Ultra Tweaker

Does anybody know if there is a write up on the conversion from column to floor shift in a '68 442? I am making this change to my car and has always been my experience direct bolt on is a unicorn. I have rebuilt the column and the consol. The consol I purchased, for another member, was very complete but while doing the install the mounting points and routing of the shift cable is giving me trouble. Any photos anybody has would be very helpful. The service manual has a very small description with small pics. Thanks in advance

matt69olds

Do you have an assembly manual? There are more detailed pictures in that manual.

Once the console mounting brackets are welded to the floor, it’s pretty obvious where the hole needs to be for the shifter cable.

The console harness is mostly a plug in operation. The neutral safety and reverse lights plug in to the factory dash harness. The console lighting plugs into the fuse box (console compartment and dome light. light) into a gray wire under the dash for the shifter backlighting, and into a white wire for the trigger to the door switch.

Ultra Tweaker

Thanks Matt. My 442 has dimples in the floor that used to drill the bolt holes. I have an assembly manual and used it for the install. The assembly manual showed bolts in the forward pair of the 4 holes in the shifter and then it was unclear if it got a bolt in the right front hole or through the two smaller holes under the shift mechanism. I used these holes and now the shifter cable seems to be in a bind and like its not long enough. The hole I put in the floor based on the dimple in the floor had the cable moving at some steep angles. That's why I was hoping someone knew where to find some pics so I could look at an install to possibly show something I've missed. The electrical was also kind of a mystery. I figured out all the wiring except the white wire because the ends of it where bullet male and female and that is the door trigger wire apparently.

matt69olds

The drivers door jamb switch (at least it’s that way on my 69) has 3 pins. One is black, that provides the ground for the key warning buzzer. There is a white wire, that’s the ground for the dome lamp. Then there is a white with black tracer that provides a ground for the console (and dash mounted courtesy lamp above the radio if you have that option) courtesy lamps, it runs to the passenger door jamb also. If your car was originally a column shift car, you may not have the black/white wire.

I have never gotten a good explanation as to why Olds separated the ground triggers for the dome and console courtesy lamps. The only thing I can think of is maybe turning on all the dome lamps with the headlight switch would be blinding. I suppose driving in the dark, and manually turning the interior lamps and having the dome, console, dash, etc all come on at the same time might not be a good idea. However, since the door switches changed design in the later years maybe it wasn’t that big a deal to the Olds engineers.

Ultra Tweaker

After spending days putting the cable in and taking it out I think I'm going to have to drill new holes in the cable ends. I started to research the cables thinking I had the wrong one. The cable I have is too long after it is mounted to the trans and the shifter. It has the same specs as the cables sold by old parts and supercars so unless someone has another idea to the drill press it goes.