Are all Festy steering columns the same (mainly ignition switch wiring)?

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

I'm starting to think replacing the hacked-up steering column in my AK car (a 91) which was stolen last winter.

My AK parts stock has two columns (see photo), both of which seem to have identical ignition wiring.

1. Will any column work in any car?
2. Can locksmiths make a new master key to fit a parts column? (When I disassembled a bunch of AK Festies about 10 years ago, I didn't think to record the model year nor the ID from the passenger lock cylinder).

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

I found a locksmith in Seattle who has agreed to reverse-engineer a steering column I brought him from Los Anchorage into a master code (like we find on the passenger door lock cylinders) and make me a couple of "original" keys ... for $70. He pointed out that there are two small-diameter roll pins he needs to drill out to remove the lock innards.

The subject car is a 91. I see that we have a sticky for 92-93 schematics. Does anybody have schematics for 91? I don't know what kind of wiring damage I'm going to find when I start tearing into the thief's "hot wire" job. BTW, the court has recently ordered him to pay nearly $900 in "restitution" for tearing up my Festy -- must be a Festy-friendly judge!

[drddan]

All 90 thru 93 are same

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

drddan,

I'm now in WA and the car (a '91) is back up in AK.How can I tell if the spare column I'm having a key made for is 90-93 ... short of tearing into a 90-something down here to compare against? What's obviously different between 88-89 and 90--93 columns?

[drddan]

I have never heard if there are differences in 88/89 columns and 90/93 columns. I just know 90/93 Festy columns are the same. Someone else can hit on this, if they know
I would be interested to know myself

[WmWatt]

Looking at the instructions in the Haynes manual for replacing ignition key lock cylinder all it mentions are differences between 1993 and earlier models and 1994 and later models. Also a difference between automatic transmission which has a place to hook a shift lock cable and a mamnual transmission (" if equipped with an automatic transaxle remove the shift lock cable from the lock cylinder housing")

When I took the instument cluster out to check my speedometer the screws holding the plastic cover on were different from the photos in the Haynes manual so I took photos and put them in Photobucket.com. My Photobucket userid is ag384fb. My Festiva is a caburetted '89.
This link might work... http://s1086.photobucket.com/user/ag...ivaSpeedometer

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

OK, so I'll assume the columns are not year-specific. Tomorrow, I'm picking up the column I gave to a Seattle locksmith yesterday and will attempt to install it in the AK car next time I'm there.

I'm still looking for 1991 electrical schematics in case I need to repair hidden wiring damage.