moran75 Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 Hi all my 65 was a non runner / stopper when I bought it -though I have now got it running (not stopping) and am moving onto other areas that need attn.... My question is if anyone knows if there is a resource /drawing etc relating specifically to working of the button on top of the stick shift and how it relates to shifting gears through the transmission? Appears not to be listed in manual. Maybe because it’s blindingly obvious but I’ve no experience with such things.... hence wanting to to read up..... i anticipate having to work on the stick shift/button on top the consul as it feels imprecise , and although it moves freely thru Park to L2 , when out of P (where it ‘locks’ into place with a satisfying click ) the button doesn’t seem to have much effect,/use and is not needed to shift thru range...the satisfying click is not repeated. many thanks in advance kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seafoam65 Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 It is working the way it is supposed to....the button is a lockout to keep from going in to reverse or park when driving forward. In the drive gears it has no function. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
65VerdeGS Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 Hi Kev, Not sure if this helps, but on my '65 the only position you'll get that 'click' is when moving the shift lever into PARK. The behavior you describe sounds normal to me. As you've noticed, to drive the car you need to push down on the shifter top button to move the lever out of the PARK position. Once the lever is out of Park, it'll move freely (no clicking or anything) to reach Reverse, Neutral, and Drive. Pulling the lever straight down after you leave PARK (and let go of the top button) brings you to a detent that stops the lever in the DRIVE position. Once in DRIVE you can bump the lever up into NEUTRAL without needing to press the top button. But, you can't reach PARK without pressing the top button. Conversely, when in Drive you must push the top button to engage L2 and L1. Once you're in L2 you can pull the shifter down to L1 (and vice-versa) without need to push the top button again. The two detent positions are there for safety and convenience - you don't want to be able to easily bump the lever out of PARK. The lever stops at DRIVE when you shift out of Park to make it easy to simply drive away without worrying whether you're in one of the two lower gears. All of this is determined by a semi-circular piece of flat steel which is part of the shifting mechanism. The bumps and notches determine where one must push the top button to engage a given gear. The pictured detent is from a '65-67 Corvette, not a Riv. But the principle is the same. If you're curious, take the shifter console plate off and take a look at the guts underneath. Removing the console shifter plate is easy: Apply the parking brake (best to do this on level ground, just in case), put the shifter lever into the NEUTRAL position, unscrew the top shifter knob, and remove the 4 screws holding down the shifter plate with the PRNDL indicator window. Now you'll be able to see how the shifter is attached to the floor tunnel. Reattach the shifter knob and play with the pattern to see what happens when you press the button as you move through the gears. You mention wanting to "tighten up" your shifting mechanism. Well, unless your mechanism is very sloppy or worn out, i doubt there's much adjusment you can make. The shifter 'feel' on these cars isn't precise, by any means. These stock shifters are not like the B&M rachet automatic shifters the bracket racers install on their 1/4 mile machines. The action of the stock lever is over a wide (long) arc. Nothing you can do about that, as this is determined by the detent and shifter rod geometry. If you were to change the detent to achieve a shorter shift "throw" , you'll also have to modify the geometry of the shifter rod that goes to the transmission, as well as the shift lever attached to the transmission itself. I know about all of this from replacing a stock 2-speed Powerglide with a Turbo 350 in a '67 Corvette. It took some doing and fiddling to finally get the stock shifter to work properly with the different detent and shifter rod geometry of the TH350. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moran75 Posted January 22, 2018 Author Share Posted January 22, 2018 many thanks chaps, and for your very quick response... sounds like good news .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moran75 Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share Posted January 30, 2018 On 24/01/2018 at 2:17 AM, Imperial62 said: I like your last name. If you have family history in Co. leitrim in Ireland we could be related ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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