58 aluminum powerglide swap info

[chevyjason]

Hi guys, i am building a 58 with a 348 and have decided to use an aluminum powerglide in it instead of the cast unit. I would like to keep the shift on the column if possible.
Has anyone got an idea on using an existing part (maybe from a 64) or would a new part need to be fabricated? Any ideas would be great. Thank you,
Jason

 

[WSSmolick]

I just removed an aluminum Powerglide that was coupled to the 348 in my '58. I'm converting from auto to stick. As far as I can tell, all of the original '58 parts were used in installing the aluminum Powerglide, with the exception of the fine spline (26 splines) driveshaft yoke.

 

[WSSmolick]

Jason,
I sent you a private message as well, but I looked at the aluminum Powerglide last night. It appears someone bolted an extension of two or three inches onto the end of the aluminum Powerglide's lever so that it extends forward at a right angle to the lever so that the original '58 shift rod could be used. So then I would think the lever on the aluminum Powerglide is a couple inches more rearward than the original '58 cast iron? Either that or the angle of the lever need to be changed, since adding an extension in this fashion really only changed the angle from say 6:00 to 7:30. The car did shift ok through the gears.