Ignition switch replacement

LILCBRA

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air
15 Year Member
Dec 6, 2005
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Marietta, Ga
Ok, there is a long and drama filled story behind this, but I've finally gotten my Cobra back as of the first of November! What I didn't get back were my keys.... Now, I am looking to replace all of the locks in the car. The doors and hatch are super simple as I have removed and replaced them back when I had the car's body work done and repainted, but I've never done anything with the ignition cylinder. Does anyone have a write-up of removal/replacement of the ignition switch WITHOUT the key? tia!!
 
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I remember having to do something like this on an '84 T-Bird (broken lock cylinder that wouldn't turn even though I had the right key). I think this would work the same for a II. Basically you know that slot in the steering-column cover where you have to push in on the pin (once you have the key turned)? I just sent a drill up there and drilled it out. Once you thoroughly destroy that pin, the lock cylinder will slide right out. It's a bit tricky (you don't want to destroy the pot-metal around the pin because that's all that holds the lock cylinder in) but it did the trick. If you can remove the column cover it'll become easier to reach everything.
 
@RaggedGT I have considered a locksmith but figured I'd just swap them all out at once. The short version of the drama-filled story is I have been out of my house and away from my cars for roughly a year because my now ex-wife filed a protective order on a lie and, regardless of the voice recording I had that proved her story to be a lie, the judge bit on her story and ordered me away from everything that was mine. When the divorce finally finalized and I went back to the house, the house was trashed and both of my Mustangs are in horrible shape compared to when I left. Among all of the other things associated with all of this, she either has my Cobra keys or she threw them into the woods. Since I don't even want to deal with her psycho @$$, and I have no idea if she just gave my keys to a homeless person or what she did with them, I'm choosing to just swap all of the locks on everything - both cars, the house, and my camper. I found the GT keys in the console of the car, I have the camper keys and the house was unlocked when I returned so those locks have already been swapped, but my Cobra keys are MIA. I have already ordered new cylinders and I'll still have to employ a locksmith to re-key the ignition to match the door locks, but I should be able to deliver them instead of having them make a house call. That and they'll only have to re-key one cylinder vs all 4. :)

@jozsefsz Thanks for the heads up! Hopefully this weekend I can jump in the car and at least take a look! It's been sitting in my front driveway for at least the last few months and I'd really like to move it back onto my garage pad so it's not so visible to the public! Fingers crossed!!
 
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Sorry to hear about the ex @LILCBRA it's no wonder the younger generation is staying the hell away from marriage. The corrupt, unconstitutional, quasi-communist family court system has made it child's play for the vindictive (often imbalanced) woman to destroy the man's life. In every case I've ever heard, the opening salvo is a false accusation of abuse which secures the property and you're guilty until - hell there's no 'proven innocent.' You're guilty, you're a man, you must have done something terrible or the poor, sweet woman would never have accused you. Remember, believe all women, no matter what! Consider yourself lucky your property still exists - in my case the old sack of crap pretty much destroyed or sold / gave it all away, took the house, and I walked out with just the shirt on my back and a decade of child support of which she never spent a penny on the kids. The best revenge has been living a happy life, filled with good people and lots of great memories. You know the truth, she knows the truth, and she'll never be able to look in the mirror for the rest of her life without knowing what a piece of :poo: she really is. And if you're a man of faith as I am, she'll be repaying all of the harm, and every penny she's taken a thousand-fold, in either this life or the next. Be well, and enjoy having your machines back.
 
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Oh, she tried to take the house even though I bought it before we were married and her name was no where on anything concerning it. She did, however, get away with pretty much anything and everything worth anything in the house. She had the mentality that she bought everything and it was all hers. I was actually surprised to find all sorts of things left in the mess since, in mediation, she only agreed to leave my original bed, my original flat screen, an old side table that my grandmother handed down, and a handful of the appliances. Like I said, it's drama filled! Now I'm concentrating on getting my house and life back in order and moving past her bull$#!+. I'm waiting for the day karma finally delivers what she's due, my only regret is I most likely won't find out about it since we really don't have any common friends - but then again, I kinda don't care either! She's gone for good, thankfully, and that's really what's important!

And you're spot on about the court system! I mean seriously!! She produced a picture of her with a black eye from like 2 or 3 years prior (it wasn't from me hitting her) and used that as evidence. Then she enlisted her then-17 year old daughter to corroborate her lie saying how I tried to run her over with the Mustang that night, I chased her into the house, she tried to lock herself in the bathroom and I fought with her over the door so hard that the daughter heard the door cracking through her closed bedroom door, then I yelled and screamed at her and threatened her before I left the house for work. They both told the same identical lie, down to the cracking door. Then I produced the voice recording that I started after she stormed off from screaming at me while I was in my car. I posted a while back how I was in an accident in 2015 and it smashed my right heel and my right foot had to be reconstructed, so if someone were to just walk fast, I can't keep up, so there's a little bit of time from when I started the recording to when I finally caught up to her and asked her what she was talking about. There was no bathroom door involved! In fact, she was in our bedroom. More of her screaming ensued. As I was trying to leave the house is when she yelled that she would mark herself to prove that I hit her, then you can hear right before I back down the driveway she yells that she wants HER money. The judge listened to all of that and STILL upheld the TPO, ordered me to go through family violence classes, I couldn't return to my home for 1 year following the TPO OR until the divorce was finalized, AND I had to maintain all of the household bills while she got off scot-free. The judge basically left me homeless for a year with no bargaining chip to use in mediation because the poor defenseless woman cried wolf. Needless to say I'm slightly jaded about the whole ordeal and have no faith in our court systems much less almost any female's motive any more. There's only so much a guy can take and I think my limit has been exceeded.
 
Got my lock cylinder replaced. Did A LOT of searching and experimentation, the GT keys did the trick after wiggling it a bit. I went through my carburetor, attempted to fix a fuel leak (the new line that feeds the Holley is now leaking.... :rolleyes:) and checked my fuel for any signs of contamination then put some fresh gas in her. She fired up after a little bit and I moved on to other projects. Last night I decided that I was tired of seeing her with all of the tree pollen and built up scum and took her to the car wash. She still needs attention, but it was great driving her and hearing her on the road! And the few little things I did to the carburetor when I went through it really seemed to help!! For those who are just now joining my $#!+ show, I swapped intakes on her but really never had a chance to go through my carburetor. All I did was take it back to the stock jetting and squirters.

Anyway, here's some pics for everyone! Strategic angles help hide her deficiencies.... lol

47549877321_69a94681f6_c.jpg
 
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