[HO455]

Here is more information for you.
3. http://www.chevelles.com/forums/16-b...ng-column.html. It's called a "Pot Joint" because it is "potted" when manufactured. The two ends are positioned together with the outer housing in a jig and then rubber is injected to bond the pieces together. The process of injection moulding with out a mould is called potting. It is the same method that is used for control arm bushings.

2. The shift lever they are referring to are the two 3-4" arms just below the firewall. One is where the linkage to the tranny hooks up and the other one is the detents for PRND21.

4. Yes the fine threaded ones. They go into an internal ring that can be adjusted by turning the clamp and bolts together. These are only used on automatics as it adjusts the shifter tension for the detents. It is not a clamp in the conventional sense, but keeps the screws from deforming the column housing when they tightened down. I can't speak to what a manual shift column looks like as I haven't had one of those apart.

Quote "Perhaps that plate in #7 is the column support bracket, or are these instructions for the two screws that bolt the clamp to the plate in #7? "
I believe you are correct it is the column support bracket. It will need to be removed to pull the column. When I removed mine I unbolted the bracket from the column just to make it easier to navigate out of the cab.

I removed and tore down my column before I started posting the repairs to my Burban otherwise I could have referred you to it. The first thing I did to the Burban was rip the 80's Vette column and wheel out of it and return it to stock. After I got my nice looking stock column installed I found out the shifter was so stiff it was almost impossible to shift. So out back out it came and I tore it all apart and found the bushing for the shifter on the bottom was rusted so badly I ended up destroying it taking it apart and had to make a replacement. I hope yours goes better.