1954 Plymouth Belvedere

[fishnuts.]

like the title says, i own a 1954 Belvedere and am having a hell of a time with the stock 3 spd.  i am curious if summit racing universal 3 spd floor mount shifter will work with my transmission to by pass the column shifter.  does anyone have any info on this?  any help will be appreciated, thanks again, andy.

[fishnuts.]

i understand these cars came with a Hy Drive, but is this standard 3 speed or is there another transmission?  if there is i can't seem to find any info on it...

[54Illinois]

The clutch pedal would say Hy Drive.  Usually the pedal is red.  Sure you have a 3 on the tree?

[Old Ray]

i am curious if summit racing universal 3 spd floor mount shifter will work with my transmission

 

I don't think so, from some really old dead brain cells I dimly remember something about dodge transmissions not having two shift arms on the side of the transmission that move forward and back to shift into each gear that the universal shifter is made for, …………..but I could be wrong!

[fishnuts.]

positive its a 3 speed on the steering column.  clutch pedal is black, so i am assuming its just a standard manual transmission correct? if so, does anyone know the model name?

[B-Watson]

Hy-Drive used a 3-speed manual transmission with a torque converter between the engine and the clutch.  The torque converter used oil from the engine.  It was not a semi-automatic transmission as you needed the clutch to shift between any and all gears but could drive without shifting thanks to the torque converter. 

 

No model name for the standard manual transmission  It was just Chrysler's 3-speed manual transmission with column shift, basically the same unit used on the Dodge.  The Hy-Drive was optional as was the mid-year Powerflite.2-speed automatic.    In the U.S. Plymouth used the 217.6-cid engine until the Powerflite automatic was offered, at which time the engine was replaced by Dodge's 230-cid unit. 

 

In Canada Plymouth, and the Canadian Plymouth-based Dodge, used a 218-cid 6 cylinder engine until Hy-Drive was introduced in April, 1953.  At that point the engine became the 228.1-cid engine which was used through 1954 regardless of which transmission the engine was mated to.  For 1955 the base manual transmission used the 228 engine while the Powerflite models used the 260.6-cid engine.

[fishnuts.]

Thanks for the information. Very much appreciated. Next question, what do I do about this transmission. All I can get is first and reverse, second and third gear are impossible to find. I'm guessing the issue is in the steering column being the week link. Could be wrong. Thanks again.

[Don Coatney]

Need a lot more information? Is this a new problem that just happened? What was the last thing on the car that was worked on? What does your repair manual recommend? Have you inspected the shift linkage to insure everything is connected? Did you just buy this car? If so did the prior owner have this problem? Have you ever worked on old cars before?

[james curl]

A standard aftermarket 3 speed floor shifter will not adapt to the early style MoPar transmissions.  The transmission is a two rail shift design, only one arm changes all of the gears and the other selects the rail to shift.  Pull the side plate from the transmission and you will see how this works.  It sounds like the selector is not moving up or down but staying in only one location thus just two gears.  Do you have a manual for your car? If not you should buy one and study it, lots of valuable information in them.

[Jim Yergin]

You might want to adjust the gear selector rod. It is the threaded rod to the transmission. When my transmission would only shift into first and reverse, I adjusted the nut on that rod and solved the problem.

Jim Yergin

[John Reddie]

As I recall, buyers of 1954 Plymouths had 4 options for transmissions. A regular standard three speed, a standard three speed w/ overdrive, a Hy-Drive type, and as was stated, later in the year, a Powerflyte fully automatic transmission. I would try to find the problem with your shifting set-up rather than attempt a floor shift conversion. When the shift is working correctly, these cars are a pleasure to drive.

John R

[54Illinois]

My 3 on the tree was mucked up, could not get into 2nd or 3rd.  I adjusted the linkage in the pic.

 

[james curl]

With these transmissions one arm shifts all of the gears, the other arm only selects the low/ reverse rail in the transmission when you lift the shift lever up toward the steering wheel.  When the shift lever is in the natural down position,  not lifted up,the rail selector is in the second/high rail position.  The arm with the bushing in the hoop fitting shifts all of the gears.

Edited December 21, 2013 by james curl

[fishnuts.]

My 3 on the tree was mucked up, could not get into 2nd or 3rd. I adjusted the linkage in the pic.

Which linkage in the photo are you talking about?

[54Illinois]

Both nuts can be adjusted.  I just started tweeking them until I could shift correctly.  I did not fix anything, I just compensated.

[falconvan]

Same here; I had an identical problem on my first 49. Adjusting the linkage fixed it.

[dndrodshop]

Pretty sure no currently offered floor shifter will work.  They can be re-worked but not "out of the box".  Either re-adjust what you have or heavily modify an existing 3-speed shifter.

[pflaming]

Is this a three speed shifter for a Mopar Tyranny? If so, what is its source? What is the basic unit that is modified?

 

 

 

 

[dndrodshop]

This is a swap meet generic shifter modified to always move one shifting arm forward and backward but when forced to the 2-3 gate it also moves the "modifier" arm on the transmission.  (On a '54 3-speed behind a 241 Hemi.) 

 

Only tried it on the bench so far but seems to work fine.

[rferg]

I think there is one scenario you guys have missed. There's a slotted screw under the top lever - it is a pin to keep the vertical shaft from moving up. If it is sheared, the shaft will raise instead of the internal lever. The shoulder should be at least 1/4" past the end of the threads - if not, it's sheared off!

Edited February 19, 2014 by rferg