hi
does anyone have a assembly diagram for a 1970 muncie shifter? my shifter has a brass colored plate between the reverse and 1&2 plate. my assembly manual only shows exploded views for a 1967 and earlier that does not show this piece.
thanks

 

When I rebuilt my '71 stock shifter it did not have any brass shift plates and it was the original plates that I replaced. Maybe that was an older rebuild kit or something.......shim maybe?????

 

that's what i was thinking, but the manual doesn't show any shims.
thanks

 

Here's my original 71' shifter. No brass, all steel.

 

thanks, duke
thats the picture i needed
jeff

 

Here's a picture I found of my shifter. This is after I used a rebuild kit on it ans made an alighment tool for installation. The rebuild kit consisted of the flat shifter plates that the rods attached to. It shifted really smmoth after the rebuild. I have since set it up for short throw and it is awesome now. At the ball it's about a 3 1/2 inch travel. Real Quick Real FUN

 

i just tore-down my shifter and cleaned it...i then re-assembled it. is there a special grease/lube i should use upon install into the vehicle?

thanks

 

If your "plate" is fairly thin, crescent shaped, and has a square "notch" cut into it then it's the reverse lockout gate.

 

thanks, hammerhead

 

I just used white lithium grease. I can look in my AIM to see what the factory used but the lithium has worked good so far. I had the shifter out when I replaced my trans earlier in the year and the grease was still there.

 

thanks, i applied the white lith grease and now have it installed. it is really smoth compared to before the cleaning, obviously, but....

it seems that the nuetral location between 1st and 2nd is slightly further back than the nuetral position for 3rd and 4th. so, when shifting it seems to angle a bit going from 2nd to 3rd. is this correct? i've driven std sticks on pick-ups and cars, but they seemed to be in-line horizontally accross the pattern. this does seem to enhance a faster shift from 2nd to 3rd, but i'm curious

thanks

 

You need to do some fine tuning on your shifter adjustment.
The three shift lever "notches"; reverse, 1st/2nd, and 3rd/4th should all align with the notch in the reverse lockout gate mentioned above.
There is a tool (shown in one of the posts above) to assist in doing this alignment but it can be done without the tool via a little trial an error.
You can achived this by working from reverse > 1/2 > 3/4 levers using the shift rod adjustment nuts/locks/swivel (each rod uses a different retainer). With the trans in neutral simply loosen each rod attachment and adjust the rod length until the lever notch aligns with the shifter gate. If you like using a clean shifter wait until you have a clean and aligned shifter.

 

thanks

 

How tough is it to get the shifter out of the car with the transmission still installed?

 

Actually it is the first thing I take out when removing the trans and the last thing I put back in. Not its not difficult but it helps if someone is in the car holding it up for you while you take the bracket bolts out (or putting them back in). Get an AIM and you'll see how everything is installed......very helpful.

 

Do you have to take the bracket out, or can you just remove the shifter from the bracket while its in the car?

 

Ever solved a rubics cube in the dark?
Well the first time you do it it's kinda like that only with blood.

But...after your first time it's not too bad, and besides;
I've never pull a C3 tranny with the shifter in the way.
(I guess it could be done but I don't see how).
Anyway, for the brief description:
Pull the shifter ball, lockout handle (don't lose that spring), center console, and lower shifter boot from the inside of the car.
Everything else is from underneath so do the above first and save your interior from the grease and blood.

If you have under car exhaust: remove the lower exhaust hanger, exhaust U bolts, etc that are connected to the shifter support plate.
Now, with all that out the way, remove all three of the shift rods running between the shifter and the tranny. This is easily accomplished once the rods are free from the transmission as they will swing down so you can pull the spring clips from the shifter end.

Loosen the shifter support from the crossmember (you may be able to remove all the bolts holding the shifter support in place but I find that the next step is somewhat easier if the support doesn't move around too much).

Now, you should be down to the shifter which is bolted to the shifter support with two bolts. Remove those bolts (not always easy to get to at first glance but it can be done) and slide the shifter down past the shifter support. It helps to push the reverse lever out of the way of the second bolt holding the shifter to the shifter-support plate. After this you should be able to fold/lay the shifter rods and shifter handle into a position that they will pull out from the front of the crossmember.

Once the shifter is out of the way you should be able to remove the shifter support too.

Saw your other post on the "stuck" shifter.
Sounds like your shift handle is "pinched" between the shift levers as described below. So, If you're gonna rebuild it here's some notes from an old post of mine that may help you both.
Regards

Neither of my stock 71 shifters have a locating "hole".
Both do have the locating slot referenced by chevy.
There is also a little half circle at the back of the shifter assembly that you can align all of the levers up against but it's not a very solid locating point like a hole or slot would be.
I had my shifter out a few weeks ago and rebuilt it. I also constructed the bent "tool" for adjusting the shifter and tested it on the bench. Worked well.
But once the shifter was in the car there was not enough clearance to insert the tool into the slot. I should have drilled an alignment hole while I had it set up on the bench but instead I painted a white alignment stripe across the shift levers and this worked quite well.
Easy to see from below and nothing to insert.

The whole point of the alignement slot/hole is to align the shift levers with the reverse lockout gate. If all the shift levers are aligned with this gate then you get a very smooth operating shifter. If it's off, even a little, you will have a difficult shift operation especially getting from reverse to 1st/2nd and back again. The other thing that makes for a sloppy stock shifter is that the bracket that holds the shift lever assembly stretches over time/abuse and as it becomes wider the levers don't sit close enough together. This space creates slop and allows the shift handle throw rod to become stuck/lost/pinched between the levers. The more you jam it after this the wider the bracket gets and the worse the shifter feel becomes. Most rebuild kits come with a wider reverse lockout gate to take up this slop but if your shifter has been overly abused your recourse is to either replace the bracket or simply bend the original one back using a large vice or small press. I did this on mine and dramatically improved the feel of my shifter. It's operates like new where prior to pulling it out it felt like a broom stick in a bucket.