A998 w/ Lockup in a 65 Dart with 273

I went through a major ordeal trying to get a shifter cable conversion kit from Imperial Services. Their kit is supposed to allow you to connect a 1965 floor mounted cable shifter to a later style transmission.

Imperial Services has stopped selling to end users and now only sells through resellers. I placed an order with Schumacher Creative Services. They tried really hard to get me the kit, but after a month and a half, they gave up, apologized profusely, and canceled my order. The only other reseller, A and A transmissions, told me that there was no longer a separate kit for 1965 and sold me their only remaining push-button style kit.

The kit arrived and I tried to install it. I don't see how this thing could ever work. The cable is too long, the bracket points the cable straight forward towards the bell housing, and the arm they provide for the transmission end is the wrong length for the amount of travel in the 65 shifter. My theory is that Imperial Services sold a different kit for 1965 cars for good reason and they are not interchangeable.

Anyways, I decided to send it back and set about to design my own solution.