Best least painful way to remove 1957 Ignition switch

[buick man]

Hey if anyone has the actual experience in removing a 1957 Buick Ignition Switch I would like to hear from you.

I have to remove mine, it is some distance from my house so I want to have all the right tools, sockets, or whatever with me so I can just dive right into it when I get to the car.

I have never actually removed a 1957 ignition switch before so a good procedure and what to watch out for would be nice. I know they have a back plastic or bakelite cover plate on them. Does this have to be removed first? Basically I need to know how they are held in on the other side of the dash. Some switches have a large flat hex head nut with flat washer that threads up against the rear of the dash ignition hole and tightens up that way.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

David

[Guest Bob Call]

If it is like most 50s GMs it has a threaded bezel on the front of the dash surrounding the lock cylinder. The bezel will have two square notches 180 degrees apart on the outside edge of the bezel. GM made a spanner wrench to fit this. Using any other tool may bogger up the bezel. Try a channel lock pliers with a piece of inner tube to protect the bezel finish. The lock cylinder can be removed by putting the key in the lock in the off position. Then insert a paper clip or other stiff wire into the small round hole next to the key. Push in on the wire while turning the key toward the on position and pull the cylinder out.

[buick man]

Thanks for the input. I however have no keys. That is why I am removing the ignition to get a good source for the key to be made at the locksmith shop.

David

[buick man]

Oh one other point. On a 1957 Ignition Front. There is only a contoured chrome key input flange which accepts the key. This flange envelopes most of the key plate when inserted. The entire unit is flush mounted to the dash with no holes at all. It appears all access has to be from behind. I will look straight into the bezel flange tomorrow, perhaps other than the key orifice there is some type of hole inside which I have not noticed before. The late 40s and earlier 50s Buicks had the ignition you speak of.

If anyone actually owns and/or has removed a 1957 ignition unit from the dash please chime in.

Respectfully,

David

Edited April 12, 2010 by buick man (see edit history)

[DavidAU]

Is the door lock the same key as the ignition. Probably a lot easier to remove a door lock and get a key cut.

David

[buick man]

Well to conclude this adventure I removed the driver's door handle with the lock mechanism inside it. The shaft that extends out of the door lock mechanism has the key code stamped on it. The lock smith made a key in a matter of minutes. Worked smoothly in the cylinder. When I returned to my vehicle and reinstalled the door handle I then tried the ignition switch. It too worked beautifully. I then tried the locked glove box. To my surprise it too turned and opened. I would have tried the trunk but I do not have a trunk lock at this time but I am working on it. The lock smith says when I get a lock cylinder, he will key the lock tumblers to fit my new key just made so I will then have as Buick intended in 1957 " One key for all locks"

By the way, the lock smith's books indicated that there should be one key for the door/ignition and another different key for the glove box and trunk. Well apparently he and his books are wrong. My Road Master is a one owner and I doubt if it was re "keyed" to use just one key for all the locks. I know of a guy who just sold a Road Master convertible 1957 and he told me that one key fit all locks as well.

Apparently this 2-key system ie door/ignition and then glove box/trunk began in the early 1960's.

I am writing this so if anyone in the future finds themselves in the same position I was in regarding locks and keys for a 1957 Buick, they can use this reply as a reference. Removing the door handle required complete slow and careful removal of the interior door trim. I removed the handle by simply pressing the round escheions and exposing wire ring that holds the handle onto the door crank mechanism. I then took a dentists sharply pointed pick and slid the clip out of it's grove and the handle came off however I believe there is a specific tool for this procedure but the pick worked just fine. The only other slightly difficult ( because I had not done it before) was the complete removal of the door handle itself. I took off the very small twisted and conformed wire clip from the door's inside lock knob but found this was unnecessary. If I was going to do it again I would leave that attached and remove the door handle by removing the short rod that goes from the back of the handle/lock mechanism down to a clip. This clip in turn is attached to the door lock knob mechanism. To accomplish that one only needs to put your hand inside the door and follow the door lock knob rod mechanism down from the backside of the handle to where it connects to a clip. One only needs to user your fingers to press it out of the clip by pressing and pulling forward towards the front of the car. It then pops right out. Reassembly is the just the opposite of removal.

David

Edited April 14, 2010 by buick man (see edit history)

[HotRodTom]

I have owned 3 '57 Buicks, including driving one throughout high school.

Is the igntion switch actually in the LOCK postion? A 57 Buick starts by pressing the accelerator pedal when the igntion switch is in the ON postion, but there is also OFF, which you can go to ON without a key.. You know back before people constantly worried about your car being stolen..

If its in OFF, you are set. Also, why not just hot wire it? By the time it took you to remove the door panel, you could have had it hot wired.

Also there were not very many keys back then, so having a locksmith make a key will probably cost more than finding some one with a good selection of old keys to try out. I have a bundle of old Briggs and Straton GM keys, and so far I havent met a door I cant unlock.

[Guest Bob Call]

I don't know about the other GM divisions, but I had a 51 and a 59 Chevy and both had 2 keys. One fit doors and ignition and the other the trunk and glove box. The lock cylinders on the 51 were Briggs and Stratton and used what was called a B10 key. With a random group of 10 to 15 of these B10's one would fit about any B&S B10 lock. I once had a 51 DeSoto and the ignition lock cylinder was so worn that a pen knife blade made an excellent key. How many of us remember having a 32 thru 48 Ford or Merc with the steering lock? We would use the key to unlock the steering and thereafter used the toggle ignition switch and very rarely locked the steering.

[Guest northern wayne]

Someone may have answered this for you by now but here goes.....disconnect the battery (I know, but I had to say it) There is a backing plate behind the ignition switch with a couple of screws into it from the bottom of the dash, these screws are a bit of a pain because they are tamper-proof (likely to make it tough to hot-wire the car). Then put your key in the ignition, you will see a small hole on the ignition face plate, into this hole push a small nail, pin, allen key, whatever fits, turn the key all the way to the right (it will go past the usual two stops) then pull the key towards you and it will pull out the lock cylinder along with the face-plate (bezal/bezel?) and the rest of the switch will drop back into the dash. Remove a couple of wires and it should be in your hand. Good-luck

[Guest aaranpeters]

I have had to do lots of jiggling and wiggling to get them out but have never been stuck whenever I had a key to remove them with. I have installed tons of these down through the years.I have only drilled out 1 or 2.Locksmith help me out of situation.

 

[joe_padavano]

7 hours ago, aaranpeters said:

I have had to do lots of jiggling and wiggling to get them out but have never been stuck whenever I had a key to remove them with. I have installed tons of these down through the years.I have only drilled out 1 or 2.Locksmith help me out of situation.

 

 

This thread is from 2010.  I hope the OP has it fixed by now.

[Guest Jackie4]

Buick ignition is similar to other ignitions. I've had to unscrew mine in Ford Thunderbird 1960 but without good Locksmith i had no chance whatsoever. And yeah, idk if OP still needs his Buick and ignition, he could buy a Toyota 2015 model.