building a tbucket

Does anyone know of a floor shifter that would work with a fordomatic 2 speed auto tranny. Will the shifter for a powerglide work or can be modified
to work. Any ideas on making one?
Thanks for any help.
Paul: [S

FORD-O-MATIC shifter

I have a Ford-o-matic that I'm not planning to use. I'll see if I cant take a look at it to figure it out in my head. Offhand, I'm thinking you could make a 90 degree angle shifter then have a pivot point bracket mounted under the floorboard........hmmmm - -it's only a straight 3 point shift, I think. P R D

Hey, I'm building a bucket too. What lead you to the 2spd ford-o-matic? I am using a late fifties 3spd manual for lighter weight and an extra gear. I'm interested in some input as I have both trannies.

Have a 52 merc donor car that came with the 255 flathead and the mercomatic/fordomatic tranny. It was a neat combo and a conversation piece since it is an air cooled tranny. According to friends that remember them they were good trannys. It is actualy a 3 speed, you have to shift to low manualy, otherwise it starts off in second gear. I have the column from the donor car with column shift but want to use a floor shifter. I am not building a dragster or racer so the little difference in weight should not be a
drawback in performance to me.
No shifter manufactuer would even talk to me about this but B&M shifters.
They were very friendly and told me when I get to that point to call back and they would try to help me. They make a powerglide 2 speed shifter that they might could alter to shift the mercomatic.
By the way this will be a Mercury t bucket instead of a Ford. Going to try to title it as one anyway and have the Mercury name on it.
Thanks
Paul[S[[S

Floor shifters from early Mustangs were popular back in the day. very simple design that bolts to the floor. Easy to adapt linkage to any trans....[P

The air cooled Fordomatic is actually very similar to the later FMX trannys and many internal parts fit. You're right, it is a 3 speed, lots of people think it's only a 2 speed because of the shift indicator only showing 2 speeds. I see no reason why most 3 speed auto shifters wouldn't work, they just won't shift into the first gear position on the shifter. Are you planning to mount it to the floor or onto the trans? Old Pinto and Mustang II floor mount shifters are easy to mount too. If you are doing tranny mount, a shifter to fit an FMX tranny should bolt onto your Fordomatic. The FMX was used in the 60's and 70's.

Many thanks guys, I will definately look at your suggestions. Have been a GM
fan for most of my life but decided to be a little different on this since I had the donor car for parts. so I don't know what parts will fit where on most mercury cars.
Thank very one on this site for being so eager to help me with this project!!!!!
Paul[cl

wait...Wait...WAIT! what???? help here

not to take away from someone else's post, but it's mentioned here. - everything I found lead me to think that the Ford-O-Matic is Reverse, Park, 1, and 2 - having only two forward gears. Please help and clarify as I have been planning to use a fifties three speed manual just to have the extra gear. If I can, not having to use a clutch and everything would be great. Well, then the wife's going to want to drive it too...... Maybe I should stick with the manual - - No, seriously help me with the info

Yes the fordomatic or mercomatic when placed in drive position starts off in second gear then automatically shifts to high gear. If you need to use one you have a low gear by placing the shifter in the low position. This gives you an actual 3 speed tranny. I still don't know why this is not a popular tranny.
I have never heard anyone complain about them. Aparently they were tough but fairly simple trannys and you can still get parts for them. Just have to either use a column shifter or self engineered floor shifter.[cl
The shift patern on my mercomatic is p-r-n-d-l. with drive being second gear then high gear. Low gear has to be selected manually. This gives us 3 forward gears.

Ford had a thing about starting in second gear, C4 and C6 trannys were the same in this respect, if you put it in second, they would start in second and stay there, useful in slippery conditions or snow to avoid spinning out when starting off.

the simple things I learn here-

thanks guys, allways, for the help.

sorry for overstepping the original post, but if I can find/figure out a floor shifter I will post pics for any to duplicate.

Finally thought of a way to mount shifter to tranny. Going to attempt to fit a shifter on the tail shaft with ubolts. Only way I see of a tranny mount to try to keep the shifter from shifting itself on bumpy roads. If you come up with a better solution please notify me.
email: [email protected]
or pm me here[cl

Y blocks forever forum

Try them out....lots of good advice

used a mustang shifter in my first t bucket and hated the cruisomatic, seems like every time i wanted to show off the trans had a mind of its own

fordo matic.

If I remember right, You could start in lo then when you had your speed up, move the lever into D and it would shift into second run it up in second gear a ways , shift the lever back into lo position and it would hold second gear until you shifted back into the D position, then it would shift into 3 rd.