Technical The Hurst Auto Stick I Shifter Thread...

I am so thrilled, I just scored a Hurst Auto Stick I shifter for the Turbo 400 in my car. I had one on a 64 Pontiac once and it spoiled me. They look and feel like a four speed and have a gated side for racing. They bolt up to the transmission and have direct linkage..

Are there any other Autostick fans out there?

 

More pics..

 

Lets see, I currently have four of them. And had a very rare Powerglide one in the 51 Bus Coupe. Bolt on and welded on sticks, TH350 and TH400 mounts. They should start making them again; they would be flying off the shelves.
I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

This one has the welded on lever, my last one was bolt on. I may cut the lever and make it a bolt on. It would be easier to install..

There's a nice on e-Bay now for the Ford transmission..

I never knew they made one for the Powerglide..

 

I wanted to get one for a 1966ish period build....but it's too new, and also doesn't have required safety features for racing.

But they are nice shifters! congrats

 

Would be cool for my C4 trans. I really need a B body Mopar pistol grip style where it moves it over to the right and propably the right height. Could just make the handle.

 

I recently bought a "shifter" off that auction site we all know and love. It was advertised as coming from a 70' Postal Jeep. Straight line automatic, floor shift, straight round stick, riveted on detent plate (easy to remove and modify if necessary), and manual linkage. It looked surprisingly similar to your home-made, early B & M style, shifter., just without the zig-zag detents, but I suppose those could be added easily enough. If I knew how to post images, I would. I thought at some point, it would "fit" into one of my builds. Well made, and easily modified if needed. I really don't know why I buy this crap I'll probably never use, but it really caught my eye. Just don't tell my wife!!! But seriously, she has never complained about anything I buy or do, and I would't trade her for anyone!. I just hope Neil Young reads this forum!!!!!).
I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

I have two of them now and took them apart today. I just cleaned them up with baby oil. I don't want to remove the black plating they come with.. I should be able to build one nice shifter for my th400... One handle is for bench seats I believe..

This is the only place in the world that knows what an Autostick is!! lol

 

I have been using a B&M Starshifter on my TH400 since the early 80s. It was a bit of a pain to get used to it, but it has been reliable.
I have never used the Hurst, but I think I like the Hurst dual pattern mode better than mine. If I found one cheap enough, I would switch just for sentimental reasons. At various times in my trucks evolution, it had a Hurst dual pattern 3 spd shifter, then a Comp Plus.

Bob

 

The Turbo 350 bracket..

 

The Turbo 400 bracket..

 

Ford..

 

Loved the Hurst auto stick in my '71 El Camino! It was factory 270 horse with shift kit, headers and hush thrush mufflers. Not an SS, but installed '70 SS wheels and exhaust tips. The low mileage '70 was totaled from head on with a milk truck. Three good wheels on the ground and back then the spare was a factory 'mag' wheel. I drove the El Camino until '77 and sold it to buy '65 Vette. I was detailing the interior with radio on when they announced that Elvis had died!

 

Here is a few pictures of the Hurst auto stick we installed in Dads Dodge coupe. We started with a NOS auto stick kit for a Torqueflite and ended up with a later auto stick shifter with the bolt on lever.

 

After realizing the auto stick has no provision for a reverse lockout I decided to make my own. With a little inspiration from the shifter Squirrel built I came up with this. When the installation will post pictures with the shifter boot off and on.

 

I'm gonna say if it is just for street use and not a racing application it might not be a big deal, at least not in the way that Hurst made the notches in the Comp Plus shifters.

 

I have two auto stick shifters. The welded stick shifter was with all the parts to use on a Torqueflite and the bolt on stick was purchased as just the shifter. I tried using the bolt on stick shifter on the Torqueflite, but the shifter arm was not long enough to shift through all the gears. I ended up using parts from both shifters. I ended up swapping some parts between the two shifters so i could use the bolt on stick on the dodge.
I don't know if thee shifter arm lenght was different for different applications or was there other changes when the when Hurst went from a welded stick to a bolt on?

 

Somebody needs to repo these or something like them.... I see the Lokar 'street rod' shifters installed in '50s/'60s cars and they just look wrong. Everything else currently available is race-oriented and looks it...

Here's one most wouldn't think of...


'75 though early '90s Jaguar XJS. Low profile, very positive detents, neutral safety and back-up light switches, and cable operated. Designed to operate a TH400, it should be adaptable to most late automatics. If you can find a mid-90s version, it will be set up for a GM OD trans. With a bit of fab work, you could swap out the handle.

Anyway, food for thought...

 

Great timing! I would like to do something like this on my new project, it has a modern Mopar 4 speed OD automatic trans.
Unfortunately, I sold off all my manual shifters years ago, so that probably isn't a cost effective way to accomplish what I'm looking to do. I can make my own brackets and linkage, that is not a problem, and I hijacked the auto shift linkage out of an old Dodge truck auto column. I have the lever from the Dodge column bent around and attached to the trans, but by the time I get it up to clear the seat, I can't feel the detents in the trans. I got a nice new Hurst Pistol Grip handle for Christmas that I can add onto any threaded shaft end (which I can add to my lever), but I do not have a provision to unlock a "V" gate, so I need to do the zigzag pattern. The column piece is spring loaded to pull the lever towards the driver seat, and that will present a problem with the zigzag gates. I've made a gate bracket where spring pulls the lever towards the driver seat and into the gate, but without being able to feel the trans detents, its far too easy to get into the wrong gear. I'm not sure if I cut the spring if the column stuff would be too sloppy or not. The other problem I'm having with my mechanical linkage is by the time I get back to the seat, the shift pattern is about 6" long. I suspect I need to do a cable linkage to solve that issue, one can only make the lever arms so long.

Unfortunately, I can't get to the truck (its locked away in the body shop getting paint) to get pictures of what I have now (and more irritating, I can't mess with what is there). I spent several hours on line last night looking, and I'm just not seeing anything I really want for the money they are getting. I kinda like the TCI Fast Gate for about $150, but since I have a 4 speed auto, and I don't know it that Fast Gate would work for it. The reading I've done As I understand it) tell me the park position on the GM auto trans and the park on the Ford/Mopar trans are in different position compared to the distance from reverse. Any factual info on this could help, Fast Gate has a gate pattern for a reverse 4 speed auto GM trans. They also list several gates for Ford transmissions, but I have no idea how they match up to my Chrysler OD trans. I'm not even sure if the OD would cause a problem. Gene

 

I couldn't agree more, the odd thing is how well recieved they have been here considering the high level of "traditionalism" that seems so predominant.

 

Always try to grab these at the swap meets. Have even adapted a couple cable van types to mechanical linkage with custom mounting brackets. Here's one in my Vicky and another in an A.D. Chevy truck that I put an original tapered steel stem and knob on by welding it to an old bolt on stub.

 

Yeah, it's funny that after the war you were likely to see column shifters installed in the nicer late-'20s/30s rods over a 'old' floor shifter, and almost never saw floor shifters in later cars until 4-speeds showed up.

 

Back when I participated in demolition derbies I would make shifters for my cars that were on the same idea as what you are doing.

 

I removed the neutral gate detent and added a shim behind the spring. I prefer this to having that weird spring plate that makes shifting kind of erratic... You can't change that spring to a heavier unit because that spring end fits precisely into that shifter handle. Amazing the tight tolerances used on these shifters! Hurst made some good stuff back then!

I'm either going to make a bracket for a back up light switch or install another foot dimmer switch for the back up lights.. Having a hand switch for back up lights is a pain in the ass..

 

Wanted to add my Auto Stick lever thread to this thread. The Hurst 5759 lever works just as good as the 7579 lever that comes with the Th400 Auto Stick..

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/are-shift-lever-arms-all-the-same.1136023/#post-12909424

 

The finished product.. Love the way this shifter feels!!

If you look into the top left of the picture you'll see a hi beam floor switch next to the gas pedal, I'm using this switch for the back up lights..

V

 

The following is a repost from another thread. As promised earlier, here is the final installed lockout pictures. To allow the lever arm to pass under the boot, I made a 1/2" spacer from some scrap lexan I had. Sorry about the shitty resolution on the pictures.

 

The 5759 lever works just as good as the stock lever! I don't use the bottom plate and springs that keep the shifter locked into full detent. I think the shifts are much smoother without it..

 

If you're speaking about the "plate like" springs, there are usually at least three; you can add/remove each spring plate for your own needs. I'd think at least one is needed; if not for any reason other than to keep the grease in the shifter assembly. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.