Sterring colum

I want to remove the sterring colum shaft cover from the inside of my 65 coupe to paint, it is held on with 2 bolts an the wiring is coming out of it do I have to cut the wires or will they come out with the colum if they are pluged in somewere.  

its an AMP brand connector...  you note the colors go into which hole before you take it apart..

there is a special tool to slide in around the pin to fold the wing pins in so the terminal will slip out...

you normally have to push in slightly to free the wings to depress them...

this is not the proper pin.. but you can see the wings that latch it in the connector body..

i use a scribe to push them inward then the pin will be free to pull out.. when done.. i bend them back up.. so when i install them back into the connector they will latch..

 

some parts stores like AZ actually have tools that look like this.. for this job..  the green one fits as i recall...

 

yep the green one is the one. Do yourself a favor and take of photo of the connector before you pull it apart so you have reference to putting it back together.  As far as the column is concerned, mine was kind of stuck to the bottom when i did mine but short of the top bolts at the dash there is no other fasteners. you may want to change the firewall foam gasket while your at it as I'm sure after all this time its going to break when you yank that cover out.  

Unless you are replacing the horn/signal return, why are we removing the wire plugs from socket? Isn't there a big plug that unplugs? I understand if you want to empty the tube completely for paint, but a little masking tape on the exposed wiring harness would be easy to avoid overspray.
Turn signal harness replacement  

I don't want to remove the wire pins from the plug.I want to know if it can be unpluged an slide the wires off with the colum cover to be painted  

The harness can't be removed without removing the wireends from the plug. Does the harness inside the column absolutely have to come out to repaint the tube? The column and harness come off the shaft in one piece. Follow the wires out of the column to the harness plug. The plug end of the column harness is just less than a foot from the column under the dash.  

IMHO, yes the tube needs to come out if you want to paint the whole tube.  

Thank you. That was exactly what I wanted to know.While I am Posting another ? The drivers side door saggs about 1 inch after it is opened,an it is not the hinges altho I will be installing the new ones I have.  It has a fractor  crack from what apeares to have happen in a wreack,no possitive. But at the bottom hinge between the A pillar an the hinge is cracked for about 6 inchs. I can weild it but getting it to line up because when you open the door it drops so I can't weild in that position, an I caint weild or get to the crack with the door closed. Any suggestions on getting a true alingement to be weilded, Will try to post pick in next post.  

I don't think any adjustment can be successful without the hinge support base being stabilized, as in sheet metal replacement. Looks cracked and rusted.