I'm in need of some help trying to get my Ford's column shift to mate up with the C6 shifter rod. I had to put on headers to stop the steering gears from getting burned. Now the 3" collectors are not allowing the rod to mate up to the column shift. I want to keep the column shift, but I'm looking for ideas or someone to come by and help if that works. I'm on vacation for a few the rest of this week. I don't have any pictures, but I can fix that in a few hours.
how about a cable? you should be able to buy a universal cable for truck pto's and mate it to you column shift.
I've looked up info on cables before but I can only find them for GM transmissions. Since I'm new to the working on cars thing, I am not familiar with what a you mean by pto's.
pretty much the whole header is in the way, i had to heat up one pipe and hammer it in a little to create a space for the column selector arm. The angle of the header pipes and where they come together along with the actual collector are whats causing the problems. The problem is the engine being a 351W in the same space that was meant for a 239 Y-block. I will take a few pictures and hopefully it will be more of a clear picture.
This is the column shift connector with the header pipe that I've heated and hammered to allow room for proper movement. The wire leads down to the transmission gear selector. Uploaded with ImageShack.us
pto is an acronym for "power take off". trucks use these cables to operate the pto. dump bodies, plows, winches etc... most parts houses can get them. but you will have to make a bracket to hold each end of the sleeve and buy connecters to attach the ends to the shift lever
See if this gets the thought process going . The pics here and bone yard parts might help with an idea on using a cable. http://www.fullsizebronco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=181019
This shows the actual column shift and the header angle. The column shifter moved into the Drive position and the header pipe that I had to heat up and hammer in a little. This shows the spacing between the firewall and the header pipe. The gear selector on the transmission, I'm pretty sure its in neutral for this picture.
why do you have headers on it anyway? couldn't you find some cast exhaust manifolds that will clear the steering AND the shifter?
The cast manifolds that I have touch the steering box and burned it up last time. Thats where all the problems started, I had to rebuild the steering box, so I decided to get some headers that cleared the steering box. I did buy a pair of block huggers but the crossmember is in the way of them seating right.
Why don't you buy &M shift cable, and the brackets for the C6, that way all you would have to do is make a bracket to connect it to the column shifter...and you can alter the column shifter rod to move the cable in a way that it no longer interferes with the header. I think this would be a lot simpler than getting a PTO cable and adapting both ends...B&M sells all the pieces individually.
ok....the cast exhaust manifolds you have don't work BUT aren't there other styles of manifolds available for your ford motor that may work? it looks like a small SBF , i'm sure many have been put in a `54 ford that someone should know or other styles of headers? no offense , but i my opinion you are getting stuck on those headers and not seeing other possibilities maybe if you thread was ***led "need help putting a SBF into a `54 ford" maybe someone who has been down this road would see it and offer some suggestions
Willy 301 has the right idea. As Willy said, look at cutting the "tab" that comes off the column and readjust it's position so that a "cable shift" would work and fabricate new brackets as required, OR it sounds like it's floor shift time (it would be faster and easier)..
The B&M shifter idea sounds like a good one but I can't visualize what that would look like, or where to really start from with that kind of thing. Hopefully going to the website will help me out a bit. The problem with the headers is that my engine is a 351W so its wider than the 302's that most guys put into a '54. You may be right about getting stuck on the headers, but since I'm pretty new at working on cars, I don't really have an imagination on these kind of things.
These pics show the 1 header pipe @ the cylinder in the way, is the collector in the way on the other end toooo ?
Throw that left hand header in the trash...hook up your shifting rods,,Build another left header to clear the linkage....Ever think of that?
This would be the way I'd start thinking solving the problem. Maybe just the one tube that's causing trouble. Or purchase another style header.
31Vicky- Yeah the collector is pretty much in the way too. wbrw32- I did think of making a new one, but I don't know how to weld. I know I could just pay someone to do it for me, but I was hoping to find a solution without having to go that route. Thanks for the ideas.
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