Muncie shifter change

[KurtS]

The last item in the 1969 shifter section is incorrect. It states....

"Small-block and big-block cars used unique shifter mounting plates bolted to the tailhousing, versus the aftermarket bracket mounted with U-bolts around the tailhousing"

The 69 Hurst/Muncie aftermarket bracket bolted to the tailhousing similar to the factory 69 bracket but was the same for BB and SB.
Hurst did not make an installation kit for the 69 with Saginaw

My bad. I thought the 69 kits also used the U-bolt bracket. I'd seen several with the U-bolt bracket - either they had the wrong kit with the shifter or they were mislabeled. The current kit, 373 7437, still has the bracket.
Fixed.

Victor,
There's no known changes that happened to the 68 shifter design. The brackets/struts stayed the same throughout the model year.

[JoeC]

If you want to add more info.......

another important difference to the 1969 Hurst shifter OEM vs aftermarket is the OEM used rubber bushings for the rod ends.
They used a molded on rubber in 1969 on the 3 shifter levers and on the 2 forward trans levers.

Originals are hard to find as restored and repo (that I have seen) use the 1970 stlye that was changed to a rubber insert bushing.

Hurst after market used a nylon bushing or a bronze bushing if you upgraded with the heavy duty kit.

A Hurst aftermarket shifter would not meet the Chevy spec for noise and vibration.

[vtfb68]

Joe,
 Based on thirty years of collecting what is your opinion on the basic question Did the factory install "MUNCIE" stamped
shifters through the entire 1968 production run?


 John,
 If there was no design change why would they replace them? What would your opinion be for the above question?
  Victor

[KurtS]

Joe,
Thanks for those details!! That's something that I forgot about.

Victor,
Yes, the evidence points to the Muncie handle. Specifically for late cars, I know of an 06C BB car with a Muncie handle and rare396bronze mentioned the 06A car.

Why did they replace them? Just like any other warranty part - because it had a problem (esp if they were used hard). The reverse lockout assembly was a bad design and the design was changed - I don't recall when that occurred. There is a service bulletin on it, IIRC.

[1968 Z28]

Victor,
Yes, the evidence points to the Muncie handle. Specifically for late cars, I know of an 06C BB car with a Muncie handle and rare396bronze mentioned the 06A car.

Why did they replace them? Just like any other warranty part - because it had a problem (esp if they were used hard). The reverse lockout assembly was a bad design and the design was changed - I don't recall when that occurred. There is a service bulletin on it, IIRC.

Victor......The shifter on my 07c Z28 had "MUNCIE" stamped on the handle.  The shifter is long gone now, Hurst replacement back in the late 70's, but I am currently looking for a good original now.

As Kurt mentioned above there was a replacement for the reverse detent and I am including a link showing the exploded view of the shifter and the two detents.

     http://picasaweb.google.com/111239732860979894494/CamarosNetPhotos#5480485472922550210

Also....if you look at the AIM, M20-A4-Item #3, you can see that there were two different part numbers for the shifter lever control.  3934286 for the low performance engines (Saginaw transmissions)...this should be the shifter lever with no stamping. 3934290 for the high performance engines (Muncie transmissions).....this should be the shifter lever with the "MUNCIE" stamping.  At the bottom of the sheet there are no revision entries indicating any changes to the above specifications.

Anyway.....just my take on this.

[JoeC]

As far as I know the Muncie stick was used on Munice trans for all of 1968. One could have slipped out due to mistake or parts shortage but would be hard to prove unless there are baby pictures showing it.

The same shifter design was used in the 68-72 Nova except was a different shape to the chrome stick to fit the Nova better.
If I remember correctly the 1972 SS 350 Nova didnt come with a Muncie. The 72 350 was low on HP and came with Saginaw and 10 bolt rear

The reverse detent was changed from a early design with 6 balls, 2 bushings, a ring shaped spring and a plastic grease cup.
The later one used a coil spring with 2 bushings.

You would really have to look hard to see the difference.

I never had anyone ask for a plain stick shifter as everyone wanted one with the Muncie stamp. I converted some plain sticks to fit a bolt on Hurst aftermarket shifter but was hard to sell them. I still have some of them .

[JoeC]

Looking at some shifters , I remember a question that has come up before on 67-68 Camaro Muncie/Saginaw shifters.

There is a large "T" stamp on some on the chrome stick where it would be covered by the boot. Some have it and some don't.
I don't think there was a difference in the shifter and don't think the "T" was a Chevy code.

The 69-71 Camaro used a Hurst then 1972 and up used a "ITM" shifter that was stamped ITM.
So maybe the "T" was a vendor stamp.

[1968 Z28]

Looking at some shifters , I remember a question that has come up before on 67-68 Camaro Muncie/Saginaw shifters.

There is a large "T" stamp on some on the chrome stick where it would be covered by the boot. Some have it and some don't.
I don't think there was a difference in the shifter and don't think the "T" was a Chevy code.

The 69-71 Camaro used a Hurst then 1972 and up used a "ITM" shifter that was stamped ITM.
So maybe the "T" was a vendor stamp.

Joe....looks like to me there was more than one vendor for the sticks.  Right now, I have two sticks, one with the "T" and one without the "T" and they do not appear to be 100% identical.....a few cosmetic differences between them.  So this makes me believe that there was indeed more than one vendor.

Have you ever compared one stick (T) to the other (no T) and looked to see if they were 100% identical?

[JoeC]

I have one of each here and the chrome stick is a little different but I don't recall any major difference between them.
Could be that they where made with different tooling

[vtfb68]

Thank's for the replies and information. O7C was good to hear.
  Victor