[jbranontn]

I'm thinking of putting a B&M floor shifter in my 66 Tempest...The car has a TH-350 trans in it with the stock column shift. What all is involved in this change....How much would it effect value of car....Is this something I should consider doing or not?....The car has the stock 50/50 split front seat.....Anyone have any advice or experience in this mod?

[Half-Inch Stud]

Well, if you get a factory floor shifter then the valve will likely go up. And it will be fum to shift. 1970's F-body shifters seem to have 4-screw mounts while the 68-70 GTO shifters only have the rear 2 screw mounst and thus flop fore/aft when in use.

If you install that B&M floor shifter it may frustrate you despite the 4-screw mount points, everything else will be a headache: Shift cable no less than 2 feet too long, shift bracket & lever to Transmission is completely DIFF from factory so if you be missing 1 part then the whole setup is a frustration to connect. Could perhaps shift from the back seat. Shift indicator BINDING up into the shift mechanicals just when you are farthest from home, and dark out. Plastic cover is slick...until it cracks.
. Some Factory autos can make use of the column lock-out to keep them Reverse lights working during state inspection. Also a bit freaky or geeky (depends on the date) when the column lever moves while working the floor shift.
Column shift lever pops out easy enough by popping out the hinge pin. Could leave pin loose for a handy defense club, if you frequent a city.
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Yeap, I did it different this time, and added a column shift to a factory 4-speed car. I needed to decrease the value since the 4-speed setup was largely missing (okay, I sold the Z-bar & console) and is an unreliable compared to the TH400. I did however re-add the HURST 4-speed floor shifter to the TH400, so I got that working for me. So I work the column OR the floor shift to effect shifting. Kinda weird, kinda cool depending on the uninformed on-looker. Whoa, look at the time.

[b-man]

The factory did offer floor shifters with bench seats, but only with manual transmissions. These shifters used a special stick that was bent forward at the bottom and then made a large curved bend towards the rear in order to clear the lower seat cushion and to place the shift knob where it could be used comfortably.

An automatic floor shift was never offered from the factory with a front bench seat. The placement of the floor shifter would be uncomfortable to use as it would have to be located pretty far forward. Not to mention some of the mechanical issues with the cable and linkage itself, as outlined in the above post.

Personally I'd keep the column shifter in a bench seat automatic car. In my opinion it would devalue the car, at least if I was looking to buy it.

If you're dead-set on putting an aftermarket floor shifter in your car, consider replacing the front bench with bucket seats so everything looks right and works in harmony.

As a side note, if yu find that you're looking to sell your bench seat I know someone here on PY that would like to either buy it from you outright or perhaps even trade it for some '66 buckets as part of the deal.