el cheapo floor shift "I mean cheap!)

[exador]

In my youth shortly before the invention of daylight most vehicles hard the old 3 on the tree shifters. About the only floor shifts were 4 sp truck. As kids we could only afford used vehicles and I mean well used. Was a very common occurrence for the old column shifters to be sloppy and wore out. There were after market floor shift kits for $9.95, but that's a chunk of money. For the same price you could take your favorite girl out 2 weekends and maybe get lucky.

Now the worn out shifters hung up, misaligned, not shift decent. Something was needed. Who invented this I don`t know, but salute to him.

Our el cheapo shifters were just that, CHEAP !!! Remove shift linkage from trans arms, hum, no rubber bushings in trans arms. Then remove linkage from column arms. Cut hole in floor. OOP`s trim rust away hole already there. Then depending if trans shift arms were pointed up or down you put in up position. Get a piece of flat bar stock. Drill hole, ( grandpa had a small hand crank drill) drill hole into flat stock and bolt thru trans arm. Make 2nd hole to keep lined up straight. Do both arms.

These were long as you wanted. Wrap tape, rag, or what ever for knob. Now put both arms in neutral. Must be very careful too get in neutral. Hold in clutch and start motor. Very careful ease out clutch and hope for neutral. Then hold in clutch and move just one arm and figure out which gear you had. Figure out all gears and you were good to go.

Shift was tricky till you got the hang of it. 1st gear go till ready to shift, in with clutch, shift in to neutral then grab other lever into 2nd gear, and repeat to 3rd.

I suspect I`m not the only to do this but just thought I would bring some memories of yesteryear to you young'uns.

Yes I used this for quite a few yrs. As for getting lucky, lets get a beer and talk !!!!!

 

[rex1927]

Cool Idea

Cool idea for stick shifts.[
Kilduff machine makes a cool shifter like lenco for automatics.
Pretty fair price too
I am getting one as soon as I save up for it.

 

[Camo King]

I know a couple circle track cars set up like that.

 

[21willys]

I had a 69 Chevy 1/2 ton set up this way. It also kept people from borrowing your truck

 

[Skip]

I got one of those $9.00 shifters at the junk yard for $5. Then I had to build a mounting bracket, and make new shifter arms. It never worked right. Always under the car unjamming the shifter. Finally sprung for a Hurst Syncro-lock at a different junk yard. I was stylin' for $25.00.

 

[Yankee Transplant]

Im planing the same deal with mt 4 speed in my rat ,,, I will have 3 shifters two long and one short toward the seat ... I think it will look cool seeing 3 shifters sticking up ... I run equipment all day so the two leaver shifter will work out fine for me ... I may get them set up for a short pattern ... and I do like the idea of nobody wants to borrow it ...

 

[R Pope]

Did the two-lever trick when we put a '55 OD and rear end in my '54 Bel Aire, with the added feature of a switch on the 2-3 lever for the OD, and a third lever also for the OD. Nobody else ever drove it!

 

[Stroker McGurk]

 

[donsrods]

About 30 years ago we bought my Son Don a Hudson Hornet to use as a daily driver while we were building him his 65 Olds convertible. It was three on the tree and the slop was horrible in it so we went to Autozone and picked up a cheapo Sparkomatic flat stick shifter and installed it.

That thing was horrible and every so often it would jam between 2nd and 3rd and you had to climb under and push the levers back into position. He carried a blanket in the car so he could climb under it without getting dirty. My 27 has a Hurst Competition Plus shifter and it has been perfect for over 25 years.

You get what you pay for sometimes.

Don

 

[exador]

sparkomatic

yup that's the $9.95`er I spoke about. Too many yrs. back to remember the name.

I eventually got one. Like you it was a cheapie!! Hung up and constant adjusting. For me a big help was to pack it with grease. Helped a bunch. Was messy to fool with when it hung up. But impressed girlfriend when I got under to fix. At least I hope she was impressed.

 

[animal]

This style shifter works pretty darned well.... I had one in a couple different stock cars I raced. There are cheaper versions out there.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/AFCO-64000-Standard-Universal-2-Lever-Shifter-Assembly,40372.html

 

[animal]

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/3-Speed-Stock-Car-Racing-Shifter,1929.html

 

[King Herald]

I've never understood those wierdo two-lever shifters. [S

Every gearbox I ever worked on was a later model thing, with a single lever in the top.

Seems like such a simple idea, why didn't they do it way back before the invention of daylight?

 

[8literbeater]

I've never understood those wierdo two-lever shifters. [S

Every gearbox I ever worked on was a later model thing, with a single lever in the top.

Seems like such a simple idea, why didn't they do it way back before the invention of daylight?

With the side shifters, you can do a lot more with the shifter. You can change the throw, pattern, placement of the shifter, type of shifter, all that stuff. Plus they're a lot more compact. I suppose the reason that the factories used them though, was that you had more foot room, more room for clutch and brake pedals on the frame, next to the trans., and the same thing would work in any body. With the top-loader transmission, if you don't have the transmission located somewhere under the floorboard just in front of the seat, you don't have a shifter. Of course this isn't 100% true, as there are top-loader transmissions with remote shifters, but it isn't quite the same. I learned to drive a truck in an early 70s International with a 4 and 4 transmission, and I've driven quite a few more like it, and they're all top-loaders with remote shifter linkage involving shafts and U-joints.

I'm sure some of the old-timers could elaborate on the subject.

 

[Willowbilly3]

Ah, yes, did the old ghetto shifters on a few of my high school beaters. JC Whitney had the cheapest shifters. My neighbor kid put one on his 61 Impala. The first time he tried a speed shift to second, the shifter tweaked or bent and he took all the hide off his knuckles on that ribbed chrome glove box door.

 

[offroadrolls]

one of my first cars was a 62 impala 327, 3 on the tree. I converted it to a floor shifter and for some reason the pattern was backwards. Plus it was pretty finicky from 1st to 2nd. Ya had to do it just right....... no one ever asked to borrow my car more than once.

 

[King Herald]

With the side shifters, you can do a lot more with the shifter. You can change the throw, pattern, placement of the shifter, type of shifter, all that stuff. Plus they're a lot more compact. I suppose the reason that the factories used them though, was that you had more foot room, more room for clutch and brake pedals on the frame, next to the trans., and the same thing would work in any body. With the top-loader transmission, if you don't have the transmission located somewhere under the floorboard just in front of the seat, you don't have a shifter. Of course this isn't 100% true, as there are top-loader transmissions with remote shifters, but it isn't quite the same. I learned to drive a truck in an early 70s International with a 4 and 4 transmission, and I've driven quite a few more like it, and they're all top-loaders with remote shifter linkage involving shafts and U-joints.

I'm sure some of the old-timers could elaborate on the subject.

Some good points, but you can get a remote lever for a conventional top shift box, even as stock, which works well until the linkages start to wear. But that is the same with all mechanical equipment I guess.

 

[8literbeater]

I drove my '59 Chevy pickup from Santa Fe to Phoenix one time with a pair of vise grips clamped on each rod of my three speed. I left the floor cover off, and reached down through the floor for each shift. I even went the fun way, down through Socorro and Show Low, instead of the freeway. It was all going good until I got to Arizona, and I had to downshift going up a hill. I ground the gears going from 3rd to 2nd, and that vise grip popped off and disappeared. I went back and looked for it, but it was gone. Then I had to put my remaining vise grip on the 2-3 rod, and I went the next 200 miles with just 2nd and 3rd gear. That was when I was 18. I wish I could do it again.