I just picked up a '51 straight 8 with manual trans, and was wondering if there was a bolt on floor shifter for that transmission?? o No: If there isnt anything available what other manual transmissions will work with the straight 8's?? Adapters? Thanks :3gears:
do a search for sparkomatic on ebay. I don't think you will find a new one, but I believe they made one at one time. yeah, sparkomatic started out making shifters.
Thanks for that info. I checked it out, but it looks like all of the Sparkomatic floor shifters fit mid-60's transmissions. Do you know if these will bolt onto the '51 housing? Also, did Buick have floor shifters in any of the earlier models? If so, would any of these work?
Check the cheapo MR. Gasket floor shift for the three speeds, I know they work with most early style trannies but I am not sure about the selector type. I think many Buicks around 1936-1937 had floor shifts. A common swap was to use a 36-37 big car trans with 41-up gears. The smaller cars had floor shifts also but were physically smaller and slightly weaker. I would just rebush the column pivots and practice shifting on the tree. Nothing gets some one as upset as being outshifted by three on the tree.
Joe Taubitz (The old guy) would probably know the factory parts swaps by heart. Also, I just read that Ansen also made shifters back when and might have made something.
Yes, several companies made shifters for the selector type trannies in the '50-60's. However they are hard to find and have been bringing good money ($200-300) when located. They were not popular trannies to use in hot cars in their day so finding a complete set up now has become difficult. Another solution if speed shifting is not your major concern, but you want an old 'hot rod' style shifter is to swap the lever to the left side of the column. This was done by guys so that thier right arm would be free to hold on to their date, or something to that effect. This was common back east on 40-48 Ford columns.
Ha Ha .. thats a great little tid bit of history... I may just do that if I cant locate a good floor shifter. So, what should I be looking for when I search for the shifter? I've been looking and there are three different set ups I've found. They are Conventional, Modified, and Straight. Yhey all seem to have the same set up with reverse in the upper left, but have differnent shift patterns (?) Anyone know anything about this?? Thanks
Yeah, they all do the same thing but different shift arm lengths and spring tension give a different 'feel' when shifting. Some of the old shifters could be set up one of three ways. All you really need is conventional, the modified just shortens the throw to second, the straight line just spring loads the shift lever to push it over to second when pushing up out of first. You have to pull harder to get back into first or reverse. As for the steering gear, I have just been using high temp wheel bearing grease for a while, my box is right next to my header and this seems to work well for me.
