Can I drill out an ignition cyliinder?

I did a search and found to remove the ignition cylinder from my 52 Chevy I need to turn the key and insert a wire. Problem is I do dnot have the keys and the old keys I do have won't work.. Also I live in the middle of nowhere so there is no locksmith that will come out and figure out what key it needs. I need to replace it but have to get it out of the dash first. Can I drill out the old cylinder in order to remove it without messing up my dash?

Thanks,

 

take out the door lock and look at the little number stamped on the lock number then get a key made with that number it fits your ignition switch

 

Drilling it out has a chance of messing things further back in there, so if you do it, be very careful on your depth... that said, if I remember correctly, if you drill back far enough to just go through the last tumbler pin, you should be ok.

 

I didn't think Chevy ever had a single key for all locks...

 

Shouldn't that be accessable from the back of the dash? It's been many a year since I even looked at a car with the ignition in the dash, but, unlike the modern, theft resistant cylinders, you may be able to disconnect the wires and unscrew it from the back. Then you can (maybe) take it to a locksmith and have new/old keys made.

 

Shouldn't there be a bezel on the dash that will unscrew off the ignition switch which then can be removed and unplugged from behind the dash? Then it can be replaced with another which there is a key for?

 

If it's like the '56 you have to remove the cylinder before you can unscrew the bezel.

Can you hot wire it and drive to a locksmith?

 

Oh yeah, I remember those now. (Not a Chevy guy)

 

I'd take a punch and knock the face of the cylinder off. It is that part that has the security thing in it that you stick a pin into, once you do that i think you'll be able to rotate the cyl. If not with the cylinder face removed you can get the bezel off and replace the whole mess.
Drilling will just add some holes but it'll still stay in there until you get the cyl face off.

 

What OJ said. Won't take much to force the thing loose.

 

Good deal, thanks guys.

 

Yes!! I did it , but its some hard shit!!!! i needed the switch, i had tumblers with a key. but if you don't have a key you cant get the tumbler out! so i started drilling...........broke of a bittook me a couple of hours to get it out. messed with it till i damaged the switch. i put the tumbler with the key in it and it works but doesn't have a click between stops

 

They only use like 8 or 10 different keys, supposedly, if you have a bunch of them just keep trying them and maybe one will work. I mean years ago I had a '64 Riviera key and switch and it worked in a '56 Special no problem.

Hell, my beater van has an '85 back door and I stuck the '95 key in it by accident the other day - that shouldn't even fit the damn thing - and turned it and it unlocked it.. I was like wait wtf? and played with it and discovered that if I used that key like 7/8ths the way in it worked. Maybe I need to get a new lock cylinder on there.

 

you know those little pocket knives, thin and kinda rectangle in shape, companies had their names on them and gave them away, one blade and one scissor, those little suckers work great on simple locks, wiggle giggle slowly slide them out and bingo i have started lots of cars and bikes, and no i never stole any.

 

True and yes hot-wire the ignition switch and drive it to a locksmith who will remove the cylinder with a master key and then he'll read the number on the key-set and grind a new key!

The locksmith in our town has factory replacement cylinders with NOS keys in stock for most years on common makes and models like GM, Ford, Chrysler etc....

 

you could take the wires of the back of the switch and mount another ignition switch, or push button, vertically under the dash. leave the old switch in place. instant kind of theft proof car....Dave

 

For the record, General Motors had 1,499 different key codes that they used on all of their cars from 1935-66, so chances are you can find another key that will fit your lock if you lose yours. Also, like someone else already posted, many older G.M. cars used one code for every lock on the car, and many door/trunk lock cylinders had the code stamped on the outer housing. People thought that there were two different codes due to the fact that the car came with one key with a hexagonal head (ignition) and one with a round head (doors/trunk); however, if you hold them up to each other, they often have the same cuts. In reference to the '95 key working in the '85 lock, by that time, ignition locks used ten tumblers while the door cylinders often used only five, so there's a chance that five out of the ten cuts on the other key lined up with the tumbler numbers in the lock.

 

Or you can just take the lock off the glove box and take it to the locksmith and have them make a key that way.

 

This works on some locks (not sure about Chevy) file the key flat so it fits in the lock, use your wire to depress the retainer inside the lock, use a little pressure by turning the key against the lock (often anti clockwise) and withdraw the cylinder.

It is usually not necessary to depress the tumblers, just having a key in the lock should be enough.