Iron 4-speed to cast getrag 4-speed compatibility questions
 

I am in the midst of a 4-speed swap into an 83 240. I had an iron 4-speed, and no linkage bars, so through the efforts of several forum members, I have 2 sets of linkage bars and shifters for this project.

My potential issue is that the shifters and linkage were out of 240's that had the aluminum cast 4-speed.

On the 4-speed I have, reverse is one lever forward, as the middle lever, vs the rearwards lever on the cast housings.

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...ron4-speed.jpg

Im curious if anyone has any pics of 4-speed swaps with linkage and shifter from an iron 4-speed. I just want to compare, or get a measurment.

Basically my plan is the extend the the reverse lever and try and tweak it around the other two bars, because it seems to do the same thing as the levers on the cast housing, just further forward, and outside of the other levers.

anyone have any opinons/advice? This is the first iron 4-speed ive installed, so im not familiar with the shifter setup, is the shifter the same?

Yeesh those bushings are toast. I used the same shifter as for the getrag. Too bad you don't have a 617, otherwise I'd have an extra set of linkages for ya.

I nominally own the car, but its really going to be repossessed by the original owner once I finish doing this swap and about a dozen other things. :D

I have that exact swap in mind for my 74 down the line, have most of the parts

You didn't have any problems with the shift linkage bars binding?

Good to know on the shifter, im glad to hear that

PM junqueyardjim he might be able to help with more information

You should be able to make them longer.

think thats bad, check this out-

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...shiftfork2.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...shiftfork1.jpg

Something very wrong happened inside the bell of wherever this transmission came from. Those cuts are deeper than the metal of the shift fork, it pushed through and made nubbins on the back side.

I got this off a forum member when I was on the road and passing through his town, he didn't know the history, the pic above is after scraping tons of dirt and grime off the outside.

Weird thing is that apart from the cutting of the fork, the release bearing was good, and everything else inside the bell was in good shape. It shifts into all gears just fine, and has minimal play. We will see how it does in the car.

I welded in the cuts and ground down the fork. it did not look bent in any way, but its hard to tell, I don't have an exact match to compare it to, so this transmission might come out

so heres how it turned out.

Shifter was not problem, will work for either the iron 4 speed, or the cast aluminum 4 speed, BUT, only two of the bars will work from the cast aluminum 4 speed on the iron box.

What was formerly 1-2 shift bar on the cast housing will work for the reverse lever on the iron housing with almost no modification.

The 3-4 shift bar on the cast housing will work for 3-4 on the iron housing, but it will need to be tweaked to clear 1-2 shift lever, see pic below.

The Reverse bar from the cast housing is way too short, BUT, the automatic shift bar is perfect from the auto 240 (4-speed swap into 240), and if you switch the linkage end from the auto linkage to the manual linkage, and then tweak that a little as well, it will fit nicely for 1-2 lever on the iron housing.

So in short, the shifter and two of the shift bars from the cast housing will work for the iron gearbox. 1-2 shift lever will have to be made from some other application.

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/.../shiftrods.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...40/3to4rod.jpg
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...40/autorod.jpg

as a further add on, if the iron box came out of a 115 going into a 123 and you have all the parts, you can use the shifter, but the 3 linkage bars are all way too short, and won't reach the shifter in the 123 chassis