For some unknown reason, the transmission kept popping into reverse when shutting down the engine. I tried adjusting the column shifter but that didn’t seem to work.
I had picked up a B&M floor shifter and had been putting off installing it but decided today was the day to make the shift (so to speak) in shifters. I figured I’d use my car ramps instead of laboring to jack up the car and use the jack stands. The ramps kept sliding on my smooth garage floor so the jack and jack stands won out.
As always, things were pretty simple to take off. When I went to loosen the bolt holding the shift selector, I tried a couple different sockets as it was hard to see the bolt to get an exact assessment of the size. I finally found the right socket and when I expected to use some force to loosen it, I met with little resistance. I thought maybe I had the wrong socket size again or I was not even on the bolt. I re-seated the socket and kept spinning the socket. It was so loose, I didn’t even need the ratchet. No telling when that nut would have fallen off. Glad I made today the day to do the change.
The instructions that came with the shifter were very detailed and simple to follow. Although it did have (ugh) Ford and Chrysler instructions as well, they were easy to follow along with for the GM application. I got the shifter lever mounted, the brackets bolted to the transmission and the cable routed properly. Now the part that concerned me most was in the instructions it said, “if you do not adjust this properly, you could damage the cable or transmission in one shift”. So having someone sit in the car and go through the gears one at a time, I adjusted the cable from below. More than once of course, just to make sure.
Now the road test. I took My 55 Chevy Bel Air off the jack stands, started it up and backed it out of the garage. So far, so good. I went for a mini spin around the block, still rolling. Now for a drive down the street, shifts good! The only issue I am having is when I shift manually it only shifts through 2 gears and it’s a 3 speed transmission. I am going to investigate that soon.
Next up, I am going to work on getting the transmission kick down cable in.