1941 Packard 110 - Column Shift Adjustment Help!

Posted by Ragtime Kid On 2014/6/5 0:03:00

Gents,

My '41 110 Club Coupe recently had the transmission entirely rebuilt with NOS parts. Despite having replaced a significant amount of the linkages and parts of the column shift mechanism, the gear shifter is still somewhat vague and sloppy (by modern standards) which results in a fair amount of slop when seeking the neutral "channel" to go from 1st to 2nd.

You can imagine the sick feeling I got when, right after getting the car back from the tranny shop, I went to shift from 1st to 2nd and caught the edge of reverse, with the sickening "buzz"! This has since happened 3 or 4 times and I have to be very careful and ginger when moving the shifter up and into the neutral gate. It seems if I go 1/4" higher then level, I touch reverse and get the buzz.

I have 4 questions for the board:

1. What damage, if any, is/has occurred from these momentary contacts with reverse. At no time has the car actually gone into reverse and I have immediately backed off the stick the instant I felt and heard the contact.

2. Should I replace the tranny fluid in case metal filings have been generated form this contact and are now circulating throughout the gearbox?

3. What type of transmission fluid is correct and in what quantity? Is synthetic recommended?

4. What is the best way to adjust the column shift mechanism so that I have more clearance from inadvertently touching reverse? Ideally, I would like reverse to engage only at the top of a long, deliberate stroke on the shifter and it seems it is beginning to engage very close off the shifter lever being horizontal in the neutral slot.

Thank you all very much !