Muncie Four Speed Shifter with spring metal instead of reverse lock out pin

[Tom D.]

I've only worked on 60-67 Corvettes. With a '65 project, I got a shifter and several baskets of parts. A few of the parts weren't from the 1965, but were "midyear usable".

Today I discovered the Muncie Four Speed Shifter has a spring metal part screwed to the side, instead of a reverse lock out pin on the other side. The flat metal spring wraps around the bottom and pushes on the shift lever. There is no indication that the pin was ever installed (My second photo shows the threaded hole.) Did GM make this change sometime after 1965? I've not seen a shifter like this one before.

shifter spring with phillips screw - 1.jpgshifter without pin for lock out - 1.jpg

[Mike E.]

Re: Muncie Four Speed Shifter with spring metal instead of reverse lock out pin

GM did something similar in C1's. 3-speeds had a spring-steel piece that served as as an automatic assist to push the shifter rod toward the 2nd/3rd side when in neutral.

[Duke W.]

Re: Muncie Four Speed Shifter with spring metal instead of reverse lock out pin

Related question... I drove a '66 recently, and the four-speed Muncie shifter wasn't spring loaded to keep the lever aligned with the 3-4 gate unless you pulled the lever to the left as on my '63 T-10 shifter. This made the 2-3 shift awkward because you had to apply a definite force to the right to get the shifter over to the 3-4 gate or it would tend to hang up or want to go to first. The long time owner said it was normal.

Is that correct? I'm suspicious that this linkage is missing a spring.

Duke

[Joe L.]

Re: Muncie Four Speed Shifter with spring metal instead of reverse lock out pin

I've only worked on 60-67 Corvettes. With a '65 project, I got a shifter and several baskets of parts. A few of the parts weren't from the 1965, but were "midyear usable".

Today I discovered the Muncie Four Speed Shifter has a spring metal part screwed to the side, instead of a reverse lock out pin on the other side. The flat metal spring wraps around the bottom and pushes on the shift lever. There is no indication that the pin was ever installed (My second photo shows the threaded hole.) Did GM make this change sometime after 1965? I've not seen a shifter like this one before.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]101412[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]101413[/ATTACH]

Tom------


I've never seen this spring on any original 1964-81 Corvette 4 speed shifter. The countersunk phillips head attachment screw is very "un-factory-like". While the tapped hole for the stop pin does appear to be unused, I think I can see a contact mark on the shifter lever raised boss.

My guess is that this was some sort of aftermarket mod.

[Rich G.]

Re: Muncie Four Speed Shifter with spring metal instead of reverse lock out pin

Related question... I drove a '66 recently, and the four-speed Muncie shifter wasn't spring loaded to keep the lever aligned with the 3-4 gate unless you pulled the lever to the left as on my '63 T-10 shifter. This made the 2-3 shift awkward because you had to apply a definite force to the right to get the shifter over to the 3-4 gate or it would tend to hang up or want to go to first. The long time owner said it was normal.

Is that correct? I'm suspicious that this linkage is missing a spring.

Duke

My 66 feels as you describe it SHOULD feel. Not the way you said it DID feel.