I need help! I had my engine rebuilt and put on the Fenton headers and Offy dual intake manifold. The manifold interferes with shifting. The upper outer arm that shifts 1st & reverse is too long. About an inch too long! I'm guessing that I will need to cut the arm shorter, relocate the control rod, cut and weld the control rod so that it is positioned similar to where it is now. No - I'm not interested in a saginaw transmission! I'd very much appreciate someone's expertise! Thanks Ken
Ken--if you end up having to shorten your low-reverse lever you might want to shorten the transmission lever the same amount. If you don't shorten the one on the transmission you will have to move the shifter a LONG way to make a shift. Actually, I guess you should figure what percent you shorten the top by taking out 1 inch and do the same for the bottom because the same percentage might not be 1 inch there. Good luck.
Evan, I still don't totally understand the concept, but I got the same response from Patrick at Patrick's. His example is that if the outer arm is 4" long and I take out 1" = 25%, then I should take out 25% of the arm on the transmission. I've never done this, but this is what makes working on these old trucks so much fun, is that I get to learn something new everyday! Thank you for your advice. I'd like to hear from others that have attempted this and get their opinion. Thanks Again Ken
Gary, I did have a friend cut & weld the two arms and yes I do have clearance for shifting. I ended up measuring from dead center on the holes and then calculated a percentage to cut out of the smaller one. I'm hoping it will work. I'm in the process of doing a frameup restoration and it has taken longer than I expected. I've hit some roadblocks along the way, I kinda look at it as learning curves and hope to have it running by the end of October! When I get there - I'll let everyone know how this works! Because if it doesn't - I'll be looking fora saginaw 4 speed, along with Patrick's torque tube conversion kit. Ken
