A couple of years ago I questioned the group for suggestions as to why my 1st & 2nd pushbuttons wouldn't engage.
As always, I got a lot of helpful suggestions from the members, mostly suggesting adjusting the shift cable.
I tried adjusting by various methods and all I could manage to do was make things worse. So for quite a while I just went with Reverse, Neutral, and Drive. Of course we all want our cars to be the best they can be, so I kept looking for help.
Just by chance I met Mr. Rick Allison of A&A Transmission at the Indy Cylinder Head Swap meet in Indianapolis 2 years ago. He was swamped with customers and potential customers, but I introduced myself and told him my problem and he said he had some ideas. I left it at that and took home his catalog.
That summer I emailed him about fixing my Tranny and attached a picture of our Fury. I think the picture hooked him since he races a Red '64 Fury. Since I live about 100 miles away, we drove the car up to him last fall. He kept it covered and raised on a lift away from other cars in a heated environment all winter.
When we bought the Fury the second trip I took was to the transmission shop here in town as the transmission was shot. When they took things apart, they found a leaking Neutral Safety Switch and a broken tranny mount among other problems. They asked me to supply those items as they were time consuming Items to find. I sourced both Items from places we all know but won't mention names. They completed the rebuild and the trans worked fine except 1st and 2nd buttons.
What He Found
When Rick began, he pulled the drain plug from the fabricated aluminum pan I had installed and a valve body screw was sticking to the magnetic plug. He next discovered that the tranny pan filter extension was for a newer trans even though their application list shows all 727's. Finally he discovered that the NSS I had sourced was for a '65 and up tranny and was binding the rooster comb thus no 1st and 2nd.
What I Learned
Rick Allison is a Treasure. He has designed and makes almost every part for these transmissions. I also learned there are some reputable sources for parts out there that don't know or don't care what they are selling. These early torqueflites are very different than the '65 and up versions. Not just the linkage.
I hope I haven't wore out my welcome with such a long story. Hopefully I can prevent others from similar problems. And yes a big plug fro Rick Allison. What a great experience!
Lyle
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