The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Muncie shifter

Question and answer period. I'm installing a Muncie M22 in my 59" 3100, SBC 327. In concerned about shifter clearance with the bench seat. I seem to remember someone fabricating a bracket that moved the shifter mount forward on the trans. I have played with the mounting but haven't figured out how to make the reverse arm clear the forward shifter. Any ideas?

I have a Muncie 4 speed in my '55. I used a Hurst shifter with the handle they make for Chev pickups. Got it used off ebay. I also added a 6in extension.to the handle. When you mount the shifter to the trans, you can rotate it fore and aft, and add washers between shifter and tailshaft to move it left and right. I used the largest boot I could find and this setup has been working great for six years now! Pic shows shifter in 2nd gear.

Put in a TH-350 or TH-400 and be done with it! Best decision you'll ever make. Been down the 4 and 5-speed road. I'll admit grabbing gears is cool...but an automatic...well you can build them with the same performance with allot less headaches. IMHO.

Sorry Apache 1, everything I own has a manual. An old trucker told me " Real Trucks have three pedals" . I just like shifting, I started out in my grandpa's 47 GMC with the three on the tree and have just stayed with a manual. I am putting a hydraulic clutch in the 59' though.

I hear you brother...I too started out on a 3-speed converted to the floor '55 Chevy in 1971, thought I ruled the road. Personally, the Tremec 5-speed in my '69 Pro Street Camaro was the right fit...in my '59 Apache not so much...just sayin.

Love the interior of your Apache, I'm doing something close with an Ox Blood red and Gun Metal Gray. I'm building a large journal 327 0.30 over with 2.02 heads. I found a vintage Edelbrock C4b manifold so I'm trying to keep it 60's early 70's correct, that's were the Muncie came in. The truck is a computation of parts from other projects and past cars, the 327 came from my 68' Impala, the Muncie from my Brother-in-laws 68' Camero, the rear end from my 72 Elcamio and so on. About 30 years worth of parts.

Could you share some pics...work in progress. I can appreciate your plan of attack...food for thought. If you plan on cruising allot an overdrive gear in say a Tremec sure is nice. 1st gear is lower than the Muncie, 4th gear is basically 1 to 1 like your Muncie, but 5th gear (overdrive) drops those rpm's significantly. Example, 350 sbc, Tremec 5-spd, with a 3:73 gear...cruising@ 70 mph....roughly 2000 rpm as opposed to 3000 rpm running a Muncie. Saves the motor and allot more enjoyable to drive. Still having that gear shift in hand.

Truckers don't really drive those rigs- - - -they row them with the shift lever! I learned to drive trucks on a 1964 B-73 Mack Tri-Plex- - - -with a 5 speed main box and a 3-speed Brownie- - - -two shift levers in the same big trans case! A Detroit Diesel 2-stroke and a 13 speed Road Ranger keeps a driver busy shifting gears every time the engine accelerates 400 RPM! A huge number of the big rigs on the road these days have automatics.
Jerry

I have a 10 bolt rear with 3.08's and a 26 inch tire, should put me around 2400 RPM on the highway. I would love to upgrade to a Tremec, just not in the budget. I have had the truck apart since 92'. I just retired from the Air Force last year so the truck has been moved a half dozen times only to go back into storage. This is the first time I have all the parts in one location. I'm really just getting started again.

capnduane has a good solution. If needed you can also heat the shift lever and take some of the bend out. This was the best solution back in the 60s when we were replacing the granny boxes with 3 speed Saginaws.

I have two options here, I also have an early Saginaw 4 speed. My thoughts here were the Muncie was the better of the 2 as it would handle more HP. I'm not looking at much more than 375-400 out of the 327, not doing anything real exotic just a solid runner. the Saginaw is definitely smaller than the Muncie although the shifter is in about the same location. Keep in mind that I'm using a the Camero style bell housing and not the truck version, not real sure about clearance issues with the crossmember.

"they row them with the shift lever!" That made me LOL! But so true. Gotta love a screaming Jimmy. Back in the day the company had a few Autocars (all wheel drive line equipment) that had 8V's w/turbos. They had Allison automatics, what a sound! Didn't need to row them.