Does a 74-75 Mk3 steering wheel directly bolt onto a Mk4 steering column?

[Dinoplex 3]

I have found this 74-75 Mk3 steering for sale here and i want to buy it but im not sure if its just a bolt on swap or i need an adapter or something.


From the brochure pictures below it looks like the distance from the steering column to where the steering wheel sits is about the same distance between Mk3 and Mk4 and since the steering column is also the same i guess it should just be a bolt on swap without any modifications? I have also found this video where the guy swaps the 4 spoke wheel with the 2 spoke wheel and the 4 spoke one comes with a adapter looking extension meanwhile the 2 spoke wheel itself is long already and doesnt need that extra extension and he just takes the 4 spoke wheel off and puts the 2 spoke one in using the same bolt and without doing any modifications so i was hoping that it will be the same type of deal with a 74-75 Mk3 steering wheel. 

But im not 100% sure so i was wondering if anybody knows the answer so that i can decide on buying this wheel or not. 

Edited July 21, 2025 by Dinoplex

[sheffieldcortinacentre 763]

They'll interchange ,but the MK3 wheel in a MK4 will be alot closer to you.

If you put a MK4/5 one in a MK3 your fingers hit/ are trapped by the dash pad at the top.

The wheel is the same distance from the dash but the MK3 column is shorter the difference is taken up by the dish of the wheel.

[Dinoplex 3]

30 minutes ago, sheffieldcortinacentre said:

They'll interchange ,but the MK3 wheel in a MK4 will be alot closer to you.

If you put a MK4/5 one in a MK3 your fingers hit/ are trapped by the dash pad at the top.

The wheel is the same distance from the dash but the MK3 column is shorter the difference is taken up by the dish of the wheel.

Ah i thought the 74-75 mk3 with the newer dashboard also have the exact same steering column as later models because in those brochure pictures above the steering columns look near identical with about same length and where the steering wheel ends also looks same in both pictures , the lower part of the wheel is looking to be at the same place as the door lever in both pictures. Im not sure but i thought that extension was added on the 2 and 4 spoke wheels to take up the difference with the same short steering column where in the mk3 the difference was normally taken up by the dish of the wheel where the center section extends a lot deeper forward meanwhile the 2 and 4 spoke wheels dont really extend forward so they added that extension to take up the difference when using the shorter 2-4 spoked wheels, at least thats what i thought . 

 

The earlier dash seems a lot more different also with a different looking steering column, unless they are the same column and the later one just has those plastics bits added, i dont know 
 

By the way is the mk3 wheel also bigger diameter wise? In this granada mk2 drawing below it says 2 spoke wheel is 420mm and 4 spoke is 380mm in diameter but i couldnt find any numbers for the mk3 cortina wheel 

[sheffieldcortinacentre 763]

The wheel rim is in the same place , but the nut is only just under the wheel centre.

So the  column ( 4/5 is longer).

The Granada uses the same steering wheel as the 4/5.

All years of MK3 use the same deep dish wheel ( different trim levels have different centres & higher trim levels had a thicker rim " soft feel")

The lower picture ( prefacelift) is taken at a slightly different angle to the upper facelift & MK4 ones.

Only way I can show you is if I find & photograph the columns ( I'm no good at computer stuff.) I'll get some pics tomorrow.

The MK3 wheels are slightly oval & a little bigger.

The plastic tube/extension is to hide the longer shaft ( the outer tube that carries lock & stalks is the same length).

I have a facelift column in my prefacelift  MK3 racing car so I can have the  controls on the column instead of on dashboard ( which was all removed) so I can reach them while wearing racing harness seat belts.

[sheffieldcortinacentre 763]

Here you go longer MK4/5 column on left , shorter  MK3 on right.

[Dinoplex 3]

3 hours ago, sheffieldcortinacentre said:

Here you go longer MK4/5 column on left , shorter  MK3 on right.

 Yeah i see now thank you so much for the picture 
Thats quite a lot of difference in length as well, i guess i wont buy the wheel for now. Maybe yeeears later i ll swap the column together with the steering wheel.
Also how much fabrication would be required and how difficult would it be to swap the TC2/mk4 whole front end to a TC1 Knudsen Taunus front end. Would the fenders, hood, headlights, grill, bumper just bolt on without an issue or still require some fabrication. I think there is a little bulge in the lower stamping in the TC1 where the bulged front bumper meshes with so the bumper might not fit i think, same for fenders it looks like the lower stamping meshes differently with the fenders on TC1 compared to TC2 and would require some cutting and fabrication from what it looks like. I did this simple photoshop couple months ago and it looks a bit weird with the front lip extension on TC2 but still looks better than the normal TC2 i think  , photoshop below and the original picture below that one. My granddad had a 75 TC1 knudsen turnier and my TC2 turnier is pretty much the same thing as that apart from the front end and the steering wheel, i would love to convert it to a TC1 someday but i dont know how realistic that dream is 


There is also a stupid trend here to convert the otosan cars to "mustang" looking front and rear ends and sadly it is very popular. But if even that is doable i guess converting it to the TC1 front end should also be possible. You can see one of those disgusting conversions in this video. An actual mustang costs like 150-200 months worth of  minimum wage so nobody can afford them and the otosan TC3 models are cheap and plentiful so people do this conversion on them to "feel like they are driving a mustang" which to me is extremely silly. They arent fooling anybody and it looks disgusting 

 

[sheffieldcortinacentre 763]

Front end the fenders & hood will bolt straight on ( the swage lines in hood won't line up at the windscreen, but the main curve matches), bumper might need hole/s re drilling.

The upper & lower front valance will need cutting off & replacement welding on same for the slam panel ( the centre part were hood latch fits is different on TC1 to 2/3).

You may get away with reshaping the lower corners of fenders so you don't have to fit the lower front valance, as the bumper covers most of the upper front valance you might not have to swap this.

The difference is mainly were panels mesh so nothing major.

From the bulkhead back all TC1-3 turnier use the same shell/panels only the exterior handles differ & interior trim.

The only hard part of the interior is the early sloping dash TC1  would need the complete dash swapping ,the flat dash versions all use the same structure just the odd hole or mounting bracket is different.

The rear panel work& roof differs alot on sedans & would require some major work.

The steering column is a straight swap fuel bolts.

Edited July 22, 2025 by sheffieldcortinacentre

[Dinoplex 3]

15 minutes ago, sheffieldcortinacentre said:

Front end the fenders & hood will bolt straight on ( the swage lines in hood won't line up at the windscreen, but the main curve matches), bumper might need hole/s re drilling.

The upper & lower front valance will need cutting off & replacement welding on same for the slam panel ( the centre part were hood latch fits is different on TC1 to 2/3).

You may get away with reshaping the lower corners of fenders so you don't have to fit the lower front valance, as the bumper covers most of the upper front valance you might not have to swap this.

The difference is mainly were panels mesh so nothing major.

From the bulkhead back all TC1-3 turnier use the same shell/panels only the exterior handles differ & interior trim.

The only hard part of the interior is the early sloping dash TC1  would need the complete dash swapping ,the flat dash versions all use the same structure just the odd hole or mounting bracket is different.

The rear panel work& roof differs alot on sedans & would require some major work.

I see thanks a lot for the information. Yeah if it was a sedan i wouldnt even think about it . Im planning on keeping the same door handle/lock since its minor thing and the cowl piece is also a bit different as you said but i think it wouldnt look tooo weird with the TC2 one still being there and big job to cut that off together with windshield removal so i ll just not bother with that. I wanna keep the same facelifted dash i think the mustang style earlier sloping dash looks a bit weird and my grandad's 75 had the later facelifted dash so i ll just keep it like that and just swap the column together with the steering wheel (all of these plans are at least 5-6 years away of course ). Edit: i would also like to get the actual TC1 gauge cluster where it has the ford lion crest badge on the center where the clock would normally be. While my 76 is january production with still the TC1 like gauges going to 200 kmh, it lacks the lion crest, the key i have actually has the lion crest on it and the TC2 workshop manual from november 1975 (below) also shows the cluster with the lion but its not present on my car while the key has it for some reason. Maybe they had leftover parts from TC1 production and used those up in the very early TC2 production models. I would also like to get the rear hatch handle with the F O R D stampings on it. Since TC2 has the regular ford blue oval on the right side of the hatch they deleted those letter stampings on the hatch handle and its just flat piece. 




Also actually the cowl is already cut off, remember when i made a post about my car leaking water from a rust hole under the cowl piece. Its still at the bodyshop and the cowl was cut off and the rust was repaired. Currently its being put together i hope it ll be back in a couple of weeks. Pictures below from when they took off the stuff and found the rusted out sections, dont have a picture of it but afterwards they also cut that cowl piece to repair the rust underneath it where it leaked water from.


  

 

Edited July 22, 2025 by Dinoplex

[sheffieldcortinacentre 763]

That's a very common rust spot on them.

If you look inside the hatch the holes are there on the inner frame for the earlier handle.the clocks in the TC2 are just plain if there's no time clock, I think they were trying to get away from the old style badging in the second half of the 70's..

 

I considered a few times importing a 2dr TC2  "S" or 2dr TC3 Ghia from Europe as we only got 1.3 ohv base or "L" in the UK & converting it to rhd ( would need to cut the upper half of bulkhead/dash etc & replace with another ( LHD doesn't bother me had quite a few American cars) but more for the challenge & it would drive the nerds nuts 🤯🤯trying to figure out if it was original or not 😀😀

 

Enjoying hearing your plans & seeing the project develop.

[Dinoplex 3]

7 hours ago, sheffieldcortinacentre said:

That's a very common rust spot on them.

If you look inside the hatch the holes are there on the inner frame for the earlier handle.the clocks in the TC2 are just plain if there's no time clock, I think they were trying to get away from the old style badging in the second half of the 70's..

 

I considered a few times importing a 2dr TC2  "S" or 2dr TC3 Ghia from Europe as we only got 1.3 ohv base or "L" in the UK & converting it to rhd ( would need to cut the upper half of bulkhead/dash etc & replace with another ( LHD doesn't bother me had quite a few American cars) but more for the challenge & it would drive the nerds nuts 🤯🤯trying to figure out if it was original or not 😀😀

 

Enjoying hearing your plans & seeing the project develop.

Yeah looks like they tried to get rid of that 70s flare/charm idk how to call it exactly . I love the first half of 70s styling both on taunus/cortina and granada, they look so much better than the later models imo and i also love the earlier logos and badges.

Yeah that sounds a lot of work to convert it to rhd . A dutch guy i know imported a rhd bmw e92 m3 to netherlands from the UK because it costed half as much as a lhd model and he was planning to convert it to lhd. Its been 1.5 years since he bought it and he hasnt even registered the car in the NL yet , let alone doing the lhd swap. I think in the end he ll just give up and drive it like that, i cant even imagine the wiring hell going on behind that modern dashboard . I have 0 skill about bodywork jobs so the idea of cutting panels and fabrication always scares me, massive respect to people like you with skill to do bodywork jobs . It would be easier to swap if the dashboard was plastic right? I like that ford still kept the steel dash meanwhile most other brands by late 60s switched to fully plastic dashboards already like mercedes and opel.

I love the 50s to 80s american cars as well, i wish europe didnt have taxation on displacement like in usa so we prob would have seen a windsor small block under the hood of cortinas and granadas and i think thats the engine they deserve, not tiny powerless inline 4s. At least south africans still put one in the granada and sierra but for some reason not in the cortina. I see that you also have a v8 swapped 72, thats very nice i love it . Is it a hard swap, i read before that its not really too hard with plenty of space in the engine bay and there is some australian company that sells both windsor and cleveland v8 swap kits that came with all the custom mounts etc https://www.rodshop.com.au/engine-conversion-kit-for-ford-windsor-cleveland-v 

I also heard that ford toploader 4 speed fits in the transmission tunnel of the cortina without any cutting required but im not sure i just heard it on another forum. Im a mechanical engineer and my main field is gearboxes and i would love to tear down the "C Gearbox" on my car and reengineer it to withstand the windsor torque but that would cost so much money to manufacture custom gearsets and shafts etc for it, getting a toploader would be much cheaper . But toploaders have the external multi rail shift linkage like all of the other american transmissions from that era meanwhile the C gearbox has the single internal rail shifter like the later American borg warner T5s and i always heard that the multi external rail shifters have worse feel and precision to use than the single internal rail shifters. I think the "H Gearbox" from some of the capri models also have external multi rail shifters but i ve never driven a capri in my life so i dont know. T5 would also probably be a better swap than the toploader but i dont want a 5 speed  

Also this German guy that i speak with on german hecktrieb forum is also going to be putting a malaise era windsor v8 with 150hp into his TC1 knudsen soon and TÜV (german MOT) gave him a green light because of the not much power increase . Also does the hood clear the intake air cleaner on a v8 swap, on nearly all of the v8 swapped cortinas and taunuses i have seen they all bulged out the center section of the hood. I hope with a low rise compact intake manifold and a compact air filter it would fit but im not sure.

 

[sheffieldcortinacentre 763]

In my 72 MK3 the Windsor with a normal height weiend manifold & 4 barrel carb the air filter just rubs on the hood. I run a foxbody Mustang T5 manual it's virtually the same size as the original box.

I run a MK3 transit radiator with mechanical fan  it runs about 1/3 of way up temp gauge ( done over 10,000 miles) but over heats in traffic as heat can't escape from underhood ( no problem with hood removed lol. It is very cramped in engine bay).

I've now built a cowl induction hood ( raised centre like quite a few muscle cars) I have an 8 inch fan in it that sucks hot air out of engine bay & blows it towards windscreen.

Not had chance to try it yet but should work.

 

I hate doing bodywork ( filling/sanding etc) but enjoy the welding, mechanical jobs.

[Dinoplex 3]

45 minutes ago, sheffieldcortinacentre said:

In my 72 MK3 the Windsor with a normal height weiend manifold & 4 barrel carb the air filter just rubs on the hood. I run a foxbody Mustang T5 manual it's virtually the same size as the original box.

I run a MK3 transit radiator with mechanical fan  it runs about 1/3 of way up temp gauge ( done over 10,000 miles) but over heats in traffic as heat can't escape from underhood ( no problem with hood removed lol. It is very cramped in engine bay).

I've now built a cowl induction hood ( raised centre like quite a few muscle cars) I have an 8 inch fan in it that sucks hot air out of engine bay & blows it towards windscreen.

Not had chance to try it yet but should work.

 

I hate doing bodywork ( filling/sanding etc) but enjoy the welding, mechanical jobs.

Ah i see, did that minimal rubbing on the hood create any issues before you went to the bulged hood. Since the underside of the engine bay is fully open i thought it would allow enough area for hot air to escape from, never thought that would normally be an issue until now . I wonder if an alu radiator together with an extra electrical fan would be enough to force out a bit more air out the engine bay and prevent it from overheating. With the cowl setup blowing the hot air towards the windshield, wouldnt that heat up the cabin a bit by blowing hot air also thru the cowl openings. There is this guy in Finland that did this 302 windsor swap in his TC1 and it also looks pretty nice but he also put a bulged out section in the center of the hood and uses that as the intake for the carb and moved the radiator a bit more up front towards the grill. Dont know anything about his specs tho. In his picture it still kinda looks like the v8 isnt tooo crammed in there, seems to have even more leftover space compared to a 1st gen plymouth barracuda with the v8 where chrysler shoehorned their small block into it despite the cuda being based on the valiant which was never designed to have the v8 so it was a very tight fit, it was so tight of a fit that even just log style exhaust manifolds barely fit in it. 
 

What kinda exhaust manifold are you using, is there enough space for good 4-1 or 4-2-1 style headers , not sure what this finnish guy is running and it kinda looks like there is some space left there for good manifolds but im not sure . Also i ve heard of putting mustang 2 axles at the back to handle the v8s, are you running the stock axle or something else and roughly how much net power do you think it puts out at the crank. I think Michael from the video above in my previous message will run the stock köln v6 axle since his windsor will not make that much more power and torque in malaise era configuration.

I ve done some welding in the machine shop class at the university but it was very minimal and i sucked at it 

PS: i ve found this guy on instagram couple days ago and his windsor is the best windsor sound i ve ever heard, it sounds so good and he doesnt even turn much rpms, his redline is at around 6300rpm 
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJe7sWWxpKE/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKCipEft2T0/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

[sheffieldcortinacentre 763]

I have 4-2-1 headers, the rad has an aluminium core & have tried twin fans.

It was only a problem when stuck in traffic . Probably having spacers to raise the rear of the hood would have been enough, the problem was airflow through the engine bay not through the rad.

I only need the extractor for a few minutes so don't think it will be a problem with it heating the interior, as the engine temp even with normal hood soon got back to normal.

The foxbody Mustang uses a very similar rear suspension/axle location setup& has been used by several people.

I use a 3.0 V6 Capri axle (  3.09:1) withe the leaf spring mounts cut off &  cortina lower mounts welded on , the uppers are parallel ( using the original upper arms)  mounted approx halfway along the axle tubes ( same idea as the south African mk5's)  with the  panhard rod Inc chassis mount from a mid 80's Hyundai stellar ( which uses the Cortina floorpan)  mounted to a longer  lower shock absorber bolt at the axle end.

The shockers are original  style turreted into the trunk floor again ala SA Mk5 ( there's have a vertical bolt style top mount similar to Capri ones) were as I wanted to retain my spax adjustables.

 

Rear brakes are MK3 /4 escort solid front discs (also 82-84 sierra with 13 in wheels) with sierra rear disc brake calipers ( with handbrake).

[Dinoplex 3]

11 hours ago, sheffieldcortinacentre said:

I have 4-2-1 headers, the rad has an aluminium core & have tried twin fans.

It was only a problem when stuck in traffic . Probably having spacers to raise the rear of the hood would have been enough, the problem was airflow through the engine bay not through the rad.

I only need the extractor for a few minutes so don't think it will be a problem with it heating the interior, as the engine temp even with normal hood soon got back to normal.

The foxbody Mustang uses a very similar rear suspension/axle location setup& has been used by several people.

I use a 3.0 V6 Capri axle (  3.09:1) withe the leaf spring mounts cut off &  cortina lower mounts welded on , the uppers are parallel ( using the original upper arms)  mounted approx halfway along the axle tubes ( same idea as the south African mk5's)  with the  panhard rod Inc chassis mount from a mid 80's Hyundai stellar ( which uses the Cortina floorpan)  mounted to a longer  lower shock absorber bolt at the axle end.

The shockers are original  style turreted into the trunk floor again ala SA Mk5 ( there's have a vertical bolt style top mount similar to Capri ones) were as I wanted to retain my spax adjustables.

 

Rear brakes are MK3 /4 escort solid front discs (also 82-84 sierra with 13 in wheels) with sierra rear disc brake calipers ( with handbrake).

I see thanks a lot for the information

I really like the triangulated 4 link setup, glad to hear that foxbody rear end also fits , i think until the S550 generation the mustang was still using the triangulated 4 link rear axle. Also wasnt the ford fox platform built upon the TC platform? I vaguely remember reading on its wiki that it started off as the TC platform and then revised the front end to accomodate mcpherson struts and couple other stuff , i guess they just kept the triangulated 4 link without changing it too much

By the way whats the biggest width tyres that can be put on the rear and front wheels without having to flare out the fenders on a mk4. I wonder if rear tyres big enough to handle 280-300 ish hp would fit or not . I also love the look of stock rims but i guess i would have to use some aftermarket rims to fit wider tyres 

[sheffieldcortinacentre 763]

My eng is circa 200 I run ford RS 4 spokes ( correct one for a MK3 cortina too) with 185/70x13.

But I've run 205/55x15 with fwd offset ( can't remember the ET number).

The racer is circa 200 & runs 195/60x 14 on 7x14 steels.

The fox chassis is different  only the axle is similar, the Mustang 2 uses a similar front axle but again rest is different.