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That's the reverse band control. If you look at the control assembly picture, that one is on the lower right. The low band control looks different and is on the upper left.

The low..has the thick cover..with taper on it..

The bolt pattern is different.. And its smaller..in diameter..

Thank you for the info.

I've been following this blog from the beginning with great interest (in print form it would make a nice how-to book!), watching what would have been too much for me to tackle, seeing it go from that to the beautiful car it is now. Well done!

I am curious, though, on your Twin-Ultramatic conversion. What do you plan on doing about the steering column differences? It wasn't until I was going through the parts book in reference to my own 1954 that I discovered how many parts were different between the Ultramatic and the Gear-Start but what else changed for 1955-1956 that you will need to do?

The steering column and linkage changed on the 54 GS because of the extra quadrant position and changes to the throttle linkage and kick down. 55/56 had a different steering column, linkage and different kick down rod because of the engine.

But, to answer your specific question, I have a 54 GS right now, so the linkage matches up to the 55/56 detent shift pattern as a 54 GS is pretty much the same as 55 Twin with a S8 bellhousing. So I do not need to make any changes as far as that goes.

Going to drop this 53/54 AC Radiator (446509) off at a local old-school radiator shop to have it cleaned out and checked. If it checks out of, then I am going to replace the standard radiator I have in the Clipper with this one. It has larger tanks and a larger core than the standard radiator.

Figure this will be the first part installed of my future A/C installation.

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Heard back from the radiator shop. Looks like this one needs a new core. Two split tubes and a few leaks in other places. Pretty much a sieve. Est cost for recoring $590.

Oh well who needs AC anyway.... That is why you moved to the great white north. 1 month of summer and 9 of winter with a bit in between for spring and fall.

Actually, $590.00 is a pretty good price to re-core that big radiator! Nice, Ernie

I wonder if you could use your stock radiator and add a fan shroud behind it to increase its efficiency???