> ignition switch actuator gear, a.k.a., ignition sector gear (7/1/2008 5:22:50 AM)
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Bought a new ignition lock for the car. The original had been slide-hammered out. Went to install it only to discover that the little plastic gear that it attaches to was junk.
Looked all over the net at the usual supply houses. No dice. Finally spotted same colored little tan gear at Eckler and excitedly bought it, but without carefully studying it. Turned out to be the black one for tilt-columns that doesn''t match up to standard columns.
E-mailed Eckler and told them that the gear was the wrong one and gave them the part number on the gear. Reply stated that my part number, 7806046, did not exist.
Searched net again with part number and it came back at Rare Spares in Australia! It was used on Harmon cars that were built in Australia. GM bought Harmon. Totally frustrated, I bought three of them.
While waiting for the part to arrive, I find the Jim Shea articles at CorvetteFAQ. (Wasn''t a member at Corvette Forums yet) Old Jim says that my part is interchangable with most GM cars of the era, Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet, etc. (Now I find out.)
More searching, and I find the gear in black from corvetteparts.com, which is Davies in Florida.
Usual stream of "Do you want to sell the Vette?" guys show up and tell me that the gear from Australia is the wrong one and that I''ll never get it installed properly without pulling the column.
Part arrives, I slide it right in, followed by the lock cylinder (per the Shay instructions). Works like a charm.
The only difference I could find with the Aussie part was that it fit very slightly looser that original. But, the original was so badly mangled, it was hard to get any true read on it''s fit.
Hope this post helps someone with a similar problem. They always told me not to compound ignorance with inaudibility.
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