Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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The tranny showed up the other day. I put the new shifter assembly on it for a trial fit and it luckily is exactly the same as the dummy tranny I used to build it. I was worried that there might be some minor differences, even though they are both turbo 350's.

One thing I was real interested in was how the detents inside the 350 would "click into gear" when I moved the shift handle. While there is a pretty good hold on the shifter when it is in one gear or another, I am still going to put an additional detent on the shifter itself. I think it needs to be a real positive click into each gear so it won't ever slip out of any gear. I still have to pick up some 1/4 inch rod ends to use to make up a permanent shift rod between the shifter handle and the transmission shift lever. (I just made up a quick one from some scrap steel to see how it would work. The throw through the entire range from park to low gear is just about right. I also ordered two special little nuts from Lokar that slip into the two depressions on either side of the trans to hold the shifter mount in place. I could have used 3/8 inch nuts, but the ones from Lokar hammer into place and lock down better.

Some minor tweaking , adding a neutral safety switch, and I will be done with that part of the build. I measured, and the shift handle is going to stick sort of high out of the cockpit, which is ok with me. I'll just look like one of Ed Roths cartoons when I am going down the road.


Don