1951 oldsmobile selector trans shifter

I am going to make my own version of the drawings I made, it would explain it a little better than I can draw it. I wiil start on it wednesday night....

I know what you mean F&J, holiday season is coming up, snow to plow, all kinds of stuff, this car sickness we are affected with takes no breaks.....

 

my apologies, I did not have time last night to work on the shifter, I have purchased the materials I need though

 

Just an update, Dave (hotflint) built it today. It works slick! Dave is way smarter than he looks
Seriously though, Dave is damn smart when it comes to this kind of stuff. He should have skipped Millwright trade school and taken mechanical engineering instead!
Unfortunately though, we have no camera tonight so you'll have to wait until tomorrow for pictures.

 

Any pictures yet?

 

X2, still waiting.


I was on the phone just now with an old time Olds racer who has some parts for an Ansen Selector shifter. He said he has a mounting bracket made of bronze? He said the Ansens "were made of bronze" ??

Anyways, he has a bucket of old linkage from shifters and says he can't remember, or recognize, if he has any more pieces to the Ansen.

Just wondering if anyone knows of bronze parts used on any brand of Selector shifter?

 

I had one of those Ansen one arm bandit shifters back in the day and dpn't remember it being bronze. It looked more of aluminum if I remember correctly. Used it on a 55 Buick special transmission.

 

Interesting, here I thought the "selector linkage" thing was just a Mopar issue...sorry to see GM had it too!
For mine, the smaller selector shaft is back and low on my trans and has to be pulled forward via the tree cable{when pulled towards you on the tree shifter}. This gets you{me!} into the R-1 range because the Mopar selector is spring loaded in the 2-3 gear range and has to be pulled to get to R-1, then slid accordingly - shifting 2-3 is just slid san use of the lil selector. Mopars{my 40} use a combo of rod for the main shifter and cable for the selector..not sure what GM uses. Mopars manuals use two rails - 1 high for R-1 and another low for 2-3..the selector pulls the shift paw "up" to reach the hyrange{R-1} or slack for the low range{2-3}.

Though I'm flying a different{and fallen} flag, can I toss my idea in - mind you, this is only in my head!
For the Mopar setup, the stick only needs to move front and back for 2-3, but to move the stick over towards the driver, would mimic the same type of movement on the tree shifter and one would only need to attach a cable, or rod, to the shifter via a bell crank or cable to get pulled when leaned over to the driver for R-1...could it be that simple, or am I running too low on coffee at the moment?!

 

Does not matter how it gets to the other rail...cable or rods..

Just getting the shift pattern like a normal 3 speed shifter feels better than backwards.

International pickups, late 40s were the cable operated gate as well. Actually, that trans looked like they just made a new top cover for the older top shift trans. I always wondered if an early trans cover and lever could be used on Internationals.

 

Ok, I think it was your post, #17 that shows the top viow of a GM trans in question...and if I'm seeing this right in my mind's eye, to attain R-1 the shaft needs to go towards the driver when he's seated...and away{towards the trans body} to get 2-3........right?....I'm a Mopar guy, humor me{lol}.

 

yes.


There are other selectors out there, like a 48 Chevy I worked on. I don't recall if that has the same pattern as my Olds.

 

While I'm waiting for the above reply, I need to know the rough amount of travel it takes to move the shaft "in to out" for you guys to engage either of the sectors...1/4"...1/2"...1"?
If I'm right about my thoughts...I have an easy way...if I'm wrong I have to re engineer it........I'll get more coffee......been up since 3 cause I couldn't sleep so I was researching these selector shifters and happened across your thread here.

 

Ok, how's this....make a low pivot nearly under the trans...level with the bottom.....make your stick pivot point there inline with the select shaft - I'd recommend a heim joint. Now make a shift rod bracket that's verticle and inline with the new shift shaft. Install a threaded bolt thru the reman shaft bracket and thru the shift rod to allow the shift rod to shift front and back "and" allow for some side to side movement to allow for select shaft movement. Put a nut on the outside of the bolt to limit travel towards the driverside and use an inner nut to limit travel towards the pass side.
....thoughts?

edit- One would probably have to drill and elongated hole verticlely to allow for the thru bolt arc movement. I hope I can get you to understand what's in my head with this....

 

Coffee in hand now...ah, morning nector of the gods....I'd figure two top mounted brackets with washers under them to clear the stamped top cover ridges, run them over the side and down to a bottom cross bracket...L stock for strength? ...and make your pivot point mount in the middle of that cross bracket.
As for the shift rod...might want to make that a shift plate that's wider in the slotted area for added strength - power shifts or otherwise. Drill two holes for any chrome shift rod to attach to that.
A shift gate higher up will keep this idea from rattling around side to side...maybe springs either side of the thru bolt to keep a center index when in neutral?
I'm going with a crude thru bolt for the moment for the reman shift bracket for ease of initial set up, but a turned rod with a locknut on the end would be more sanitary off of that bracket.
This is still fuzzy since I don't know just how much front to back throw is involved for R-1 or 2-3....but the side to side shifter rod play can be controlled by the amount of free play in the thru bolt. Keep it "fairly" tight and you'd almost have an inline shifter...loosen it up and it's be more traditional.
FWIW- I've owned two vegas, a C-10 p/u, a 67 chevy II and a pair of early seventies novas....I'm not all that bad!

 

The reason I suggest the low pivot point is due to post #15 showing the pivot point being high and reversing the normal pattern...a low pivot would keep it politically correct - well, in my mind.

BTW- I meant to say "pic in post #16" in my 1st posting!

 

Next trip to the shop, I will measure the in-out throw on the main lever...if I remember

I'd be guessing at 3/4"



...and I'd need to re-read your plans in the above posts tonight, to get a picture of what you are doing.

 

Years ago, I made a floor shifter from a stock Vega 4 speed unit for my '46 Chevy selector three speed. I used the reverse lockout T handle to active a cable which pulled the selector shaft, and spring loaded it under the floorboards.

 

I was way off; the shaft only moves 1/4" to the other gate.

I am trying, but I can't seem to visualize your shifter ideas...I am more of a picture or sketch guy and it's the end of the day...tired...

 

F&J, they say a pic is worth a thousand words...this will save a boat load of retyping! Hope this better conveys the idea-

Mind you, this is still fuzzy...could use a better/stronger bracket possibly, but I'm thinking the side to side throw would be fine given a standard length shifter handle.
Crap, I noticed I miss drew the side shot drawing and forgot the "trans shift arm". Sorry for the crude drawing...I can weld better than I can do CAD...and no, I can't weld either!
I can redraw the side shot if you need...gotta go see how to fix "my" shifter slop issues - I'll check back folks.

 

Around 1963 I bought a new Anson shifter for a 54 Olds. It was made for the selector shift tranny. I don't remember any brass, mostly plated steel.
Seems to me that I had it installed to shift in a backwards pattern but I don't remember if it was by mistake or not. Maybe my attempt at an anti- theft device........ That car would lay you back in the seat in 2nd. but you couldn't speed-shift for beans.......

 

If you look at my pic in post 37, and can tell how it travels.....your shifter is going to be backwards pattern with 1st and 3rd towards the dash. But, if you took that selector arm and rotated it to point down, then that would get the pattern correct again....because it would reverse the direction of rotation on the factory shaft.

You'd need to mess with pivot locations if you ended up with a very long throw on the shift handle.

I do now have a spare complete trans and I should put my homemade shifter on it, to see if "i got it right" Meaning I could shift it, spin the input, and see what the heck gear I am really in. This is all confusing...

 

Oops, missed that...
A)...relocating the trans shift rod upside down should cure that...
B)...making the trans shift rod a shorter throw should cure that...
C)...time to play...neccesity is the mother of invention

Thinking about it last night, will the "centered with the trans shift shaft" location be too far forward for you guys...if so, how far back would it need to come?
We can get this!

 

If enough people keep trying new ideas, a great one will pop up..maybe..


As far as the center of the stickshift, it would vary on different car bodies, but if it was too far forward, just bend it like the swan neck shifters had, or any 20s/30s cars had.

 

Someone talked about the Ansen bronze shifter mount. Here are 2 pics of a partial Ansen I bought from a guy who ran it back in the late 50s to early 60s. He lost some parts over the years.

See the Ansen name, and what it fits, cast into the bronze part.

I think I can make the rest of it, and it does seem like it would have the correct shift patter, by looking at some pics I saved.

 

Any updates on messing with that shifter?

 

Are you sure this shifter is home made? I just aquired this identical shifter on a olds trans, and I mean identical, everything is the same. Plus the mounting bracket with the threaded rod has a galvanized coating on it. I can't see someone going to the trouble to get his work galvanized. could this be just and unknown maker? Or did your shifter just some how make it to me?

 

I don't own that shifter. It was for sale with the trans on ebay a few years ago. The owner said it was home made and sent additional pictures when I inquired about it. The only other company that I know of that may have made shifters for these types of transmissions was Foxcraft, although I have never been able to find any information to support that. If you see post #56 of this thread there is a file called "HRM_CTRE.pdf" and the last page of that file has a table showing some shifter companies and nothing is shown for Foxcraft.

 

The pictures you posted are indeed of a Foxcraft shifter. I once had a N.O.S. selector shifter from them and, although it looks as if it started out as a conventional three speed shifter that was modified after the fact, it was Foxcraft that did the modifying.

 

Maybe Flash Caddilac can post some pictures of their Foxcraft shifter now that we've figured out what it is.

 

sure can post some pics. it was one the trans but i tore it down. it looks like it would work good. what year are these from?

 

also here some pics of a nos ansen posi shift, it has a mounting plate for a pontiac trans but the mechanics are the same for the selector. i feel it would work better then the foxcraft but ive never seen them in action. seeing as we are on the topic of shifters there i have another unidentified 3speed shifter, is it possible that this is a foxcraft also?