How do you fix this?

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JP662704SP

JP662704SP

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The short story. Bought this 1966 Dart to restore to a "nice cruiser". Originally a 3 on the tree, converted to a 4 speed at some point.

The conversion was LESS than professional. It appears they cut a hole in the floor for the shifter, cut through the cross member and body and rigged some linkage to work.

The problem, beyond the obvious,... the transmission needs to go up a bit to properly align with the drive shaft. (The cause of a nasty vibration.)

So, how do you fix this?

Obviously, get the right hump, new cross member and the right linkage. What about the body/frame? I currently have linkage running through where a bolt should be, if I am seeing this right.

Thoughts from the knowledge base?????

Thanks in advance for anything helpful.

JP

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Mmm, cut the floor support. Not a good thing. Other than what you already mentioned, I would see if you can get the floor support from a donor car and weld it in.
 
If it were me, I'd see how much flex or weakness this cutting caused then maybe make some custom metal plates to beef up the area around that hole. Unless you wanna bring it back to original....which seems a bit more labor intensive. I've got a feeling that hole didn't weaken things too badly, even it looks kinda crazy.
 
No need to return to stock, as the car is already far away from there with the 4 speed thrown in.

Looking at it, I'm thinking along the same line. Drop the old cross member, weld in some plates to the floor support and then install a new cross member.

Right now, I'm worried about what else I don't know I don't know. lol

My local mopar club has been pretty helpful. I'm hoping one of the guys in it can assist me. I'm a pretty decent shade tree mechanic, but don't even own a welder.
 
Unfortunately over the years, I purchased two cars that had been swapped over to 4-speeds and when the PO cut out the floor section they did it from inside with a torch so the same section of frame was cut out with the floor section. I just went to the local junk yard, found a donor car, and had them cut the same frame section out, but a little bigger for me to trim to fit my car. I trimmed it, welded it in, and never had a problem after.
 
Where is your shifter as it comes through the floor? Is it close to the gas pedal or closer to the seat. If it's back toward the seat I'll bet you have a B or E body transmission. The B & E trans' have a longer tail shaft and the drive shaft would have to be shortened to make it fit. (Your vibration problem?)
The shifter mounting bosses near the tail end of the trans in picture #1 is the B and E body mount. The rods would have to go through the cross-member to get to the shift levers I'll bet. The blurry photo on the bottom is the tranny out of my 66. The tail shaft is short and she 1-2 and 3-4 shift levers go between the cross-member and the case. The reverse lever loops down below the cross-member.

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Must be a B or E trans then, as the shifter is mounted out at the end of the tail shaft.
I suspect the vibration is due to the alignment of the yoke to the drive shaft. The trans needs to go up just a bit to give a nice straight shot from trans to driveshaft.

The car runs quite well and shifts great. If I could figure out how to raise the trans a bit, and sure things up, I think it would do the trick.
 
I would drop the crossmember,box both in.The frame and the crossmember,I had notched and boxed mine in for dual 2 1/2 inch exhaust.Good luck.
 
Up to plan B then, excuse the pun. How do I fix this knowing it is a B or E trans, and not an A.

Do they make humps for this type of thing?

Maybe I cut the floor out some more, so I can raise the trans a bit, then get/modify a new crossmember and work to secure the whole thing up with some plates?

Surely, someone has been down this road before me.

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From what I can see from the photo you have an A body trans. The problem is the shift linkage is suppost too go over the top of the crossmember and between the frame and the floor, If it had the factory floor hump. I take it the linkage go through the crossmember and then is bent upward to the shift levers on the trans. Should go up at the shifter and then straight over to the shift levers. The trans mount does not look right ether, look one up on brewersperformance.com to see the right one. If it was mine I would get the floor hump, crossmember, and shift linkage and fix the frame and put in a new trans mount, this should fix your problems.
 
19DART66 said:
From what I can see from the photo you have an A body trans. The problem is the shift linkage is suppost too go over the top of the crossmember and between the frame and the floor, If it had the factory floor hump. I take it the linkage go through the crossmember and then is bent upward to the shift levers on the trans. Should go up at the shifter and then straight over to the shift levers. The trans mount does not look right ether, look one up on brewersperformance.com to see the right one. If it was mine I would get the floor hump, crossmember, and shift linkage and fix the frame and put in a new trans mount, this should fix your problems.
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I think you are right. I'm still not sure about the trans being an A, B or E, however. There seems to be some conflicting information. I should be able to confirm that soon enough.

I'm good with everything except "fix the frame". Over my head, I'll need to farm that out.
 
There should be no spacers behind the shifter mount. The shifter and linkage is too far out. Looks to be an A body trans. Perhaps wrong shifter and linkage? Toolman Mike do you have a picture of your tunnel you can show him? I'll see if I can get one next weekend.
 
Here's a couple but not much help. Jp66, can you come up with some numbers off the trans. We might be able to decode them for you. There may be a part number stamped or a 3 digit code number cast into the case on the passengers side. I have a 64-74 interchange book to look it up. Mike
 
Been out of the country all week. Thanks for the input. Still have the Dart on the stands and will climb under and try to pull some number and get more pics. This is the biggest issue to make it a nice driver, so I really want to fix it right. I also have the full interior now from legendary and am anxious to get it in. Obviously though, I need to get this straightened out first.

Thanks again for the help.
 
I didn't pay much attenion to the spacer but that positions the shifter away from the case and the linkage doesn't have any choice but to go through the hole made in the crossmember. Makes you wonder! LOL Mike
 
The problem appears to be pretty simple. It looks like you have a Supershifter 2 shifter. Does this shifter have the reverse lockout? Then it might be a later one. It is not a Mopar shifter. Also that bracket looks to be wrong. It shouldn't be that thick.
Supershifter 2 and the Street Supershifter have the 1/2, and 3/4 rods STRAIGHT, so some modification is required to mount certain shifters in different applications. I like to redo old race cars, so I've seen alot worse than what you have there. Just get a correct Mopar Competition Plus shifter, and a new cross member. For a "nice cruiser", you should be OK.
 
Those are straight rods on the 1-2 and 3-4 shifter forks. I would just box and reinforce everything and keep the rest the way it is.


Clearance what is needed for proper alignment. Those straight rods should make for better shifting.
 
1968FormulaS340 said:
Those are straight rods on the 1-2 and 3-4 shifter forks. I would just box and reinforce everything and keep the rest the way it is.


Clearance what is needed for proper alignment. Those straight rods should make for better shifting.
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That would be great, but I need to raise the rear of the transmission a bit to get it to align with the drive shaft correctly, to raise it, I'd need to cut out more of the floor support.

This is what I am leaning to doing. Thinking of cutting out from the top, raising the trans to align, mounting it up and then get it boxed in by someone with the right tools and skills. (I do not even own a welder.)
 
The adapter that mounts the shifter to the tranny needs to mount the shifter higher so the rods can go over the torsion bar cross member. I have a B/E body tranny in my 68 Barracuda and need to make a bracket that moved the shifter forward about 9" to get it to the A body location.

From your pictures the tranny looks like an A body unit with the wrong adapter and possibly the wrong shifter. Straight rods will work the Hurst Indy shifter I am using came with straight rods for 1-2 and 3-4.
 
Well it has a Hurst Shifter, though I do not know the specific model. The rods for 1-2 3-4 are pretty straight, especially by the shifter. They bend up about 2/3s of the way to the end.

I was able to pull some numbers off the transmission. On the passenger side case, C99129-H. On the passenger side tail, it appears to be "A C99128-8" However, I am not sure on the "8"s. might be "6"s. Hard to tell for sure.

Really appreciate the help. JP

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Does this help? It is an "A" Body OD on stock 66 bellhousing with factory OD shifter and new Hurst rods.

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