4-speed shifter location

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70swgr

70swgr

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My 70 swinger was converted from 3 speed on the floor to 4 speed. Every thing work great and shifts fine, but when I pulled what was left of the carpet I found the floor cut and the shifter is forward of the stock hole. Is this normal. thanks,
Rick
 
Without seeing anything, its likely that you have an E or B-body transmission in there and not an A-body. Is the shifter handle modified?
Daryl
 
Do need some pictures to tell what is going on.

The front mounting pad on a B/E body tranny is partially under the torsion bar cross member on an A-body so unless someone cut the cross member out it wouldn't be there and the rear mount would have it about 9" behind the stock location.
 
does the tranny have 1 or 2 sets of shifter mounting lugs.
if it has 2 sets its a B ,E body trans.
1 set is A body.
if it is a b,e trans they shortened the driveshaft also.
 
limelite70 said:
does the tranny have 1 or 2 sets of shifter mounting lugs.
if it has 2 sets its a B ,E body trans.
1 set is A body.
if it is a b,e trans they shortened the driveshaft also.
Click to expand...

1 set could also be a 69 down B body
 
Is it maybe that the car was originally a 3 speed on the floor & is now a 4 speed on the floor? Did 3 on the floor have the same hump as 4 on the floor? dgc333 is right, pics might answer the question.
 
The shifter has not been modified. I will go out right now and check the cross member and see if there are one or two mounting pads. thanks . rick
 
If it's a B body tranny it probably looks like this:

tran01.jpg
 
The 70 and up tranny used in B & E bodies has another shifter mount down at the end of the tail shaft.
 
The crossmember looks to have been modified, the shifter is right above it but I did not see any mounting pad on the tail shaft housing. Every thing works fine, I just wanted to put a console in the car but I guess I'll have to make something up to fit.
 
B-body shifters were to the front while e-body were to the rear, 71 and up
b-body were to the rear also for the fuselage body change.
70' up had dual bosses, on vans and trucks the unused boss is undrilled/taped.

That was a 'no no' to cut the torsion anchor cross member.
They should have either got the right a-body trans or used a 70'up dual boss trans and fabbed a bracket that mounted to the rear boss positioning it to the a-body location which is just behind the cross member.
 
Although the crossmember was cut, it looks like it was reinforced. I will find out more when I pull the motor and trans, hopefully today.
 
OK, I raised car to disconnect trans and what I found is a 70-up b or e body trans w/ two shifter mounting bosses. The cross menber is notched and all linkage is above the cross member. If I were to find an a-body trans would my linkage work or would i have to find all the a-body stuff.

Thanks, Rick
 
70swgr said:
OK, I raised car to disconnect trans and what I found is a 70-up b or e body trans w/ two shifter mounting bosses. The cross menber is notched and all linkage is above the cross member. If I were to find an a-body trans would my linkage work or would i have to find all the a-body stuff.

Thanks, Rick
Click to expand...

The corrrect ay to use a B/E body tranny in an A body is to us the rear mount with an adapter barcket that positions the shifter forward to the stock location. I have one in my 68 Barrcuda this way. I used stock A body shifter rods.

Here is an article on how its done http://www.bigblockdart.com/techpages/abconv.shtml

NOTE: if you swap to an A body tranny you will need a new drive shaft. The B/E is longer and the drive shaft would have been shortened to fit.
 
Thanks for the info. I guess I'll keep what I have and try the adapter route if I can find the proper shift rods and tabs. Rick
 
Take another look and you will find that there is another shifter mounting boss down at the end of the tail shaft. If it doesn't have it then its either not an OD tranny or some one swapped a older B body tail shaft onto the tranny.
 
My trans is not an o/d trans and w 3.91s if I find an o/d trans what would I need to swap it for my b-e body trans.
 
The only real issue with the OD trannies is they have a 5.125" diameter bearing retainer. Most of the non OD trannies have a 4.8 and the real early ones have a 4.3 inch one. If your current tranny has the 4.8" diameter one and the larger input bearing you can swap those between the trannies. Otherwise you will need a new input bearing retainer or have the one you have machined to fit the bell housing or find a bell housing with the larger 5.125" diameter register.

Once that is sorted out its a straight bolt in. If you find one from a D100 pick-up or van you can use the same shifter set up as you have or the adapter mentioned in a previous post. If you find one from an A/F body then you will need the new drive shaft.
 
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