I need some ideas on a shifter for my 32' Chevrolet coupe. I decided to use an adapter off the 390 Cadillac to a 350 turbo. I know, I should have used a 4-speed but an automatic will make it so much easier to drive. Maybe not quite so fun but more functional??? I don't want the column mounted "washing machine" shifter. On the other hand I hate to use a floor mount Lokar shifter because floor shifters were intended for Sticks!! I thought about a jockey style, under seat, early mopar style push ****on, or maybe completely hid towards the driver kick panel??? Any ideas or pictures would be great! Thanks.
Push ****on always takes me by surprise no matter how many times I see it. I also like the idea of hide it up somewere no one can see it.
I agree, push ****on would be cool. Just be ready to field questions from people like me who spend half an hour trying to figure out where the shifter is.
You could relocate it between the drivers seat and the drivers door to look like the handle that moves the seat up and back,(modified "jockey shift"), or if it has a parking brake lever, run the cable through it. Shoot, if your real clever and have the slider cable levers for your heat controls, maybe add one more in the dash grille and not label it as anything. I like hiding things anyway. Sshhhh dont tell the outsiders, but I'm working on a magnetic switch to hide the ignition on one of my creations. I dont like locking my doors, but I want them to be there when I come back from where ever. You could get an edsel steering wheel and change the cap to hide the ****ons. You could get a little lever and mount it where you would normally remotely adjust the side mirror and run your shift cable into your door....just like shifting your 10 speed, only with a gate. Is that enough to make your brain go wild?
Anyone like the idea of an old 40's or 50's style PTO pull style knob as the shifter? I thought about just replacing the shaft behind the knob with a piece of 1/2" flat stock and cutting small notches in it to keep it locked into gear as you pull it out?!
Is that company that had the shifter under the dash (like a cowl vent lever)still in business? They were neat. This Lokar I have is gone if I can find one of those.
at one time I wanted to put an auto in my '50 Dodge. The Wayfarer models hood was opened at the grille, and the Meadowbrooks and Coronets were opened with a cable from a chrome T handle under the dash. I thought it would be cool to use the outside latch and hook the inside t handle to the trans.
What about a "rotary" style shifter?If the shift input to the automatic is a vertical,(or horizontal) shaft,vertical style,run it straight up through the floor.Make your own "placard" for the shift detents,etc...Whatever kind of shift knob,(read big dial type knob off of ancient electronics,radios,test equipment.....).Use a swivel,(universal) or two in 1/4 or 3/8 drive to allow for drivetrain movement.Could be close to the floor,between the seats,dead in the middle of the dashboard,wherever.
I've searched the entire site all night looking for the answer on whether the chrysler push ****on style automatic can be used with a turbo 350. Everyone speaks of the cable not having enough throw. Surely someone has pulled this off with a little brain power, good ole' mig welder and some cable???? I looked at a complete ***embly in a junk yard car, seems to me that it can be done. Anyone have the secret to pulling this off???
how about the old underdash corvair style auto shifter? kinda disguised to look like a cowl door or Ebrake handle.......just thinkin with my fingers here.
Never saw a push****on attachment to the trans...is it external or internal? Push****on could be very cool.
There look to be two cables. From what I've read, one of them is strictly to put it into park. The other is moving something internally in the transmission in the valve body. That being the reason there is not enough throw to move a linkage on the outside like a GM auto. I checked the website imperialservices.com, the cable conversion they sell for the push ****on transmission to a newer style mopar, looks to be nothing but a cable and bracket??
i used one off a 60s dodge van its mounted on the dash with a short shaft,dont remember the way to set it up though,it did have a perfect geomitry and small housing
To get more throw, or to get the gm cable to match the mopar cable you will have to adapt into the linkage an adapter to compensate for the difference, such as you would see if you were to take a close look at your emergency brake is set up. If you pull on the e brake handle, you get very little movement from the cables, so if you apply that rationale to your trans linkage, only in reverse you would get the same thing, but it would take more force to move it, so you would need to employ some ***istance to overcome the physical forces needed to generate the difference in the fulcrum, ie a spring, like in your clutch linkage.
Sorry, been off, literally and intellectually. I haven't been following along. The two cables, as aforementioned comes from the parking brake setup, the other is for transmission function. If your trying to get more throw from a lever, do this simple exercise with me here. Take a pencil and grip it in the middle of the pencil with two fingers to simulate an anchor point such as a bolt. Take your pencil and with your other hand move the pencil back and forth pivoting between your gripping fingers. You will see that the pivot point as being in the middle renders the pencil to have an equal amount of movement on each end. What geometry does for you is allow you to manipulate how much change is needed to adjust how much off center to move your pivot point to reach a desired amount of travel on each end in reference to the amount of throw you want, but your going to be affecting the amount of physical force needed to generate that movement, that's the physics part of the equation. If you take your pencil and move your pivot point down around the end just under the eraser. The throw become enormously short on the end of the eraser, and enormously an easy and potentially forceful throw at the other end along with having allot of movement. Such is commonly seen as the popular floor shifters that are 3 feet long, and transversely so in a not visible "short throw shifter" for race applications. So, if you take a cable from the transmission and see how much travel it has, then you get an idea of how much throw you are going to need to manipulate at the dash if that's where you are going to put it. I have had and have seen the workings of these push ****on linkages, and they look like the selectors for a push ****on radio. The principles are identical. To figure out how much force you want to deal with with your lever, is just like trying to figure out how big of prybar you want to put against another fulcrum to move something, like say a rock, or how close to the middle of a teeter totter do you have to sit, so that you dont catapult your kid off into the air. I like the lever, as opposed to the push ****on because I want better control, and in deceiving its function by appearance. This isnt off the shelf either, your going to have to fabricate.
Corvairs with autos had a dash mounted shifter that looked like a heater control of sorts. Might be a good start.
I was thinking at work about more ideas......Have you ever seen whats inside those fancy expensive (stolen idea) for internal cable throttles for motorcycles? The ones that conceal the throttle cable inside the frame so its all clean. Well, I havent done much in the way of putting pictures up but I do have the pictures of whats inside if anyone is interested in how to make some thing out of it, say like a weird shifter. I will stick a small picture up and see how its goes. For those of you who would like to know from what these come from..its called a model 610 tote gote.
saw a guy test driving a very expensive OT car with a paddle shift lever on the column, at the finger tips of the right hand when it's on the wheel Bugatti?
I believe the throttle on a helicopter has a similar setup. Might look kind of cool having a twist grip shifter...but again would it have enough throw to move the trans lever all the way. I always wanted to build a rocker foot shifter (a la Harley) for the left foot, but never had a project with an auto that it would have looked right in. You could use the guts of a ratchet shifter so you got 1 gear per push...
Ran across this old post. Don't know if you're still looking for the shifter under the dash but here's a link for you. http://www.hotrodssuperstore.com/windsorshifter.html
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