The gathering of the parts has begun . I found a 32 cross member with pedals . I soaked it in citric acid for a couple days and have started the whittling . I made a MC mount and changed the location of the brake pedal arm. I freed up the pedals and made a new shaft. I just need some new bushings. Got a transmission for mockup , I want to use a side shift trans with a column shift...3 on the tree. I also bought a rebuilt flathead. I haven't dug into it but initial inspection looks good. It has .125 over pistons the block is decked and it has brand new Edelbrock heads. I'm pretty excited! Things are coming together!
I like them! The only vehicle that I regret selling was my old C10 with a 283 and 3 on the tree, it was a great little truck. Girlfriend could snuggle in close , still shifting gears , a little more room but mainly I just like them.
Making some progress. I stripped the frame down to the nitty-gritty. Slicing and dicing a 32 cross member and pedals and some crack repairs on the original front cross member.
I modified a later rear trans mount that had one ear broken off then brazed back on. I cut the ears off and turned it down to fit into the 32 rubber mount. It worked great! I have a friend who is pretty much a 32 only guy and he was letting me know how rare and precious a 32 rear mount is. This saved a broken mount and I didn't have to beg my friend for his 32 mount.
May not be room but back in the day a young fella would flip the shifter to the left so he didnt have to take his arm off his girl to shift!
I had a set of 32 pedals out of a deuce roadster with a 40/48 trans and column shift The pedals and pedal box were narrowed To clear the shift arms Worked slick
I never thought about moving the shifter to the left side. Not much room in a model a. If I shortened the shift lever maybe. More to think about , I would have to learn to shift with my left hand.
I like the idea of slamming down for the 1-2 shift , but I've been shifting for 45 years with my right hand and it already knows what to do. I tried shifting with my left on my workbench and it was laughable.
If you want that shift swap in a column shift 833 4 speed out of a dodge van in it. Use one post 1971 and get overdrive as well.
What are you going to do if you visit Australia? We shift with the left hand. My avatar HA/GR has a modified shifter because of the seat position and I change with my right hand. People look at it and can't understand how I do it. I used to drive a road sweeper which was left hand drive on right hand drive roads so it doesn't feel odd to me. It's amazing how the brain and body adapts.
A little bit more of the mockup. I made a column drop piece like the Limeworks one , only I cut a hole for the shift shaft to go through. It's going to be really tight but I think it will work. I'm waiting for some Fenton manifolds and a f100 steering box to see what it looks like all together. So far it seems like it's going to work. Oh and I also tried moving the shifter to the left side. It looks like there's enough room but I haven't decided if I should do it or not.
Hey, Jethro; I don't think you'll find the LH shifting all that troublesome. Decades ago, for a *really* OT school-project-car that I somehow managed to get involved in w/o trying, I designed & built a LH shift(among other things). Car was a "thingee" w/a non-folding gullwing rh-entrance-only-door & a single driver up-front (No, wasn't my idea, but I "got" to solve & then build a number of solutions to others' dilemmas. Read: me & my big mouth trying to help some friends out w/o getting involved this time - didn't work. Was fun doing the building, but car was a nightmare...), which left the LH shifter as the only solution. Trans was an acvw 4sp. Interestingly, even though everyone[except me - I thought it novel... ] had reservations, after I showed them the pattern(which I made on the shift ball anyways), w/in ~ 10min they all liked it & said it felt uncommonly natural. Gave me a lot of laughs... Go ahead, I think you'll like it. & if only a few folks can do column-shifts now, how many fewer can do LH-column-shifting w/o being told? . Worst-case, it gets flipped back to "normal". Why be Normal??? . Marcus...
Yeah , it's pretty easy to move the shifter from right to left. I've got enough room between the handle and door to try it....why not?
We were in Ireland a few years back, it only takes a second to get use to shifting a 4 speed with your left hand. Of course they did make me pat my head and rub my tummy before they gave me the keys. But I am pretty sure that was just cause I was an American and they had been drinking.
Interesting tread. But I’m confused. Is your RPU the same one that the fellow from Bennett’s found near his home or is it a different one?
That's the one! It came to me in a convoluted trade, sellers remorse, buyback , need money sell again deal
I think I've got the column shift sorted out. I flipped the shift arm to the left side and made up the linkage. It actually works pretty good. The case is empty except for the the fork detents. Now I just have to rebuild the gearbox.
The Jalopy Journal
