Pushbutton Shifter Mods

When the temps hit 100*, I knock off work on the body and retreat to the air conditioned part of my shop to play with the small projects still waiting to be accomplished. The one I’ve been spending the most time on recently is the modification of the stock ’56 shifter from the 2-speed PowerFlite, to a 3-speed TorqueFlite with a Park handle,that operates with only one cable like the ’66 and later shifters used.
I’ve completed a prototype of the buttons and a lever mockup for the Park selector. Though I’ve not yet combined the two I’ll post some pictures so you can see what’s been done so far.

 

The shifter mechanism is from a ’64 that was modified by removing the existing Park lever assembly and cutting off the shafts so it will slide into the ’56 dash. There wasn’t enough dash space to use the vertical operating Park lever, so removing it was no big deal. The fact that it operated a second cable…the one that needs to be eliminated so I can use a later aluminum 727...meant it could not be easily integrated into the Fury.

First I designed the new button configurations, some of which you can see in the photo. I ended up remaking several buttons while proving out their function and appearance, so was glad I ordered extra material.  I used clear ½” Lexan, and it does a decent job of transmitting light from the side to illuminate the buttons. The only thing I dislike is not having found a source for green Lexan so it would look more like the OEM PowerFlite lighting.

The button setup works fine, but unfortunately I had to swap the N and R buttons from the factory locations, as the button length was too short to make the transition without interference. I might have to remake a couple of the buttons to make them align better, and all will need the ends polished and the brass sleeves dimpled to hold them in place. I still wish I could have found stainless tubing that size as it would look closer to stock. However, since the Fury used a lot of unique gold trim, it might make these parts less noticeable.

 

The last challenge I face with the buttons is finding someone to engrave the letters and numbers in the ends. The biggest trophy shop around said they wouldn’t attempt it as they had no way to mount the parts in their machine, but they referred me to a place in another town that still does some hand engraving. I tried engraving some samples with a Dremel, but they don’t look professional, so I hope I don’t have to resort to that option. If I could find a set of steel stamps for a reasonable price, they could probably be heated enough to melt the imprint into the Lexan.

So far, I’m pleased with how the park lever operates. I salvaged the spring from the ’64 assembly and used the original design to load and retain the lever into the park position and in the off position. The last remaining feature of the selector panel left to design is the pawl that will operate the linkage. Then comes the bell crank that will transfer the rather short linkage movement to the longer stroke required of the shift cable. It will also have to be adjustable to assure the proper gear is engaged when a button is selected. Once the pawl is designed, I'll rebuild the entire assembly to a tighter tolerance and make a trim box to cover the parts for neatness. An attractive cover for the park lever is also on the list of to-do's, but I'll probably just have an aluminum or brass plate engraved and bond it to the lever handle.

 

All in all, it’s been an interesting learning moment.

All Body Patches Installed!

The last of the body patch panels have been installed, welds ground, and bare metal prepped for priming. Still lots of small repairs and welds to finish, but with the larger panels in place it feels like major progress has been made. The fenders and doors need patches, but for now I’m anxious to get enough parts together to roll around and to use as a base to build on.

 

I received the body mount pads yesterday, and the mount hardware has been soaking in a mixture of lemon juice and white vinegar for several days, so the rust is about gone. In theory I could install the body at any time, but I’d prefer to accomplish a few things while everything is easily accessible. I have all the parts needed to replace the suspension and steering, and the disc brake conversion can be done at any time, so that would be the logical next step.  Decisions, decisions!

I would also like to install a cross member for the transmission mount before the body goes on, but I haven’t decided what to use. I have one from an old ½ ton Dodge that could be adapted without too much work, but it’s awfully heavy. I suppose I could build one from scratch, but by the time I figure out the dimensions and the stock is procured and cut to size, the truck part could be long installed. However, I think the cleanest option would be to find one of the removable center sections from a unibody Mopar and just install stubs on each side of the frame to bolt it to.

Before anything can be done, I need to find the dimensions between engine and transmission mounts so the cross member can be properly located. That task will be complicated by the fact that I also need to install brackets to accept spool type motor mounts. Sure wish I had pulled them off my old Aspen parts car before I junked it!

I’m not having much luck locating a Poly engine. The only responses to an online ad were from New England and Pennsylvania, so the shipping costs would equal the price of the engine core! It’s hard to believe there isn’t something available in North Texas. I thought I had found one just six miles away, as a guy posted a Craig’s List ad for a 318 removed from a ’66 Dodge Coronet. Since so many “A” engines have been replaced by “LA”s over the decades, I asked the seller to check the valve covers before I went to see it, and naturally it turned out to be an “LA”.

I did find a complete ’66 Plymouth B-body in East Texas, and it also has the 727 transmission I want, but I don’t need the rest of the car and the seller won’t pull the parts I need, even when told he could keep the rest of the car.  By the time I had the car hauled 150 miles the price would be steep for a couple of cores, and I certainly don’t relish pulling an engine behind the garage while the temps are in triple digits.

Johnny Cash Museum

The Johnny Cash Museum in Memphis is opening this weekend and will showcase the crop of stars who launched their careers at Sun Records in the nineteen fifties, all of which are on my favorite artists list. Since Roy Orbison and his music found their way into so many scenes in my novel, and since a '56 Fury was one of the characters, and since the book's title was inspired by one of his hit songs, it only seems fitting on this weekend to link a 1956 ad for a show featuring Sun Records talent, when both my Plymouth and Roy Orbison were fresh on the scene.

Quarter Panel Replacement

Still working on the right rear quarter panel. It will be replaced in three pieces, since full patch panels are non-existent. With the discovery of more rust than expected behind the exterior metal, I was once again back to fabricating replacement parts. The reinforcement panel over the wheel well was a challenge, with multiple bends and curves, but I finally scabbed together a functional substitute.

 

After prepping and painting the area that will be inaccessible, I fit checked the largest of the three parts required to eliminate rust damage. It actually fits quite well and only needed a tiny bit of massaging. One cool morning this week, I’ll pull the car outside again and finish the final grinding to match the edges.

 

Another FWIW…before replacing any panels, I practiced with the flanging tool on some scrap metal and decided it was a big waste of time and didn’t make fitting any easier than butt welding the new panels to the old sheet metal.

Designing a five-button transmission shifter to fit in the original Plymouth housing is turning into a challenge, but one I really enjoy. The brass tubing arrived today, so along with the ½” Lexan that arrived last week, I’m now ready to begin putting parts together. I’m first carving a set of buttons out of wood to make sure there is no interference between adjacent buttons during gear selection. If their shape and locations prove out, I can make a new trim plate with five holes. When compared to the original PowerFlite arrangement, the neutral and reverse buttons will be swapped, but the others will be in the same position as later TorqueFlite layouts.

After that will be the real challenge of designing a park lever and housing that looks like something that might have come from the factory. It looks good on paper, so I hope it operates as expected.

The most worrisome problem I have at this point is if the buttons will operate easily, or if the force to move the cable to switch gears on the newer transmission will be excessive for selecting with one finger. I’d hate to have to revert to a floor shift after all the time and money I have invested in the pushbutton modifications, and there is no simple way to modify the throw distance except with a bell crank.

Exterior Patching in Work

Got my spindles with new kingpins back from the machine shop and I don’t feel so bad that I couldn’t get them apart. They too had a devil of a time if all the tooling marks visible by the lock pins are any indication. That and the bill! Good thing I won’t live long enough to see this set wear out and have to go through that again.

The driver's side front quarter panel patch is in.

 

I rolled the car outside again to grind welds and prime the driver’s side repairs, and to cut out the lower quarter on the passenger side. There was quite a bit of hidden rust that will require additional custom-formed parts to repair the hidden panels, but since the afternoons are now too hot to work long hours, progress will be slow. I’ll be spending more time designing the custom interior until the weather moderates.

 

Speaking of…after a fruitless search for square or rectangular thinwall stainless steel tubing to make the pushbutton shells, I had to settle for brass. I really would have preferred stainless to more closely match the OEM parts, but if the brass turns out to be a light color, it should match the Fury gold parts okay. They notified me today that the brass tubing has been shipped.

I also couldn’t get green ½” Plexiglass in small quantities, so had to settle for clear Lexan. I’ll have to experiment with green lighting to see if I can approximate the original parts, but if not, I guess it’s not a big deal.

I’m still working the gold anodized side trim problem, but the anodizing shop has yet to come up with an estimate, and since the original pattern isn’t available in a roll wider than 7 3/4” I’ll have to make a decision on a substitute pattern. With my planned modification, 9” would be perfect, but anything narrower would probably look wrong.

And there is another tool glitch to make my day. Something is amiss with my welder, and it’s becoming difficult to make good welds, even with all new metal. It sputters and sometimes fails to start cleanly.  The manual and an Internet search point toward a bad connection, but everything is clean and tight, and the cables aren’t damaged, and changing settings doesn’t help, so that’s one more opportunity.