When looking for the tail shaft mounting plate, take note of your mounting hole arrangement. Some were 2 forward 1 in back, some were 1 forward and 2 in back. You may have to make one. I did when I installed a factory Ford 1970 Hurst 4 speed shifter onto my 1969 Toploader 4 speed tail shaft.
Here are a few pics of my Ford shifter from Fairlaine/Sunbeam Tiger used on 15 1/2" tailshaft, can see the difference between KodyGuy's plate and that on mine. Also the difference between the Mustang type 14" tailhousing and Fairlaine/Tiger 15 1/2" tailhousing. As long as you have the same 14" tailshaft housing as pictured with mounts on rear, your shifter should bolt right up, but sounds like you already have it bolted up, so you're OK...
Here is the shifter installed looking from the top. Yeah it does not have those springs that need to go into those indents on the base of the shaft handle... I get 3-4th and reverse. The outer rod moves, middle one is reverse, the one closet to the trans is 1-2. It does not move. Pix three clearly shows that indent with the missing part. Picture 1 shows both 3 and 4 speed transmissions laying side by side. Looking at the 4 speed with the drive shaft you can see the mounting plate that we used.
So I gather that all you linkage rods are attached to the tranny shifter levers? Even when you try to pull shifter over for 1/2, nothing moves, correct? Just out of curiousity, try removing the 1/2 rod from the tranny lever and see if you can shift 1/2. If you can, then something maybe out of adjustment on the tranny, if you still can not shift 1/2 then something with the shifter itself. Looking down at the shifter, when you shift into 1/2 the large shaft should move to the right to engage the 1/2 linkage. You can see the locking tab engaged in the shifter body for the reverse. I have to take a closer look at the shifter I have pictured and see if I can see if something is missing on yours...... Just wondering if the plate that you are using on the tranny is blocking that shifter shaft from moving to the right. If you look at where my shifter mounts onto the tailshaft, you can see a cutout for the shaft. On the Mustang tailshaft, it is slim so the shifter can still shift without hitting the tailshaft top. You have the same cutout on your tailshaft which is in the middle. You may have to notch out top of plate for shift the engage 1/2........... David
David (dyent) Yes, all rods are attached. Yes, nothing moves. I can put it in reverse. Or 3rd or 4th. But it does NOT go into 1-2. I see the outer rod (left rod when looking down from the drivers seat move) move the shifter to the left and down, the middle rod moves. I printed your post, and will try this at 9am on Sat. Looking down at the shifter, you can see the 3 rods to the left of the picture below the tunnel....the right one (inner one) just barely (1/16th of an inch) moves. The outer one moves 2-3 inches and the middle one is the reverse. It moves. We will check the plate (Ford NOS) and see if anything is hitting when we get it up on the rack in the morning. WILL??? Once we install those caps, springs and rubber plugs on the shift handle base, will this make the shift mechanism begin to work properly? Or do you think I have an issue with the mechanism? The pics I have are only looking down at the unit from the drivers seat. I will get under the car in the morning with some pictures.
Whoa, hold on here, middle is reverse??? That can't be right... Would make no sense to have to cross reverse when shifting from 2nd to 3rd...
your shifter handle has the cross lever which is below the knob that you pull up to engage reverse? you should beable to see down the RH side of the shifter if the adapter plate is interferring with the shifter going into 1/2, can't quite see on pic above. did you have a change to trial mount/test the shifter on the 4 speed before installing in the car? I know it is too late now, but trial testing with it outside of car makes it easier to adjust and see if any problems etc....... have someone turn the input shaft, while you shift through the gears..........
yeah, he may have linkage hooked up wrong too........which is why easier to trial/test when it is outside of the car.......will take another look at shop manual for linkage orientation.
here is YouTube that shows proper shifter/linkage hook up and trial/testing........ 3/4 lever on LH (outside), 1/2 lever in middle and reverse on RH recheck your linkage, I think you have 1/2 and reverse backwards........... David
Epilogue: After much yelling at the poor tech, and viewing all the threads AND....Toploader Youtube video, he climbed back down into the pit under the car---Jessie disconnected everything. I put it in 1st, he locked down the shift rod. Then to 3rd, he locked down that rod. Then to reverse, and it was locked down and tightened. It was in 1st. VERY STIFF but went in. I did a bodacious burnoff pulling out in traffic--with a nice 2nd gear tire burn. 1st, 2nd it went nicely into 3rd. I made a Uturn then came back. Those 30 year old tires are hard, and easy to burn. Wait til new BF Goodrich and some GT rims are installed. Tally the damages boys, the car is coming home. One, to get it out of there at $105 an hour. Two to get it home where it belongs. The Flowmasters sound sweet. The clutch chattered just a bit--very faint, but that I can live with. The clutch is new. Now that the TL is in, it is time to start on the paint and interior. THAT I am capable of doing.....I prefer single stage paint but I can live with 2 stage. I thank everyone for their help. It was invaluable..... $1025 was the tally. Clutch, mufflers, and trans swap. This trans MUST be a close ratio. I need to now find my old 2.79 which I swapped out to a 3.00 years ago. It's taching pretty good at 55...going to be a tire burning stop light to stoplight terror but not something that will handle high speed freeway running. Biggers tires will help, but the rear needs to be back to the the factory 2.79. I stashed it in the garage way back when. Like pre 1983....so it has to be sitting back under the work bench. If not someone surely has one stashed in their work shop. Speedo working too! 107k on the whole car.
