Hey everybody, I keep thinking of moving the shifter on my 50 Chev from the column to the floor. Does anybody make a shifter kit for this conversion, and what are the pitfalls of this conversion??? Specs are: soon to be re-built and hopped up 235, stock 3 speed and PG rear end. I dig the 3 on the tree set-up, but at the same time would like to put a long swan neck type shifter in the car....any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Sorry guys I can't expect too any answers when I post at 2am. But I am open to any great ideas...thanks!
There are methods to change the side shift linkage to one that will mount on the floor. I forget off hand which little pages it is in, but this was a fairly common practice back in the day. And the converstion appeared in several magazines. I'm about to do one. When I get home, I will check to see if I can find the mag and the article... Tim MBL
Don't know if they're still available or if they make one for your car but back in the 60's I had a 57 Chevy that I converted from column to floor shift using a Hurst Mystery Shifter. My friend at the time also put one in his 50 Ford.
Hurst still makes many differnet floor shift conversions for many different transmissions, even a universal one. Check their catalog. I used their universal shifter in my '51 F-1 with a BW T-85 + OD. It need a little modification, but works well.
Hurst hasn't made a conversion kit for '49-54 Chevy transmissions for many years now. National Chevy ***n. sells a kit, but the shifter looks pretty cheesy and China-born. I've got a '49-'54 Hurst shifter bracket that's not for sale, but if you want, I'll trace it for you if you want to try fabricating one up.
heyDIMEBAG... man just call jeg's or summit, ask for tech. dept. i'am sure they can help you. yea i had a 53 chevy, i changed over. bigest problem i had was damned floor shifter kept working lose. and these new shifters are expensive! call me POP...or the old FART!
mr gasket makes one, available at any autozone or murrays. its cheap and kinda ****py but it will do the trick.
Here is a How To article in a March 1960 issue of Rodding and Re-Styling. Seems like a cool solution to me. Tim MBL
I made 2 of those shifters from the little magazine in 1960-61... worked like a charm, except for the kid that I put one in his 53 chevy...His old man called me up and threatened to sue me for ruining his kids car ( cutting a hole in the floor )...really pissed me off as the kid had wanted it...I usually was quite respectful of adults, but this guy got my ire up so I asked him who's car is it?..He said it was his sons'...Nuff said He Requested it...He got it !! My first experience dealing with the public... WTF ? I suppose the biggest problem you'd have today is finding that 50 Ford column,huh??
If you end up with a Hurst mystery shifter beware that they don't come with "stops" and if you shift "Hard" the syncros will beat themselves to death because they are forced on the the forcing cone too far. Ask me how many Ford three speeds I destroyed before I figured that out. But the good news it it's not that hard to make your own DIY stops.
HURST still makes a 3 speed conversion as do any number of other companies. You may have to call one of the catalog stores as the guy at O'Reilly's is challanged. Or contact Little Wing and snag some NOS pieces. The price is going to be about the same and you'll get a little bit of history.
ahh here it is the article I was looking for, its been bugging me where I had seen it, we used to do this in auto shop baknthday. However its not for the selector type trans.
The Jalopy Journal
