I thought the PG came out in 1950? Anyway..too much money. You have to pay for all that hardware you'll never use . LOL Change the shift shaft, and use a Mustang shifter screwed to the floor.
That ^^^^^ universal^^^^^, Mr Gasket, and marketed by others as well, is a bottom of the barrel, cheaply made shifter. I know, I bought one 20 years ago or so (they have't changed in 30-40 plus years), and never used it. I must have given it away, because I no longer have it. The original question was, "can I use a 350 shifter on my Powerglide?". Yes, if modified slightly; it would work without being modified (detent plate), but only you would know it's particulars after getting used to it. Like my DD truck; the plastic gear selector pointer broke off a few years ago, but I know where the gears are with the TH400 that's in the truck. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
Since the topic is transmissions less one speed and shifters that don't match.. It's fun to see people wonder why my 56 goes backwards when they put it in first.
Most "young" guys would have trouble with a 3 speed floor shift, let alone one camo'd as a 4/5/6 speed. May be best just to use a blank ball? My high school 56 Chevrolet Model 210 Del-Ray, was a 265 2 barrel/Powerglide car. I had 4 Stewart-Warner gauges in walnut panel a friend made in wood shop; the gauges were never hooked up, and I always thought they would make for an attractive target to a thief. Thankfully, nothing ever happened to that car, other than it tossing a rod one day slowing down for a red light. It got re-born with a .060 over 283 with a Crower 300 cam, Hedman Headers, and a 3 speed transmission with a chrome T-handle shifter knob. I told those that did't know, it was still the same 265. It got a 4-speed after I sold it to a friends brother. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
^^^^^ Even with a plank ball or a vintage white 3 speed ball I'm told "4 speed". I'm more than happy to oblige.
Hello, Your stories are a bunch of incidents that were the status quo for our teenage years, too. Today, it is too bad that the young drivers, just push and go instead of the challenging 4-5-6 speed cars. But, they are still experimenting with their choices, just like we old timers did "waaaay" back then. Our high school years were made up of experiments with our cars. One guy wanted a floor shifter for his old 51 Pontiac sedan after seeing several old roadsters with tall floor shifter levers. It looked simple enough to make and it was a matter of brackets and levers to fit the remodeled stock configuration. The easiest, least expensive shifter is one that you make yourself. If a teenage kid with basic auto shop and metal shop training can make two shifters for automatics and one for a stick shift, then anything is possible. The stick shift one was difficult. But that was the third one I attempted to make. The first automatic transmission shifter was from column to floor. The only drawback at the time was not being able to know what gear you were in while driving. A hunt and peck order was called for in the two cars. Once that was figured out on the first shifter, the other problem was they could be started in gear. This was not good if one tends to forget which gear is located where. Other than that small item, the other teenagers were very happy with that column to floor shifter combination. When we made a long curved shift lever with a colorful plastic ball that stood above the dash, it drew raves and more requests. Jnaki The stick shift mechanism threw me for a loop and it was difficult to figure out. We had several models made and each one had problems. (Goes in one gear, but not the other.) Since the other teenager needed his car for work after school daily, I had to hurry up and finish the work. It was a h***le to move the carpet and floorboard to get access to the shift mechanism each day in the auto shop. Finally, his dad bought him a real manual transmission shift kit from somewhere. It came with the parental instructions to the teacher that we would install it in the auto shop for cl*** credit. The shifter model I made, bit the dust. The installation went smoothly, since everything was already prepped to put in my floor shifter from the column.
Oh yeah, I had one of those. It was an OT type car (brand new 70 340 Dart), with a Torqueflite. When the Torqueflite needed to be rebuilt (what would you expect from a 17 Y/O with a new car?), I had it rebuilt and beefed up; it shifted HARD and FAST afterwards. When my buddy and I went cruising, he told everyone it was a CLUTCH-Flite, and I'd stomp my left foot to the floor like I was pushing in a clutch pedal; almost everyone bought into that, especially after hearing it shift while cruising/racing. Prior to that, I'd leave my 56, 210 Del Ray, 265 2 barrel/Powerglide car, in low gear and mimic it being a manual trans car; replaced/rebuilt the Powerglide twice while I had that car (same car with the "fake" gauges). When I put the built 283 and 3 speed in it, I was always having to replace the transmission or replace broken parts in the Muncie 318 transmission quite often; I'd do that after closing the Chevron Station at night and working on the car's transmission. It had a Drag Fast floor shifter with a big T chrome handle, but that still did't help a weak transmission. I sold that 56 to a friends brother, and when he let me drive it, I busted the trans again! I gave him a Borg Warner T-10 I had, and we adapted a Nova, Saginaw equipped 4 speed shifter to it. Good thing about the early T-10's.....you did't have to swap the slip yokes!!! That trans had a little howl to it, but he was happy. Seems to me, all we had was a 3 speed shifter ball for it. He was later murdered in a stabbing trying to stop the guy breaking into/stealing stuff out of, his girlfriends car; that case has never been solved. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
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