Well I have a stupid situation on my hands but maybe someone could help: I fitted a new steering box on my 64 V8 Comet which means taking the column + gear change mechanism out. A friend tried to be helpful and started washing the old dirt off the mechanism and as you can guess the thing flew apart and no, he did not take pics of the thing. So we tried to put it back using common sense , but now I cannot select 1st gear (it will go in if you push the selector in at the steering box end, but moving the column change does nothing) - I suspect we got some shim wrong. It would be very helpful if someone could post an exploded view of the column change (I did search on the net and the board but found nothing). My mechanism is non-adjustable, g/box is 3sp toploader, car is a 1964 Mercury Comet V8 so a Falcon gear change should be the same.
Get a factory shop manual for your car. Try searching with terms like 3 on the tree, or column shifter. Best as I can remember, loosen the shift rods at the shift arms on the engine side of the firewall. Place the shift lever inside the car in neutral. Place the transmission in neutral by moving the shifter arms at the transmission. Here's where my memory get a little fuzzy, but I think there should be a factory hole in each of the two shifter arms in the engine bay. Those holes are for a guide pin, maybe like a 1/4" in size. The shank of a drill bit of the proper size will work for the guide pin. With the pin in place, the transmission in neutral and the column shift lever (inside the car) in neutral you should be able to tighten the shift rods at the shift arms (in the engine bay). If, after this adjustment the shifter mechanism still doesn't work there may be worn parts that need replacement. If I'm wrong I have no doubt one of our smarter members here will let us know. And, if I am wrong at least this will get you a bump to the top of the page. Good luck with it and buy a factory shop manual, you'll need it for other stuff too. -Dave
I don't have a pic or a drawing, but here are the adjustment procedures for both 6 and V8 cars, the V8 being as Dave has outlined above.
Thanks for the answers guys. I have the factory manual and am familiar with the adjustment you referred to (see pic) but in my case the gearshift rods have no adjustment whatever (compare with the pic in the original post), they are fixed and it's obviously a somewhat different mechanism. It is possible that Mercury fitted this type to some 3.03 boxes but not to others - I have no idea. Also, apologies if I did not make clear, the problem is not that the gear lever moves but the gear fails to engage, it is that the 1st/reverse lever does not move at all when you select 1st on the column. Hence why I believe this is a wrong assembly issue and why an exploded view would help. If I were in the US I'd have been tempted to get a 3sp floor change but am in the EU and it will take ages to get here and be costly...
Adding, for those who may be stuck with a similar problem I just discovered the 1960-1964 Ford Parts and Accessories Catalog which you can download here: http://www.squarebirds.org/Manuals/..._PartsAndAccessories_IllustrationsCatalog.pdf I think I know what the problem may be, but I'll need to get to the workshop first...
The column style shifter can bind, typically do to worn parts. Sounds like there was high pressure water was involved in the cleaning attempt. Sorry for thinking you where a knob, but the terminology you used seemed to indicate you were uninitiated into the world of old cars. Anyway it seems you may have figured it out. So, please let us know when you get it functioning again and what it took to fix it. Again good luck with it. -Dave
Dave, no, he dropped the bits into one of those plastic oil change/cleaning pan... No probs with the knob thing, please bear in mind in the EU so language may vary
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