Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Too bad the cable end crimp is already secured preventing an easy exchange of the brass attachment for something else.

Am curious how much travel the cable has to make. Does the GM trans need an amount proportional to accelerator travel like the Ultra throttle rod provides to directly operate a valve or is it just an on/off type threshold at a certain point?

As far as cable attachment, why couldn't you adapt the cable directly to someplace on the accelerator linkage. Am assuming you would get rid of the Ultra throttle rod mechanism at the rear of the engine but the bellcrank arm at the bracket on the firewall might work. The arm where the vertical rod from the lower accelerator pedal assy connects would provide a proportional pull point. Make a long cable holding bracket that laid flat against the firewall. It could bolt using the bellcrank bracket attaching screws. Attach the brass cylinder for the cable wire directly to the arm. Doing something there would be less visual and wouldn't need the big plate under the carb.

Interesting point Howard.
But I guess it's easier to adjust the length of travel (length of arm on carb) in this position instead of having something going paralell with the cable. The cable is not an on/off cable. As far as I understand it measures the accelerator position and has to be adjusted so the second gear goes in around 15-20 mph.
/Jan

Too bad but guess Bendtsen thought it out. I just like to try and hide my mods a bit better or at least make them look halfway professional. IMO, that big plate and welding onto the carb is kind of tacky.

Thinking a little bit more about it, I really like your idea Howard. Will check it out when I do the job.
/Jan

I can't see why you could not get longer studs for rear of carb, and put a bracket straight across .

edit,, not use the plate

For those with a 56 pushbutton shift wanting to convert to a GM trans and no ready adaption for the Packard PB mechanism, there might be some hope after all.

Here is a modern aftermarket electric shift mechanism by Powertrain Control Solutions. It is available for several models of GM trans. Downside is this actuator unit does not use straight electrical wiring but rather sends digital command signals over a CAN bus so the original buttons and wiring would have to go. Upside is the control module is small and maybe could fit sideways inside the 56 button enclosure. No idea if there is a way to switch orientation on the buttons or display though.

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I think you still could use pack buttons via a relay.

It would take some soldering..and 6 relay s..

And to figure out that electronic board..where you can break into each circuit.

Not quite that easy. CAN bus technology is only 3 or 4 wires with bytes of data flowing so many bits per second. There is at least one microprocessor involved if not one in each piece. There is also a speed sensor involved to provide the safety so you can't select park or reverse when going forward. Tying relays into that operation might be quite a chore in avoiding spurious or false signals or injecting interference type noise into the solid state circuitry.

This thing looks to be pretty versatile. The motor operating the cable appears to be a stepper controlled by the microprocessor because there is a calibration process involved to tell the system how many detent positions there are. You then manually move the detent lever and step the motor with the + and - buttons so the cable lines up to the lever in each position. That data is then stored in the memory. They have a Ford version too so It might be able to work quite a few trans.

If the control module will fit in the PB enclosure it might be possible to do something with the original buttons to have them operate the real buttons underneath. Not sure what could be done with the display though because that is also controlled by the microprocessor.