[BT74]

My 67 mustang had a serious fluid leak at the shift lever shaft. When I went to pull the shift lever off to change the seal, the shaft that has the nut on it that goes thru the neutral safty switch slid right out. Wondering if anyone can tell me how this shaft is retained inside the trans? It appears to have what's left of a groove for a snap ring on it, so I assume I have to drop the pan to replace the shaft? Also does the pan have to be droppeds to change the seal? (the shift lever does not reddily come off, so I assume that it is part of the outer shaft that goes theu the seal and is retained internally?)
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Crosley]

Originally Posted by BT74

My 67 mustang had a serious fluid leak at the shift lever shaft. When I went to pull the shift lever off to change the seal, the shaft that has the nut on it that goes thru the neutral safty switch slid right out. Wondering if anyone can tell me how this shaft is retained inside the trans? It appears to have what's left of a groove for a snap ring on it, so I assume I have to drop the pan to replace the shaft? Also does the pan have to be droppeds to change the seal? (the shift lever does not reddily come off, so I assume that it is part of the outer shaft that goes theu the seal and is retained internally?)
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

the center shaft you desribe is welded to a bracket on the inside.

the bracket on the shaft ativates the throttle vavle on the valve body.

If the shaft pulls out , it must have broken off or some body modified it.

The pan and valve body must be dropped to replace the shift shaft seal. There is also a small O ring on the center shaft under the bolt on lever

[BT74]

Thanks Crosley, Guess it's time to look for another trans, as this has about 150K on it behind a 6cyl.Hate to put a bunch of work into it(don't know the overall condition, just ran it up and down the driveway when I bought the car). It was bleeding pretty bad, didn't find anything unusual in the pan when I put a filter on(and extension seal), but I don't think it's ever been gone thru.
While I've got your ear....will an 8cyl trans of that vintage bolt up to the 6cyl?, or do I have to change the bellhousing? Hey, thanks again!

[BT74]

Oh, one other quick question...If I were to replace the center shaft, would the valve body have to be removed to fish it in? The o-ring was pretty hard, so that may be the source of the leak, rather than the seal on the outer shaft.

[Crosley]

Originally Posted by BT74

Oh, one other quick question...If I were to replace the center shaft, would the valve body have to be removed to fish it in? The o-ring was pretty hard, so that may be the source of the leak, rather than the seal on the outer shaft.

to remove any of the shift shafts in a C4 trans the valve body must be removed to fish them out between stuff

[65Stanger]

I think it should bolt up... the C4 for the 289 isn't much different than for the 200 from what I understand. Maybe not though. I'm interested in the same deal, because I'm rebuilding a 289 soon (my 6 cyl runs great, but I would love an 8), plus I want some experience in the full project of an engine rebuild. Would the C4 from my 200 handle the 289? Sorry to kind of steal your topic. But my answer would be yes it should bolt up.

[red65mustang]

BT74,
different yrs/cars C4's have different tail piece lengths for different drive shafts, so measure yours

a quick look to be sure you do have a 6 bolt bellhousing (should be...but?)

go shopping for a 197X C4, it is stronger built....."if" the six is going to go bye bye...... if not any will do,

95% are just a swap from a 6 or 8...it's the same tranny
(missing 5% is so much "stuff" is not original on old cars...kick down, etc)

worn out linkage (to much travel) and really hard "power shifts" to low could possibly(?) have broken it...don't know....never broke one....