FE C6 shift lever?

[fescj428]

I am building a 69 Fairlane Cobra clone car and recently bought a C6 out of a 68 Galaxie with floor shift. My Fairlane will have column shift and I have heard that you can flip the shift lever around to accommodate the column shift? I knew you could do that with a C4 but never tried it with a C6. Can I just flip it around, or is it simply better to get correct shift lever.........since trans will be a part for rebuild? Thank you!

[JamesonRacing]

Column shift levers are easy to find.  Floor shift levers are more desirable for most people and are harder to find.  I'd sell the floor shift lever to offset a bit of the cost of the rebuild and use the correct lever for your column shift.

[FirstEliminator]

I believe the column shift levers are a longer radius than the console type. It hasn't worked for me when flipping a column to use with a console shift. I wonder if the truck column shift lever is the same as a Fairlane?

[fescj428]

What do you folks think of Lokar parts? I found a C6 trans column shift lever and linkage setup they offer that looks pretty good. It's not expensive and looks like it would eliminate my need to find somewhat rare linkage.........mine being a big block column shift car. Any thoughts? Thanks

[FERoadster]

Just read this and realized that I do have 4  C6 PU transmissions that were column shift. These have the flange for the driveshaft.
Would one of those arms work?
I'll get a picture this evening

Richard >>> FERoadsterr

[wayne]

If you want to sell the floor lever let me know

[fescj428]

Well, I called Lokar about the C6 shifter linkage and good thing I did. The design they have is to be used with a GM style steering column? Must be for street rod use or something? So, I'll need to find the correct stuff for my car. I'm not certain if a pick up truck style column shift lever is the same as car style? I'll need to find some pictures. I do have the "car" MPC for part numbers, but I don't have any truck MPC info. I'd be glad to sell the lever I have after I find what I need. So, I'll keep looking. Thanks for the responses! Brian

[FERoadster]

Here is a picture of the C6 Pickup shift lever

I also checked the one C6 car trans I have and the lever seems the same, only the kickdown arm has a way different orientation. It point almost straight back and not downward.

[fescj428]

I appreciate the picture. I'm not certain if it's correct or not? The MPC I have is the actual parts counter 1975 final printing, and very few levers are listed as most had gone obsolete. It looks like the one you have might be correct orientation wise as mine is sort of half moon shaped and pointing up. But, without something to cross reference, I really don't know? I'll need to do some more digging, but if anyone has more info, I'd sure appreciate it! Thx

[FirstEliminator]

You have a column shift car. What did the lever look like of the trans that came out?     The console style shift lever is the one you have. The one pictured above is column style. You cannot turn yours upside down to work. The only remaining question is, is the truck column lever and a car column lever the same? They will look the same. What I don't know is are they are the same radius?

[fescj428]

I  bought the Fairlane as a complete less drivetrain car, and it is a column shift car. I bought the C6 I have from a guy in the Cleveland area that had parted out a 68 Galaxie xl with 390 and floor shift.So, I need the correct lever and possibly kick down for column shift car. I don't have pictures that I can upload, but my shift lever on the Galaxie C6 is more half moon shaped and pointed upwards. I've been told that I need one that points more downwards similar to the truck C6 that FERoadster has pictures of. And, I am not certain how kick down corresponds to all of this? I can certainly get the B&M trans universal type C6 shift lever if I have too? But, I'd rather have the correct parts. I just don't know exactly what I need, and I've googled a thousand combinations that just come up with nothing.

[FirstEliminator]

This is my 68 Colony Park with a column shifted C-6.  This is probably what you need. The only marking on the shift lever is   APC .

[fescj428]

Thank you for the picture Mark! I would agree with you, can't believe there would be an assortment of car based column shift levers. I would suspect one part number took care of things. The kick down on my trans appears to be exactly like yours, so the hunt begins for the lever. Thanks to everyone who responded!

[FirstEliminator]

The lever looks very much like FERoadster's  truck lever. The pick-up lever was made until 96, so you could probably walk into any local trans shop and they might pull one out of a box or odds and ends. The truck lever might vary a little bit but have probably kept the same geometry all the way through.

[fescj428]

The spring Columbus swap is coming up in a couple weeks, so if nothing else, might find one there? And yes, I could try some local transmission shops. At least now I know what I'm looking for, and the truck lever gives me an alternative. After you posted the Colony Park shift lever picture, I found a picture on the internet of a 69 Fairlane Cobra column shift C6, and the lever matches yours. Just need to find it.........and keep moving forward on this thing! Thx

[FERoadster]

I've posted a couple of photo's here but the transmissions are in a hard to reach place for additional photos.
I ended up "breaking" one of the arms off the collar while trying to get it off the trans. How do you remove the arm and collar? This one seemed furnace welded.
 Short of using oxy-acel? Tried my additional 4 transmissions and none will budge. The kickdown lever picture is from the car trans and a PU trans. Even though a different shape the 2 ends match up.  The shift lever that broke off the collar is a PU lever and has alot more offset but is the same length as the car arm.  One of my PU trans has the same shift lever as my Car C6 and has the bends as shown in the previous photo. If I can get the shift levers and collars off I'll post more photos.
My camera was not set for close-ups so the photos are not in focus. I'll get additional later.

Richard   

[wayne]

You have to pull the valve body to change the lever i think.

[fescj428]

I should have posted this sooner, but it was a busy day and couldn't get to it till now. I called a local transmission shop earlier today that has been in business for a very long time. I was surprised to find out that they had an old Ford man caring for their used transmission parts. Anyway, they have the exact shaft that I need taken out of a 69 big block Fairlane C6 with column shift. In fact, they have a treasure trove of old C6 parts as well as many others. So, I am covered on this. And yes, you have to remove pan and valve body to remove shaft.........many apologies to FERoadster as I truly appreciate your help. The willingness of everyone to help on FE Power has not gone unnoticed by myself. I appreciate all of the pictures, Mark's help from Berkshire, and hopefully I can help in return sometime myself. If anyone would like to know the name of this local transmission shop, please PM me. I got lucky, maybe someone else will. Thank you all! Brian

[FERoadster]

I always say live and learn. These transmissions may well "eventually" end up as scrap when I run put of space. (not the universe however)
Glad for the endeavor.

Richard >>> FERoadster