Columbia question

[34fordy]

Originally Posted by cas3

Yes, its all done with the hand shift lever. Bad news is you don't get the speedometer correction. I thought it may take some learning to shift it, but no, it shifts just fine like any synchronized transmission.

Do you need to depress the clutch to shift in or out?

[cas3]

yes, the same as any transmission, well, except big trucks. I've never tried it without the clutch, but it shifts nice. A lot of my country roads I drive in "2 high". rather than lug in 3rd. its a nice option

[Ray in La Mesa]

I built the same shifter for the Columbia in my '28 A roadster p/u. 1/2" pipe back to a bell crank on the torque tube to get transverse motion at the vacuum can. Shift lever is mounted in place of the emergency brake on side of trans top as I have an early '29 trans top w/ e-brake in front of the gear shift. I adapted a speedo shifter into the cable mounted on the back of the firewall & used a choke cable to connect it to the shifter. Second high is a God send. It's been great since 1976, now have 87,000+ miles on it.

[cas3]

Ray, tell me more about the speedo shifter. Never heard of a switchable speedo reduction unit

[glennpm]

Originally Posted by cas3

Ray, tell me more about the speedo shifter. Never heard of a switchable speedo reduction unit

It's a speedometer transmission that connects the input from the speedometer cable, from the turtle, increasing the speed so the output to the dash speedometer reads correctly for the 71.51% overdrive.

[glennpm]

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Here's my vacuum Columbia switch mount.

I made up this bracket to mount the switch just ahead of the steering box. I only had to drill the top hole in the frame, the other is stock.





Here is the switch mounted. You can see the 1/4" rod with a 90° bend going back to the tab on the clutch arm.







This shows the clutch arm with the tab I welded on along with the 1/4" rod going up to the vacuum switch.

[cas3]

Thanks Glenn, I'll have to keep an eye out for a speedo transmission gizmo

[glennpm]

Yeah, works great

[Ray in La Mesa]

cas3, I've got an extra speedo shifter if you're interested.

[cas3]

Yes Ray, I'll call ya