Ha! Your help invaluable Art. Maybe it is my first 'column' rodeo..... I see what you mean about the slack in the springs -- with the lower linkage removed (firewall on down) I can move the steering shaft up/down compressing the spring on one end or the other. Put the steering wheel on, tightened the nut without the lower linkage constraining things -- voila - she tightened right up. No problem with the column. Just a problem with the mechanic.....I may have to fire him.

I had no idea how much 'slack' there is in the shaft movement when neither spring is compressed. So, while I had the steering wheel on the shaft when fabricating my linkage -- I didn't have it tightened down. That meant that both upper and lower springs were completely slack. Which meant the shaft splines on the firewall side were protruding as far away from the firewall as they could. It was from that location that I fab'd my lower linkage. Which, of course means that it's possible the overall length of the upper/lower shafts I fab'd may be too short to let the column take up all the spring slack.

Good news - won't have to pull the column. Bad news? May need to refab the lower links.

Any chance you have access to one of the factory rubber-filled lower steering shafts Art? My pick/pulls down this way seem to sent all their old 240's to the Big Bearing in the sky.
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82 242 6.2L coming...; '15 Honda Fit