Coulum shift to a Non colum shift

[gbodyfever]

Has anybody ever took the complete steering colum with a colum shift and swapped it for a non colum shift, i have a colum shift and im putting in a b&m floor shifter so i really dont want the colum shift, is it a fairly easy swap/ will everything fit fine? or is it difficult and mods need to be done type thing, the colum shift is in my 85 brougham and i have the non colum shift out of my 86 supreme, any help would be nice

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Should bolt right in. You will need to hook up the neutral safety switch to the shifter and the reverse lights as well. These functions are run off a white plastic piece on the top of the column near the firewall on a column shift car.

 

[GP403]

Your backup lights and P/neutral safety switch won't work though unless you hook up the linkage from the transmission to the column. The column sleeve is what operates those switches IIRC. I know at one point on my Cutlass way back in the day I had swapped in a column after it got smashed out, and had to swap in the backdrive linkage sleeve with the correct backup light switch(?) and grommet to the column in order to hook it up.

Been a while since I did that so I'm definitely fuzzy on the details. Now that I think about it I could be way off, but I know I did this at one point! (Slept since then!) But unless that sleeve rotates when you shift gears those things (BU lights, P/N safety, dash gear indicator if you've got one) won't work.

If you wanted to just leave the old column and remove the handle, you can use it as a poor man's ignition lockout. Just rotate the column out of P/N and nobody's starting the car! Also works when converting from auto/column shift to stick

[EDIT: Now that I think about it, I really can't remember why I had to do that in the first place, all the pieces should be there.... must be getting old or something]

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Thing is, he's not using a GM shifter, he's using a B&M. I do not have experience with his particular shifter, but I do know that some of these shifters do have both switches either built-in or available as an optional upgrade. So, he can bypass the column's reverse/neutral switch all together and just run wires from the plugs on the column to the shifter. If not, the reverse switch could probably be rigged with some sort of momentary switch in such a way that it only hits the button when it is placed in reverse. Same thing with neutral safety. This is one of the areas that I like the way AMC did it better. AMC's used Saginaw columns just like GM, but they used Chrysler Torqueflite transmissions ( after 1972) that have both switch functions built into a 3 pin switch that works off the valve body of the transmission.

 

[GP403]

yeah but IIRC the linkage doesn't connect to the shifter->column, it connects to the lever on the transmission itself. I'll have to dig up a drawing to refresh my memory!

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

yeah but IIRC the linkage doesn't connect to the shifter->column, it connects to the lever on the transmission itself. I'll have to dig up a drawing to refresh my memory!

Yeah, but I am suggesting bypassing the switch on the column entirely and just running one on the shifter itself. I'd have to look up the actual shifter he has and see if it is even something it comes with, but a lot of the better ones do for street rod and other custom applications. Lokar or Painless may also have a solution if you eliminate the column's switch function to allow for a more sanitary installation. I would also think that if GM did it this way, the Column off the other G body he's using for parts would have all of the necessary parts to hook it up the way GM did it. Another option would be to find out how it's done on a 3rd gen F body as it too uses a Saginaw column and none of them were ever column shift. I am leaving college right now ( The school's WiFi owns!) and maybe I'll take a look while I am there.

 

[Silent viewer]

all you have to do is swap it like you normally would swap your column and then hook the shifter up. the linkage that previosly was used to shift the transmission now only rotates the part on the column that the shifter is normally atached to there fore you still have neuteral safety and reverse light hooked up not to mention still show you on your gauge panel what gear you are in. thats how it was made to work from the factory. dont make this harder then it needs to be!! there should be no cut wires or any linkage pieces removed, just a shifter added!

 

[gbodyfever]

thanks everyone!
its the B&M pro ratchet and yes it does come with the reverse backup light switch and the nuetral safety switch aswell, reading the intructions is said in any case these switches should be hooked up from cutting the wires under the dash and wiring to the switches, but like regalman said, i did try this in a previous cutlass with a b&m hammer shifter leaving the linkage there and it left the backup light and nuetral safety still all working without any wiring..if i wire it up which wires do i look for? or whats this white plastic piece that was mentioned?does it have ends to run the wire righ to the switches or what? explain more

 

[mebe007]

i put a B&M mega shifter in my regal, but have yet to wire the switches up, so any help would be great for the two of us. wire colors, exact location, how to get to them. the reason you cannot use the factory switch with the B&M is because it uses a different transmission shift lever, eliminates the stock one all together so there is no way to run the linkage from the transmission to column. i am just going to remove the gear selection lever off of the column for mine(not as clean but it will work since i don't have a non column shift column at my disposal)

 

[gbodyfever]

i was gunna go with the megashifter but decided i liked the ratchet action and more racey look to it.but yeah as he stated the location, colors and all that for these wires would be geat so i can dispose of the stock shift linkage, thanks.