This is a stock 55 Olds 3 speed standard with one shifting lever. There is a second interlock lever that allows the same primary shift lever to get into 1st & reverse. I'm thinking there was a cable attached to the interlock that operated if you lifted up on the "3'on the tree" lever? I saw a 48 International like that. How would you make a floor shift for a trad rod??
Chrysler products also had the one arm shift, Speedomatic and others made shifters for them way back when. Have you tried good old J.C.Whitney in Chicago?
No one, but NO ONE, still makes a shifter for selector three speeds; believe me, I've looked. I found a fifty year old Ansen shifter for my '56 Olds transmission, but they're quite scarce. I was working on converting an old aftermarket three speed conversion for selector use last winter, but then spring sprung and I moved on to other things. It's about half done, and I'll be poking at it again soon.
I rigged up a shifter on an old Buick 3 sp years ago in a 40 Ford pickup. It consisted of a heim end fastened to a bracket on the top of the trans and a long piece of chrome rod with a knob on one end and a shoulder bolt through the other end. The bolt went loosely through the shifter arm so it could pivot foreward and backward. By applying pressure to one side or the other, the shift rod in the trans will slide back and forth. It was a pretty simple arrangement, but it worked.
Any idea which trans Olds used in 55? T-86? used in Hudsons I believe,some single lever some not but I have heard of using a Willys/Jeep shifter on those. Is yours a top loader? Something to think about anyhow.
That's funny...I currently own that transmission! Still has your shift lever on it. Soon to go into my '54 Buick (sans shifter...no offense). The Olds and Buick trans are the same. Ansen is the only company that ever made a shifter for them. The one arm rotates like a regular shifter arm on most transmissions. The lever under it slides back and forth...I had thought the way it worked was the sliding lever handled two gears, the arm handled two gears (1,2,3 and Reverse). I'm not sure about that...but the colum shift linkage on my '54 connects to both of them. I used to know, but it's been a couple years since I fooled around with it. -Brad re-read the first post about the slider...says "it allows the shifter to go into 1st and Reverse." On my '54, the column shifter rods connect to that sliding lever and move it, just like they would if it was an arm mounted on a shaft. On the Special, the trans is a 5-bolt cover, the bigger trans was 6-bolt (like the one shown and the other one I just bought). But the shifter arms on the trans case function the same way, and the mechanical linkage connects the same way. My understanding is that the slider arm engages 1st and Reverse. The Special trans doesn't have synchros for 1st and Reverse, for whatever that's worth. -Brad
The only company other than Ansen that made a floor shift conversion for the Olds selector (to my knowledge, anyway) was Drag Fast. Theirs was a spring loaded affair that controlled all gears through the large shift arm, ignoring the small selector key, and the shift pattern was ass backwards from the common three speed pattern (reverse in the normal third gear position, and vice versa).
Thanks for all of the replies. I just went to look at how that selector lever really behaves. Just like HEATHEN says, it looks like if you made a shifter that would pull-out the main shifter lever, then you would not even need to hook up the selector key. That key arm just swings back & forth on it's own if you pull out on the shift lever instead. If that Drag Fast shift pattern was backwards, maybe I could just move the shift lever splines 180 degrees to correct that? Now I need to figure out how to make a single gate/straight line shifter that can also move the lever in & out, I guess. EDIT; I guess if I did switch the splines 180, then all it would do is have reverse where 2nd is...I think.. More studying...
This strains my memory a bit but I seem to remember an article in an old,"small pages" book about making a floor shift conversion kit for one of the Olds "selector"style transmissions using a column shift setup from a 41-48 Ford/Mercury.Not sure exactly how it worked.
I had a 54 Olds about a thousand years ago with a floor shift conversion. Must have been a DragFast because the patern was backwards. It took a little getting used to and never could shift it fast. Stick Oldsmobiles are SO hard to find. They were even back then. Do you guys know what they put on the dash in place of the transmission selector in a stick shift Olds??
I had one in my Buick powered Chev back in 1960, but it was a vertical H pattern. I still remember that 1st was ( spring loaded ) down and forward. I have been beating my few remaining brain cells to remember the name of the manufacturer but I thought the name started with a V. The shifter worked well, I never had a problem with it. Bob
safariknut has the answer! yes there was an article in one of them 'little' mags, and i believe it was by Pat Gahnal. Anyway he has said that he made his own shifter in high school, ?? I think? It was made from a Mustang automatic shifter with a finger pull of somekind on it? You pulled in to make the selector change, and the shift handle just went forwards and back. sum, dim, memories? anybody recall any of that ?
I remembr the shifter made from the old ford column shifts, we made them in 'high scool' auto shop!! shortened em up and mounted sideways on ford trans case. gggg back in 56
Pat had a 48 chevy and they had the GM column selector shifter, the aftermarket floorshifters were, and are, kinda rare now. I have one of the stock selector shifts on my 39, Buick Century.
and by the way [my mind is going way bak] F&J ,s pic is of the 51 and up OLDSMOBILE 'BUICK' OPEN DRIVE TRANS. Olds used them 1951 on up, all the way to 1964 I believe. ok i,ll quit now
Ok i,m not done. And if you get a 36, 37, or 38, BUICK CENTURY/ROADMASTER floorshift trans you can build a regular toploader open drive floorshift out of that 0lds trans. now no' mo'
bak agin I had a Buick selector shift that wedas modified with a Ford floorshift top operating Buick innerds. Also I saw one of those one arm shifters that Milner mentioned
Back in the day I used an Ansen shifter on a Buick one arm bandit transmission. Not a particular good unit that you could never speed shift. Replaced the whole shooting match with a 37 Buick Roadmaster transmission which was a whole lot better with smoother and more positive shifts then the Ansen aborttion.
Here's a '51(?) I bought at a swap meet with a home made shifter on it. I haven't had a chance to figure it out completely yet but the shift pattern seems to be backwards. ...sorry...I have 2 photos but can't seem to attach them with this goofy new setup.
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