You have to do a bit of engineering but any of the universal three speed shifters can be made to work with a bit of effort. I'd go with a Hurst or Mr Gasket and stay away from the junk though.
Thanks! There really seems to be no literature on doing this, but I know someone has had to do it in the past.
I had some 20.00 shifter from Value Mart in my 51 Merc and it would hang up between gears all the time. A very basic shifter. I ran a Hurst 3 speed shifter in my 48 on the Saginaw 3 speed for probably 15 years without trouble. Once in a while you have to take it out and lube it and adjust it but then you go again until next time. You will have to build/modify the bracket to mount it to the trans and then tweak the linkage most likely to get it the way you want it.
I adapted an old junkyard Foxcraft to my 52 Victoria years ago (Highschool) I remember making a mount with some flat then putting everything in neutral and modifing the shifter rods, little bit of trial and error. Must have been fairly simple for me to do it with only a rock and a tree limb. Worked fine.
Flat Ernie beat me to it. A very popular Metal Shop Project when I was in High School. Other than that, I like the Saginaw shifter out of the Vega. Bolts to the floorboards and works OK. Use the first on the shifter for reverse and 234 as 123. Lock down the reverse arm or just leave it,
Big difference between overdrive and non-overdrive transmissions. The overdrive solenoid (or governor, I forget which) is in exactly the wrong place. I bought one of the universal shifters and it would fit the non-overdrive box, but wasn't even close for the overdrive ******.
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