Well I've been playing at getting my 53 Poncho together and putting a fresh 55 287 Poncho engine in it and ran into a bunch of clearance issues. So now I'll need a shifter for the 53 selector type trans since the column one hits the exhaust manifold. I've been told a 37 or 38 Buick top mount shifter will work but what else is there out ther that can fix this without a lot of money? I've had to cut up the firewall so the heads will clear and fab a crappy mount mount bracket out of flat steel for the front mount, and the crossover pipe hits the steering box a little, so any suggestions are gratefully appreciated.
The only manufacturer of "one arm bandit" floor shift linkage's that i know of was Ansen. I had one in my 55 Buick. In this day and age I seriously doubt you could find one. Back "in the day" the 37 Buick big transmissions from were commonly used but don't know if you could locate one of them either. Not to sure about using a 350TH, I think you may need an adapter to mate it up to the Poncho.
Both Ansen and Drag Fast made shifters for the selector type transmissions and both are very hard to find. The Ansen was called the Posi-Shift. Contact Heathen on this board, he might be able to help. You can make your own, like they did in this thread: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123830 I think your trans has the 5-bolt top cover, which is weaker than the ones with the 6-bolt top cover. I think the Buick and Pontiac 5-bolt top cover transmissions are the same for '36-'55. Either way, using a '36-'38 Buick top shift trans is more than just the top cover. You need to use the entire '36-'38 main case and swap out the gears and tail shaft. See these threads for more info: http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=149783 http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=141007 http://forums.aaca.org/ubbthreads.php/topics/503233/Floor_Shift_versus_Side_Shift#Post503233 http://www.teambuick.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12787 There is an article in the August 1956 issue of Hot Rod Magazine that talks about this swap for the 6-bolt top cover trans, but I think it would be the same for the 5-bolt top cover trans. It goes into great detail. You can get it in a book called "The Best of Hot Rod Magazine 1949-1959". The title of the article is "Big Gears for Any Engine" (starts on page 164 of the book). See this link: http://books.google.com/books?id=UXO...HOZvP7Z2yx5w-E
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