Steering and starting

[Dononwheels64]

Just got a 64 Tbird manual on the way. With that said car will only start in neutral when in park engine not running steering wheel will not go to right to exit vehicle any advice thanks. One more little item has anyone ever figured out a Easy way to get exhaust manifold bolts out!! :)

[jtschug]

The "easy" way to remove the exhaust manifold bolts is is take the engine out of the car

With the other problems, first check if the steering column lower shifter bushing is worn out. --- search, there are articles written on this.

If the lower shifter bushing is good, then get the shop manual instructions on adjusting the neutral safety switch and the swing away wheel track, and follow those.

[redstangbob]

Welcome to the forum, post pics when you can. Picture instructions are down in the forum how to section or in the using post image article which is everywhere throughout the forum. The column has some well documented issues, the shift lever wear and the lower bushing mostly, try lifting up on the lever for starting and sliding over. These should be addressed right away, they can be safety issues. Never leave your car running without sliding the wheel over, it can drop into reverse. As for the exhaust bolts, there's lots of ideas, some even work. I just pulled the heads and even had to helicoil a few. good luck, Bob C

Looks like I'm a little slow today

[sseebart]

Just got a 64

Nice choice! Welcome to the forum. How about a photo of the "new" car?

~Steve

[cacockrum]

My two cents worth: It’s certainly possible to remove the exhaust manifolds without removing the heads or the engine, but it’s not necessarily “easy”. It takes an assortment of box end and socket wrenches to get into the very tight places. Unfolding the locking tabs is a bit of a challenge too, and I had to resort to my trusty Dremmel tool to cut the tabs off of a couple that I couldn’t unfold with a screw driver. Fortunately for me the bolts were not frozen so I didn’t need to apply a lot of force to get them to move. If they are frozen, I suggest that you check out the threads in this Forum that discuss this problem before exerting so much force that they break. There are discussions about heating and even “blowing out” a broken bolt, but I’m not convinced that the latter is too practical given the very limited space between the shock tower and manifold. If you are removing the bolts in order to remove the manifolds and correct an exhaust leak, I suggest that you remove the heads. Then you can more easily operate on stubborn bolts and resurface the mating surfaces to ensure that new gaskets and/or heat shields seal properly. This isn’t easy either, but at least it’s a straight forward process.

Good luck and let us know how it works out,
Art

[Dononwheels64]

I would like to say thanks to all who help me with my problems!!!! I have started my to do list, a pretty straight original 64 hardtop little to NO rust was in a couple collectors collection's. Couldn't believe original white paint a few minor things easy fixes. If we can post pics and I can figure out how I will post a,couple. Again thanks for your help!!# Don