True Connections

Last month we discussed the clutch and bell housing portion of a 4 speed installation while this month we will continue on to discuss shifters and floor boards. From 1964-1967 GM used the same shift linkage for all Chevelles and El Caminos but the shift handle had slight differences. The handles used for the 4 speed cars with a bench seat had a special curve to it, as did the handle used in all 1967 applications. The gates for these shifters were mounted directly to the tail shaft of the transmission and utilized a pull up on the handle for the reverse lockout. On 1964-1967 4 speed cars, a neutral safety switch was not used, and the backup light switch was mounted below the shifter and had a small rod that attached to the reverse linkage.
To accommodate the shifter, GM used a special hump that was tack welded to the floor board then sealed with strip-caulk. There were actually two different humps used in 1964-1967, one for use with console, and one for use without a console. The non console hump for 1964-1965 had a simple boot and retainer around the shift handle, but in 1966 and 1967 GM used a larger chrome die-cast bezel which fit over the carpet. Fortunately the floor humps are available in the reproduction marketplace, and the 1966-1967 non console retainer just became available, but the boot can be so difficult to find, it may as well be non existent

In 1968-1972 GM changed over to a different style of shifter. The shifter was mounted to a bracket, which curved down under the transmission and mounted directly to a plate that was welded onto the crossmember. The shifter also had two support rods, one that drops down to the crossmember and another that mounted with a bushing to the tail house of the transmission. In 1968-1972 Chevelles and El Caminos, GM finally began the use of a neutral safety switch. That switch was mounted to the clutch pedal and would allow the engine to turn over only when the clutch pedal was pushed in. The backup light switch was mounted to the steering column just like in an automatic column shift car, except the 4 speed switch had only two prongs and was much smaller. The shifter had what is called a reverse lockout linkage that connected to the steering column and operated the mechanism inside the column for the backup switch and also locks the steering wheel when the car is in reverse and the key is removed.
The floor hump for use with a console had an elongated shifter hole with a boot and steel retainer which was covered by a plastic tunnel that connected to the console. The non console hump was a square shape and had a die-cast retainer for the boot which fit on top of the carpet. All of these pieces for 1968-1972 are available reproduction with the exception of the plastic style neutral safety switch used in 1970-1972.

The biggest problem is to know where the floor hump will mount. There are a couple of ways to go about this task. One is to mount up the engine and transmission with the shifter (minus the handle), remove the crossmember, and locate and drill a hole in the place where the shifter will go through the floorboard. Once that is accomplished you can cut away the sheet metal to make a large enough hole for the floor hump to fit. Another method is to use the console. If you know exactly where the console mounts you can locate the position of the shift handle and from there position the floor hump. The best way to locate the position of the hump is to get a stock piece of floor board with the four speed hump already installed and use it as a template. This method makes things easy since the stock floor board will usually have the floor hump, console brackets, and bucket seat brackets already installed and you can find the locations of all three if you decide to go that route. The problem is finding these floorboards. You can always scrounge around for them, but we also offer them on a loan basis. Next month we will discuss the 700R4 installation.