Colomn to Floor Shift modification????? please help

[William]

I have a 1971 2 door Maverick with a 250 and a c-4 transmission. About 2 days ago I went out to the local junkyard and found a grabber that had floor shift for $35.00 I jumped on the deal and got the floor shift. Now today I know should have done the research ahead of time I went out, cut a hole in the floor, and put in the shifter. When I raised the car on the jack I found out that the transmission lever is pointed toward the front when it needs to be pointed up???? I have read that you have to drop the pan and remove the valve assembly but I am 16 and don't have any transmission knowledge. What is the valve assembly?? is it just one whole piece or is it a couple???? The local transmission shop wants $80.00 to do this. I f anyone has done this conversion I would sure like some help. Also the lever does need to be pointed up right???

Thanks for any help William

[Old Guy]

16 is a great age to be, learning by doing is a fun and sometimes frustrating experience, but the satisfaction of a job well done is a plus for anyone. The valve body is a one piece unit that can be removed after the pan and fluid are removed. With no drain plug, just loosen a few bolts and let it drain out into a suitable container(messy as hell though) loosen valve body mounting bolts(not all the bolts that hold two halves of it toghether) ease it down and put in a clean place until ready to install again.
You will see a large nut on the selector lever, this takes a 7/8 wrench, remove this nut and pull shift lever out from case. There are two flats on the lever and the detent lever inside, rotate the lever 180deg down and reinstall into the detent lever. Install nut and kickdown lever and valve body, lining all things up, do not over tighten the small mounting screws!! Good idea to install a drain plug in the pan for future work etc. The librarys have many books that will show all the details of this project or get a Haynes Ford trans book from local parts house. If this is not in your mechanical abilities, then 80.00 is pretty reasonable including fluid refill etc. Good luck either way.

[William]

so the lever coming out of the transmission has to be pointed down???? To me it looks like it needs to be pointed up so that when I pull the floor shifter back, making the rod go foward it would puch the transmission selector foward and down making it go into gear?????

Thanks for the help William

[PonyDoc]

I just did this swap. The previous answer was right- the lever needs to rotate 180*. You should also get the steering column so you don't have the selector on the column.It is different and you may have a problem if the years are not the same- the key cylinder doesn't swap from the early years to the late ones. A good locksmith can solve this problem. You might also have the local shop do this and see how much more to add a shift kit, while it's apart. It will give you better power and shouldn't cost too much more. We used to pay $25 just for the kit when they were rebuilt, and it didn't add anything else to the rebuild price.