i havent been working on it much lately mostly been scouting out the parts for the 4 speed swap,
i also went to the local junkyard looking for a steering column without the column shift with manual steering if any of you guys have it let me know!
It is possible to convert the collar and bell on your column. Several owners have chosen this route rather than pay up to 200 bucks for a entire column.
A few of their various methods have been shared here and in other forums. I can't say which is the best method or even what search terms to try. I can say web searching could be more productive than roaming part yards. Good luck either way.