The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline 1955 I-6 to V-8 Swap Transmission Issue

Hello Bolters...

A really interesting issue has emerged. I have a 3-on the tree, 3-speed overdrive tranny. Works fine. The bell housing I used with my 6 cylinder had a fulcrum to shift between 2nd and 3rd gears, whereas my 8 cylinder does not and uses shift rods directly from the shift box to the transmission shifter arms.

As a result, now that I'm running a V-8 my 2nd and 3rd gears are in reversed positions!! I am getting by just remembering to shift from 1st to 2nd by shifting from 1st to neutral, then down to 2nd and then up to 3rd.

But my question is whether there is a different shifter arm used on the transmission when the v-8 engine is used?

Thanks

You might be able to remove the shifter arm on the transmission and rotate it 180% to get it to work as before.

Man, that is a quandry! Sounds like the shifter is pushing when it should be pulling or vice versa. If Carl's suggestion doesn't work, look to see if your V8 bell has a place to mount the fulcrum that was on the IL6 bell and return to using the original shift linkage. If it doesn't, then you're most likely going to need a date coded bell from a 55 V8 truck, which should have the fulcrum mounting.

What you need is the correct shift arm for the transmission. One from either a Passenger transmission (6 or 8) or one from a V8 truck will correct the problem. Swapping the shift arm/shaft is relatively easy, but the side plate does need to be removed to do it.
Edit; The shift shaft and arm are both different. The arm has to be on the matching shaft. I found that out the hard way. You also need to make sure that the shaft comes from the same year transmission. There was a running change in either '56 or '57 that changed how the side cover is made, and the shafts are a different length due to the cover having longer bosses where the shafts go through. The seals are different as well, early uses a lip seal, late uses O rings. If you change the entire side plate, it will be a non issue as the entire side plate assembly is interchangeable.

Thank you fellas.....I'm so happy the engine swap was a piece of cake!!

Until I find the correct parts I'll just keep using it the way it works. I will try the rotating the shifter arm by 180 degrees. It will probably take a while before I find the correct plate and shift arm.

Marc

Rotating the arm will not work. It only fits one way. That's why the shift shaft has to be changes as well, they're specific to which arm fits it.

No such thing as "won't work".
You can make anything work with a torch, a welder and some creative engineering.
I once made a 1966 Saginaw 3 speed work on my '50 buy welding some 1950 shift levers on to the 1966 levers to put the throw in the right orientation and in the right direction to work as intended in 1950.
Respectfully,
Carl

Just for clarification are you working on a '55 1st or 2nd Series?

Thanks,

Mike B

He's working on a 2nd series. He sent me a photo of how the arms are attached on the shafts and how the linkage is attached to the arms. The front arm is pointing upwards and the rear downwards. I'm thinking if a 55 bell can't be found, replacing the cover off a later model tranny that has the arms downward. UNLESS the shaft on the front selector can be removed and rotated 180 degrees.

There is no V8 bell housing with the fulcrum. The 55 V8 truck used a completely different configuration as Bill mentioned previously. The V-8 design was incorporated for both in 56.
The V8 side cover has a long shaft to the rear (1-R) and a short shaft to the front (2-3). Both levers point down and slightly forward. There is a completely different 2-3 shift rod that is one piece. The shifter box on the column is also different as it has a dog leg on the 1-R lever to clear the left exhaust manifold. The 6 cyl shifter box may possibly be used.
I have some of these parts as I have rebuilt a number of these transmissions and have a variety of side covers. Send me a PM and see what we can come up with.
Fred

No offence taken, Carl I only meant that simply rotating it will not work, or at least not without modifying it.

rfs56trk....you're right in saying there is no bell with a fulcrum, but the 55 V8 truck bell may have a pin the fulcrum rides on. He has the original 6 cyl bell shift linkage parts that he removed when he put a set from a later year linkage on. The tranny he has in his truck is an O/D out of a 55 car and the 2-3 shift arm is up and about the 11:00 position.

Rod, That may be the problem, that arm needs to be down which would flip the 2-3 shift lever locations back to normal.

Also, none of the TF bell housings had any linkage attached to them (shift or pedal) other than the clutch fork.

Mike B

The only bell housing with the fulcrum pin is the '55 6 cylinder. V8s did not have it.

While the transmission may be from a car it sounds very much like the side cover being used is from the 55 6 cyl truck configuration.
The 55 (6 cyl) truck side cover has a long shaft on the 2-3 shifter with a shift arm pointing up at about the 11 O'clock position. It also has a short shaft on the 1-R shifter with the shift arm pointing down at about the 7 O'clock position. Reference section 7 sheet 1.00 of the 55 truck assembly manual.

The 55-57 car side cover has a long shaft on the 1-R shifter with the arm pointing down in about the 8 O'clock position.
The 2-3 shifter has a short shaft with the arm pointing down in about the 6 O'clock position. It actually crosses under the 1-R shift arm when actuated into 3rd gear. Reference 57 car shop manual page 7-7.

Neither of these side covers is a good match for this truck with this engine/transmission combination.

My recommendation would be to obtain the correct side cover, shift levers, & shift rods. Otherwise you can expect to be trying to un-jam it on a regular basis.
Fred

Thanks for the clarification Bill, I wasn't sure about the 55 V8 bell having a pin. I'm still learning about these trucks and you guys are helping tremendously.

The FAM, Sect 7 sheets 1.00 and 4.01 shows the 6 cyl application and his cover plate and the arms he has on the O/D are correct for a 6 cyl application. However it ain't gonna work with a V8 engine. FRED and MIKE..you are spot on about the side cover needing to be changed out off a transmission that was in a truck that came with a V8 .

Just so there isn't more confusion. 55 is the only year with different shifter configurations between 6cyl and V8 trucks.
Any 56 through 59 3 speed and 3 speed OD transmission components with the 4 bolt side cover can be used. Those include the shifter box, rods, clamps, shifter arms, and side cover.
Fred

I must commend Carl on his statement. It needs to be remembered. Where I worked, when someone said can't be done, I said: we will do it, and by this Thursday. ..and we did. We can not think outside the bottle if we start with "it can't be done." I realize the comment was not literal and was meant to indicate a difficult task. I'm speaking in general.
Now, at the risk of building Carl up too much more and creating a freak monster super poster (FMSP): It seems to me that I remember that the shafts have a "double D" shape and that the levers have the female to that shape. That would mean they can be rotated 180, Sure they may have to be bent or modified but the female portion can be reused if a new lever is designed. This would reverse the action of said shaft relative to said linkage. Maybe that would work, not sure.

The column carries the shift tube down to other side of firewall, it has levers also, then linkage to tranny levers. What's this fulcrum? What feature are you calling the fulcrum? I need educated here.

I think my 55.2 bell housing has linkages attached to it.

Brad
(edit-that was stupid of me, I know it has them)

Thanks Brad...learned something new today!

Mike B

They're actually splined, with a notch on one the side opposite for the pinch bolt. The Truck version for '55 6 cylinder is opposite from the Passenger and V8 truck.

Thanks Bill. So I assume the spline/pinch bolt end could be re-used in a 180 redesign of the lever. Lots of ways to make it work with welding or the use of bell cranks,...but probably not worth the effort right now. I don't know what it all looks like so I'm bailing.

Here's the Truck version, and this is the Passenger version. Note that the shaft itself is made 180 degrees out from each other.
Also (not pictured), the shift lever itself is different. The '55 6 cylinder shift lever has a slight angle to it, tilting towards the rear of the truck as it is installed. The Passenger and V8 versions are straight, with no angle to them. If one were to attempt to fabricate a new lever, that would have to be taken into account for. Same goes for swapping out the shaft for the downward pointing lever version, the correct lever would need to be acquired or adjustments would have to be made to allow for proper gear engagement.

With a cut and weld the 2nd/3rd lever may be modified to rotate in opposite direction.

Double post, can't delete.