Inliners International Forums General Discussion Drive Train need ideas for a 53 chevy p/u 3100

Need some help,, I am building a 53 chevy 3100 p/u, with a 292 saginaw 4 speed... I am using the cross member from a 54 so tranny lines up perfect where it should be in the truck,, I ordered a shifter from patricks about 6 weeks ago, of course the answer is I will have them next week ,, Im bout ready to cancel the order,, his style of 4 speed shifters mounts to the side plate of the saginaw,, has anybody ever seen any thing like this in other shifters?? the 292 has 1.94/1.6 valves, lumps, polished everything.. langdon exhaust manifold/clifford intake and not sure on which 4 barrel to use...I need advice on that too...all ideas welcome..

I ran one of Patrick's shifters for several years and liked it. I changed to a T5 for the OD. I'd really rather have the Saganaw with an OD but the solenoid interferes with the shifter. Patrick's shifter is a Hurst 4 speed shifter with short rods and a custom bracket and lever. I'd give them another week then build one. There was another guy making one that mounted on top and would clear an OD solenoid but I haven't heard anything about it in a while. It cost $300 and I heard it was sloppy. Beater
By the way that sounds like a great combo. MY '53 has a 270.

This is how I manage My 3 speed +od. Home-made bracket with an up-over-up (Z) to affix the shifter. Sits right in the middle of the floor and as for durability my truck is a daily driver only vehicle and I've had this configuration for 8 years.

I'm thinking you could do something similar with your four speed. Thinking outside the box...use a 3 speed shifter for the four speed, put the shifter in neutral and then use a push-pull cable for reverse. A little complicated but it would save you a few hundred bucks.

Cosmo, I got a "page not found" message for your link. I like stuff like your 3 speed shifter idea. Beater

Yeah I hope to do a Saginaw 4 speed that way on the column, I now split shift and can get 6 forward gears, can you imagine an 8 speed? That would really freak people out, especially the reverse off a cable!! Sorry you can't view the pics, you must have a heavy duty firewall.

[img][/img]

Hope the image isn't too big. This is my own up-over-up .

Below is the side view.

[img][/img]

Four on the "tree" sounds good. Mount the reverse cable on the shift lever along with a button and a toggle for the OD. The "WTF?" factor kicks in. " Hey Buddy, what the &%#@ is that?" You would avoid interference with the solenoid that way. Because of the length of the Saganaw 3 & 4 speeds the solenoid sits right where your floor shifter sits in order to locate the shift lever where it needs to be. I've been thinking of building a cable remote for the solenoid to get more room for a floor shift. Another Idea was to make to Borg OD unit into a stand alone and place it behind the trans, That would involve making a front plate and some mods to the input shaft. The old Tip-Toe-Matic did that in a closed driveline. Any of our plans here could also serve as security systems. If you can't drive it you can't steal it. Beater

Not to hijack the thread, but I think I might have an open driveline shifter kit from Patrick's. PM me if you want me to look