I have a 1978 ford f100 2wd 302 engine just changed steering column out with a gm column the adapter if different i have been searching for 1 but no luck any ideas

 

Never heard of anything that adapts one to the other. Usually you either remove the Ford original and re-terminate the wires to be compatible with the GM "hair comb" connector, or vice versa.
Or make your own with Weatherpacks.

Never seen one that just adapts one to the other though. Too many variations on the Ford theme, and probably not much demand for them. The crimp-on connectors are readily available for the GM style, and that's what Centech Wire includes in their kits for you to crimp them on to the Ford side to match the GM connector on the column. Probably can still get the Ford pins too, in case you wanted to cut the ends off of the GM-based wires and re-pin them into the old Ford horseshoe shaped (or half-moon shaped?) connector.

Seems better to either use the Weatherpacks (readily available anywhere, and easy to use) or adapt the Ford harness to the column. Because the turn signal switch is more likely to need changing than the rest of the wiring, and if you adapted the GM switch to the Ford harness, you'd have to do it over again when you replaced the switch down the road. Should that issue ever arise.

Paul

 

X2 on what 1Ton said. Adapting the GM harness to your truck will be the best way to do it. Once you're done with it, it'll be easy to work on later when your turn signal needs replacing. And please punctuate your posts, so we can more easily interpret what you want.

 

So how would one go about this cross-platform match-up? My guess would be that you'd need two wiring diagrams, one for the GM unit and one for the appropriate wires on the Ford harness. You'd need to know the function of each wire because surely the colors/markings would be of little help unless someone has done this before and has provided a recipe that says things like "the purple Ford wire matches the functionality of the green GM wire." No?

 

I'm sure there's wiring diagram pics online, for both vehicles. Or you can use a multi-meter to identify and label the steering column wires. That always seems daunting to me, but once I get started, it's usually much easier than I expected.

 

this is the ford wiring end of it
t

 

If the chassis side wiring is all new from the aftermarket, half of your job is done for you. Each and every wire has the description of it's function printed every few inches.
If the wiring harness is a generic aftermarket one (meaning it uses GM wiring colors, like most of them do) then 99% of the job is done for you.
If it's all original Ford wiring however, then yes to all of the above. You can consult the diagrams for both manufacturers and hope they're accurate (90% of the time they are), or you can test the function of each wire with your meter. Which you will likely do for some of them anyway, once you get it down to mostly done.

The other issue comes up if things are handled differently. Such as using a horn relay with the GM switch, when your original Ford did not use a horn relay. Which luckily does not happen all the time.
But even when it does, it's an easy problem to overcome.

I've found that even among Fords, the wiring colors and functions of the turn signal switches are not consistent through the years. Too bad too, since that would make life much easier.
The rest of the under-dash wires are 90% consistent, other than there being more and more of them as the trucks get newer and newer.

But no matter the circumstances, it's all doable.

Paul