After learning that I'd have to chop apart the floor of my Galaxie if I wanted a TKO600 in it, I ended up calling Gear Vendors and David Kee this week to see what the deal was. Gear Vendors claims no binding issues of shift rods. David Kee mentioned that they only install Hurst Competition Plus shufters on that setup. Kee has only done a couple of them in the last several years and didn't remember anything glaringly bad. May have to clearance some things lightly, but no major issues.
Here's the deal.....Gear Vendors only casts one tailhousing body, and for the long style tailhousing cars, they machine them and bolt on an adapter plate that shifts the shifter location backward. Doesn't sound like they receive enough orders for long tailhousing cars that making a separate casting would pay off.
I thought back on it...I believe the people I had talked to about the gear vendors setup were both using factory shifters. They both claimed the same issue, that the placement of the shifter on the housing put the rods in a bind. Sounds like they just needed to swap to a Hurst shifter. I'm not sure what the differences in the two are, but apparently it's enough to make the factory one a problem?
I'm headed to the barn Friday afternoon to see if I can find a usable toploader to re-do and I'll be ordering the gear vendors unit for it.
