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The Great Shift Linkage Bushing And Insulator Caper

7K views 21 replies 8 participants last post by  Marauderjack 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey All,
Some time ago I had an invitation from Jon Mikalonis to possibly do a Tech Article with the promise that they would send me one of them spiffy FM Forum T-Shirts. AND then if I would do some more of them Tech Articles that they would send me one of them spiffy FM Forum Jackets. AND then if I would do even some more of them Tech Articles, they would start sending me $100.00 checks with which to pay for fixing up Ms. American 3.14159.

Well, I got one of them Tech Articles all set to go, and I wrote Jon Mikalonis about it, and got no response. And then I wrote to R. DeVito (because it says in the thing about Tech Articles that he would help), but I haven't gotten any response from him either.

So I figure what the heck, I'll just post the Tech Article here, since I'm getting no response from J. Mikalonis, or R. DeVito it's probably because they don't want to part with any of their T-Shirts, Jackets, and $100.00 Checks.

Anyway, here is what I had all ready to send off to them and this is the explanation of it all:

A while back I ordered a bunch of parts from from my favorite 1963, 63.5, and 64 Ford Galaxie parts supplier in Floral City, Florida. And the parts came, and they are WONDERFUL. That is all except for the two Three-Speed, Manual Transmission, Bushing and Insulator Sets.

They were disappointing, and EXPENSIVE, and not up to what I usually expect from GD, and certainly NOT what I would put on my "ture lurve" Ms. American 3.14159.

BUT, not to worry. With just a little work, I "fixed" the problem, and now what I am going to install is going to work just fine, and in fact be easier to install than the "original" Shift Bushing and Insulator.

Here is a JPG of one of the two "ORIGINAL" Shift Bushing and Insulators:



Here is what it looks like on "edge".



This is how it looked on the Shift Linkage:



So HERE is what I got for $8.00 from GD:



Those are four rubber washers, and two small plastic tube segments. About $.02 at the local hardware store, and I paid $8.00 each, and got two of them for $16.00 total.

And here is what they look like when all put together:



Now this is just NOT going to work because there is no flange to hold them in the Shift Arm Hole! You see what I mean? Look at the ORIGINAL, and you'll see that it has a small center, and a larger flange on each side.

And here is what it looks like on the Shift Linkage:



Now THIS is NOT going to work. It isn't going to stay in the Shift Lever as it has no "flanges" to hold it in place. You see what I mean?

So HERE is what I did to "fix" that. I took another piece of rubber gasket material, and I traced onto it the outline of the ORIGINAL Bushing and Insulator. BTW, if those don't look quite right it's because of the wide angle lens and the hyper closeup shot. They are, in fact, both exactly the same size with the same size hole in the middle:



And this is a JPG of what the pieces look like in the set that I made:



And here is a shot of the ORIGINAL Bushing and Insulator (right), and the assembled Bushing and Insulator that I made (left).



And this LAST JPG is of the Bushing and Insulator that I made on the Shift Linkage.



Well, THAT'S it!

Just as soon as I get the "last bolt" installed in the passenger side exhaust manifold, I'm going to be putting the Shift Linkage back into place using the NEW and IMPROVED Bushings and Insulators.

Thanks for reading, and your comments are welcome.

And if Jon Mikalonis or R. DeVito are reading, you can send me a T-Shirt, or you don't have to. It's up to YOU! :)

Hope you are all well.

JC
 
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#5 ·
Hey mon Deb,
GREAT IDEA! Why didn't I think of that?

Thanks for the light bulb!

JC
 
#6 ·
JC - What did you use between the two rubber washers
Hey 62XL,
There are two of the GD (Greg Donahue) rubber washers that came in the $8.00 kit. Those rubber washers are held together by one of the little pieces of plastic tubing going through their center holes. Then the two larger RED rubber washers are also held on the little piece of plastic tubing.

and how are the pieces held together?
They are held in place on the tubing, and then there are two steel washers, one on the side facing the slot in the Shift Linkage, and the other on the other side from the Shift Linkage, and then there is the little wire keeper that acts like a cotter pin to keep them on the post over which the little plastic tubing fits.

Great how-to... thanks for posting it.
Thanks for the compliment. And you are, of course, welcome.

JC
 
#10 ·
I specifically looked up this thread started by the one and only JC to see what he did because he was so in depth on his descriptions of how he accomplished his capers and accckkk, no pictures! Guess maybe i can hunt him down on the other ford forums and see if he might pull a picture or two out of his hat.
 
#12 ·
Just in case y'all would like to HELP.......JC got hit hard by Tornadoes on 4-25-20 and is in the process of trying to recover.......his house was the only one left standing in his neighborhood!!:oops:

Lorrie was destroyed and his house suffered lotsa damage!!:cry:

Click the link below to find out more and please donate if ya can........THANKS!!(y)(y)

Emergency Disaster Relief for J.C. Allison organized by Jeane Champion
 
#13 ·
Just donated.
I ask if anybody else reads this, think how blessed you are or times where people helped you out when you needed it!
I don’t know JC,never talked to or met him, but people always help me out when I need it so figured I would help a fellow car guy
 
#15 ·
I had no idea! I talked to lester on FB but can't remember his handle but he lives not far from JC but hasn't seen him in a long time. Wasn't much help in how JC fared in that tornado. Told FeandGoingBroke about the tornadoes and he tried calling and was going to email him but don't know if he got in touch with him or not either. Maybe Lorrie tried to protect the place, lorrie's last stand! Thanks for letting us know! Will help out myself as I owe many pay it forwards!
 
#16 ·
Hey Deb.......

JC may not be back online just yet....they are trying to get a roof on his house and fix the interior damage!!

Lorrie was crushed and I understand that he's considering making a HOT ROD out of what's left of her........he has an amazing WILL and the drive of 20 men........the ONLY thing holding him back is his age!!

Tell everyone you know about what happened and help financially if ya can!!??

THANKS and HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!!
 
#17 ·
I don't have the ambition that guy does and he's like the wheelman steady as she goes and just keeps moving along! I made a donation, not big but it's something. Gary had no idea so I tagged him in my FB post about it and had added a couple pics of PI and Lorrie. Gary's first words almost, as I mentioned Lorrie in the post, was how is Ms American PI. I don't know if it's good or bad that i added pics of the 2 as people might still think we are nuts. Another guy from here also mentioned her. I just said sometimes cars are sentient i don't care what anyone says! They also become family right? Gary was able to get hold of him and talked to him about 40 mins. He's doing well and guess JC told him all about his plans for Lorrie's transformation. I feel another caper is coming!

Thank you for posting about this as I had no idea and couldn't remember what forum he was on. I went to one but think he left that one also? I looked a bit googling and gave up on it. Found tons of other stuff, his stories and such from years ago even. More recently I somehow ran across a video of that vusic he talked of and crystalume etc, there's a lot of videos now and a FB page. Interesting.
 
#21 ·
I don't have the ambition that guy does and he's like the wheelman steady as she goes and just keeps moving along! I made a donation, not big but it's something. Gary had no idea so I tagged him in my FB post about it and had added a couple pics of PI and Lorrie. Gary's first words almost, as I mentioned Lorrie in the post, was how is Ms American PI. I don't know if it's good or bad that i added pics of the 2 as people might still think we are nuts. Another guy from here also mentioned her. I just said sometimes cars are sentient i don't care what anyone says! They also become family right? Gary was able to get hold of him and talked to him about 40 mins. He's doing well and guess JC told him all about his plans for Lorrie's transformation. I feel another caper is coming!

Thank you for posting about this as I had no idea and couldn't remember what forum he was on. I went to one but think he left that one also? I looked a bit googling and gave up on it. Found tons of other stuff, his stories and such from years ago even. More recently I somehow ran across a video of that vusic he talked of and crystalume etc, there's a lot of videos now and a FB page. Interesting.
 
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