[l79Nova]

So I got my Muncie linkage mocked up on the tranny for my 66 SS with console. Back in the early 90's my bro-in-law sold my original linkage at a garage sale. I found one on Hemmings back in the 90's. The seller was a nova guy and said this was the right shifter arm. Fast forward to 2017. The shifter had corroded and pitted so I decided to buy a repop. When I got it home and matched it up to the supposed original it was way off in the angle of the throw. So I decided to have my chrome guy replate the original and it came out great. So now I am wondering which one is the correct one. I am attaching a picture. The original has the ball and sits way back farther like at 30 degrees in neutral. The repop is missing the ball and sits higher like at 15 degrees. Does anyone know which is actually the correct one based on the picture?

Thanks.

 

[dealer-deuce]

So I got my Muncie linkage mocked up on the tranny for my 66 SS with console. Back in the early 90's my bro-in-law sold my original linkage at a garage sale. I found one on Hemmings back in the 90's. The seller was a nova guy and said this was the right shifter arm. Fast forward to 2017. The shifter had corroded and pitted so I decided to buy a repop. When I got it home and matched it up to the supposed original it was way off in the angle of the throw. So I decided to have my chrome guy replate the original and it came out great. So now I am wondering which one is the correct one. I am attaching a picture. The original has the ball and sits way back farther like at 30 degrees in neutral. The repop is missing the ball and sits higher like at 15 degrees. Does anyone know which is actually the correct one based on the picture?

Thanks.

this the correct handle for four speed with console, this is out of an early take out L-79 car removed in 1974

 

[l79Nova]

So it looks like the repop is closer than the one I was sold back in the 90's. Bummer. Maybe I can find someone with an original 66 Nova shifter for sale on this site. Wonder what this original one went to. An earlier model maybe? Maybe a Chevelle or Vette? The repop is very nice but if it is the wrong shape I really want an original.

Thanks for the pic.

 

[CdnL79 Registry]

Hard to tell from your pics, but the repop looks closer to the real thing. Charlie's pic is the correct handle. Notice it has a slight sideways bend in it, too. Do either of yours have this?

Bob

 

[AllyMcReal]

The handle that you rechromed, the one with the ball on it, looks like big car bench seat shifter. I had one from a '65 Impala, and it looks like it because the bend nearest the mounting flange, the bend fore to aft in line with the center of the car, looks exactly the same. Especially if that is the only bend in the shifter, that angle looks like 45 degrees from an Impala shifter.

I think the original had three bends in it for '65-'67 Nova SS and the repop looks closer. Hard to get an exact match without putting them side to side.

 

[Alf]

I have no clue but I remember well the first time I saw that style shifter. To this day I think it is the all-time best looking.
Sure, a Hurst didn't have that wet noodle feel but it didn't have "the look", either.

 

[l79Nova]

The repop does have the angle bend backwards and to the right from the seat view. It looks very close to Charlies handle. I would have to match them up to see how much they are off but not a whole lot. I spent big bucks on that other one. it has a brand new release cable and rechromed. Hopefully I can find someone who wants to buy it. At least the linkage fits. I could kill my Bro-in-law for being a jerk and not telling me he was selling my original one. I had put a hurst shifter in 1974 and just stored mine away at my folks house which he and my sister eventually bought from them when they moved. Who knows what else I had stored there.

 

[AllyMcReal]

So the handle was available reproduction, and so was the complete shifter with rods? Can I ask what was the source on those new parts?

 

[l79Nova]

The handle was available which is what I purchased thru Rudy at Modern Performance Classics. I know Classic Industries used to sell the whole shift assembly. Dont know if they still do. THE PARTS PLACE advertises on Ebay for both bench and bucket seat complete shifter with linkage but they say it is a new style which works with the original handle. One review said it did not have the reverse lockout so maybe the reverse lever is for looks only. Here is what they say.

Muncie Shifter Arm With 4-Speed Shifter Body
Kit For Cars With Bucket Seat - Kit Includes New Updates
4-Speed Style Shifter, Chrome Arm, Chrome Shifter Ball,
Shifter Linkage For Muncie Transmission, Shifter Mounting Bracket,
Rod And Tab Set, 4-Speed Shifter Body Is The New Design Much
Better Than OEM Muncie Shifter But Looks Like The
OEM When Installed In Car.

We Have Now Put Together This Kit That Gives You
The Best Of Both Worlds. We Have Taken The Best And
Most Reliable Shifter On The Market Designed To
Put The Original Muncie Shift Arm On It. What
This Kit Does, Is Gives The Original Appearance
Of A Muncie Shifter, But Gives You The Reliability Of
The New Style Shifter. Ask Yourself, How Many People
Took Their Muncie Shifter Off Of Their 60s And
70s Muscle Cars And Replaced Them With Hurst Shifters.
This Shifter Duplicates The OEM Look

 

[l79Nova]

So I put the repop shift arm on the tranny. Looks good. My car has had 4.56 gears since I bought it but it has been parked since 81. When I drove it it would shift real quick as if I had a close ratio gear box. But looking at Muncie numbers it has two grooves on the 10 spline input shaft. That means it is a 2.52 first with a wide ratio. Just seems weird it would shift close 1 thru 3 and 4th was a big drop. I could hit 4th at the end of an intersection. I have some numbers on the case which start with a P and were stamped twice Cannot figure out why. I know it is the date build but two different numbers confuses me. One looks like Sept 15 and the other Jan 1 which would make more sense since it is a Feb build. But there looks to be an extra 1 which was not double stamped. Also I took a pic of the VIN. My engine is F0118ZG. The vin on the tranny is 6Z108286. The only thing I see that matches is the Z.

 

[dealer-deuce]

handle

I have seen a bunch of Muncie style handles over the years but never a correct nova four speed with console handles and most generally they are well used!! I have mint bench seat handle plus the one in my fake car. the one in the picture is very nice I have had since the late eighties. when I bought my 63 hardtop in 1986 it had a Borg Warner T-10 and some type of Hurst setup in it I remember this fondly do to the hack job on the rear of the floor stamping. when I restored the car my metal guy was not thrilled in making the hump right. if I remember right every four speed nova with the early Hurst linkage had some modifications to the floor stamping. I have new old stock Muncie linkage and an Auto Gear M-22 in my fake car it works extremely well. my sons 1970 SS has a Hurst setup in it. pretty tight setup. I wish I would have kept more of nova parts stash!!

 

[CdnL79 Registry]

The F0118ZG is not the partial VIN. It's the suffix code stamped at the Flint engine plant. There should be a partial VIN next to it on your engine pad that matches the last digits of your door jamb VIN plate. The partial VIN on the tranny should also match the door jamb, but there was no 'Z' plant code. Most likely it would be a 'W' (Willow Run) or 'N' (Norwood).

Bob

 

[carcrazy615]

this may be what you need.

https://gmclassics.com/part/console-chrome-shift-handle-muncie-4-speed/

 

[l79Nova]

My partial vin on the tranny I think based on what I read. I pulled the tranny when I got the car because a syncro froze and it was stuck in 4th. I put a second trans in and drove it a while and then rebuilt this original trans and put it back in (I hope). The second trans came from a 67 Chevelle big block. The vin does not match my door jam either. 118376W146976. Maybe the guy stamping the tranny was drunk.

 

[l79Nova]

Maybe the wrong vin explains the double stamp. Two cars it was going in and the first car had that vin and then it was swapped into my car and they forgot to put the new vin on. I am going nuts with all the stuff I have found out about this car. But I have known this car since 72 sans maybe a year and a half between owners when I bought it in Nov 74.

 

[l79Nova]

This is a pic of my block. There are no other numbers other than what you see stamped on that pad and I don't see any anywhere else. I am the only one to ever have work done to it. It was pulled in 73 for damage to the cylinders which I had repaired for this build. I made sure the deck was left as is with any imperfections so as to keep the numbers. This is driving me nuts.

 

[65novaken]

this may be what you need.

https://gmclassics.com/part/console-chrome-shift-handle-muncie-4-speed/

I have an original just like that one out in the parts shed.

 

[CdnL79 Registry]

The 6Z108286 partial VIN on the pictured transmission does not appear to be Chevy II. The 'Z' indicates the build plant as Fremont, California, where they built Chevelles in 1966.

Most every U.S. built L79 that I've seen has a partial VIN ahead of the suffix code on the engine. The exception to that would be engines that have been decked. Also, Flint built engines in Canadian L79 cars have no partial VIN. Is this the original engine?

Bob

 

[l79Nova]

This is the original engine. My friend bought the car in 1972 in high school and then pulled the engine in 73 sometime for water in the oil due to a spark grove across cylinders probably due to a bad head gasket. He sold it to a guy down the street to drop in a 55 Nomad. He never did and then I bought it back in the early 90's with the crank and pistons. When the engine was swapped, so were the oil pan and pickup tube which were L79 pieces that followed the car. The block is in line with the date of the car build. So I cannot see it not being original. I couldnt see a L79 engine being readily available to us young kids. The trans now could be another thing. Like I said I pulled the original trans and dropped in a Chevelle trans from a 67 Super Sport. I thought I had switched it back after my friend and I replaced the syncros but I could be wrong. I sold what I thought was the Chevelle trans to my buddy for his one owner 55 Chevy. I will be upset if that is the wasn't the case. I don't know if my buddy sold the trans but I don't know how to get a hold of him now. He is retired in Arizona somewhere if he is even alive. I haven't seen him in 30 years plus. ARRGGG! This is going to sound crazy but my California plates I was told were processed in 1967 based on the plate number starting with a VHL. My 1966 Chevelle was THE 264. Don't ask me why I remember that after 45 years. So although my car has a California block I don't know where it was first sold. Only in Los Angeles and Orange County and I think San Francisco and any large metropolitan area did they require a smog pump till 67 when all cars needed them. My car has a ZG block but 60 miles East in San Bernadino they were not mandatory till 67.

 

[CdnL79 Registry]

Any possibility the engine was decked during the period it was out of your possession? Decking usually obliterates the suffix code and partial VIN. Is it possible it was decked and they just re-stamped the suffix code? Nobody in the 70's would probably see the need to re-stamp a partial VIN.

Bob