ok i have a 53 chevy 210, 3 on the tree. i want to put the shifter on the floor, i know nat chevy ***ociation has a good kit for $160. ive also seen the mr gasket kit for $60. will the mr gasket kit work the same? any other kits out there that are reasonably priced? thanks
Just look on the back of the box . It will tell you what years and what transmission the shifter will work on . It should also tell you if you are ordering on line . I am pretty sure it will work but always check with the instructions ! Retro Jim
Back in the mid sixties to early seventies I spent a whole lot of time laying on my back with two 1/2" X 9/16" box end wrenches in my hand looking at the greasy belly of various Fords and Chevrolets. Most of this occured on the side of some road, often in bad weather, mostly because of some cheap ***ed floor shifter that I had tried to save a few bucks on. Learn from my experience. Buy the best one you can find. This is a situation where quality places ahead of saving a few bucks.
Absolutely a Hurst. I've had them all over the years, Mr. Gasket, Sparkomatic, etc. and the Hurst is the only one that never misses a shift, or becomes jammed between two gears. The one on my 23 is over 20 years old and has never been rebuilt and still shifts like the day I put it on. I can't tell you how many times I laid on my back unsticking a cheaper shifter that locked up between gears. Don
That's a good idea, but Hurst hasn't made a kit for the '49-'54 transmissions in many years. I've got a mounting bracket for them that's not for sale, but anyone that wants a tracing of it for fabrication purposes can have one.
But I just picked up a NOS, 3 speed (yo-yo) Hurst. The one with the florescent orange/red shift knob on E-Pay for a good price. Ya gotta look.
I had a Mr. Gasket 3 speed floor shifter and all I can tell you is that it's VERY "universal", meaning it doesn't actually fit ****. I'm sure if you're good at engineering, you could make it work properly, but it's not even remotely close to a bolt-on conversion kit. That being the case, it never made it onto the car, although the nice looking round bar Z shape shifter handle did get welded to a Hurst shifter in the end. That's about it.
Ansen used to make an aluminum transmission case for '53-'54 Chevy that used the stock gears, but also used a '37 Chevy floor shift tower and stick. (REAL floor shift, not linkage) They also made one for the '58 3-speed gear set, (synchro low) with the '37 shift tower. Haven't seen one in ages, but installed one in a '53 Chev in San Jose around '57. Very cool setup. Like a very lightweight LaSalle. (VERY lightweight)
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