I've got a sideshift late 40's gearbox lying around and instead of saving it for it's gears (which I know will swap right into the toploader 30's boxes)I was wondering if it's possible to rig up a shifter to come up through the floor and actuate the side shifters. If so I'll use it in my current project. Anyone out there done it? Is it too difficult to contemplate. And before you tell me to just go out and buy a top loader box casing, I would, but they're a little thin on the ground over here. Cheers Simon
we used a side shifht box in our salt car and build a shifter for it. Was a bit of messing around to achieve what we wanted, but a top loader would have taken up to much room in the cockpit. This is in a '24 track T style car Rea Wier Mumford #24
This is a Lincoln trans, but I believe it's what you're inquiring about. I didn't build it, just saw it a swap meet and thought it was pretty damn cool. if someone couold explain how to do it, it'd be a pretty good tech article.
looks like a cobbled together bunch of junk. the adjustment in the rods is acomplished by turning the welded turnbuckles. the shifter is meant to work in first and second by throwing the stick forward and back in the up position and third and reverse would be had by pushing down on the shifter and throwing the stick forward and back. 'least that's what it looks like to me Paul
I picked up this Fenton 500 universal three speed shifter at a swap meat for ten bucks with only a few pieces missing , it's junky but something like this could be made to work.
Hey Simon I used a Hurst on my side shift Packard 3 speed, which I'm sure is a Ford tranny but not like an early one. It was a pain in the ass, it needed a ton of modifaction to make it work. I also had to deal with the overdrive solenoid. But to answer your question it's doable, anything fits anything. Hey Tony, you can market your set up as the Frankenshifter.
Thanks for the feedback guys. It would seem like it's just going to take some headscratching and some fabricating. Oh sometimes you just hope there's a simple, piece of piss way of doing something that will avoid all the hard work that you know, deep down, is inevitable. There's a swap meet this weekend so I'll keep my eyes peeled for a shifter to adapt.
I know that Chris Palmer - Rod Squad, with the blue 32 roadster did this conversion a number of years ago before he got a toploader box. If you want to talk to him about it let me know and I'll dig out his number. Bob Rod Squad member - now in Australia
If you can find one or want to sacrifice one, you can use an early Ford column shifter - probably clear up to 55 or so - cut down to make a floor shifter. We used to do these back in the day and they worked well. Make a bracket that bolts to the back of the trans - on the tailshaft housing bolts. Cut the Ford shifter column short, 6-10" or whatever fits in your car. Weld or make additional brackets so as to mount the ends of the column to the trans bracket. You'll end up with the column shift arms hanging down in the same plane as the trans shift arms and the original shift lever sticking up through the floor similar to Hurst et al. Next thing is to turn the trans shift arms 180 degrees. Then make up some 3/8" shift rods that go from shifter to trans shift arms. Thread them for the original Ford shift buttons on one end and bend a 90 - use heat, fairly sharp bend is required here - and drill the end for a flat washer and cotter pin. (Cotter pins are called split pins in the UK I believe.) A little adjusting for a good neutral and you're in business. If you build such a shifter for a Cad-Lasalle side shift, you'll want to use the Chevy flat stamped arms with the retaining bolt through the loop. You need to toss the 5/16" stock bolts and use 3/8" as well as file a small notch in the Caddy shift arm rod to preclude shifting. Reason being, a few enthusiastic shifts will have the clamp-on shift arms slipping. After we did the larger bolt/filed notch bit, no more problems.
Jay a split pin is still called a split pin a cotter pin is a tapered piece of steel often with a thread on one end for a nut that goes in a hole to stop something spinning on a shaft The easiest example I can think of is the pin in bicycle pedals
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