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To know what gear you're in is important. If your car originally had an automatic transmission, there was a shift indicator in the dash letting you know what gear you were in. If the car originally had a manual transmission, there was no shift indicator installed by the factory. If the car originally had a manual transmission and is upgraded with an automatic, there will be no shift indicator in the dash letting you know what gear your car is in. Depending on the year of the car, installing a shift indicator can range from changing the speedometer to the entire cluster bezel. This can become costly, and with surfaces, you sometimes just don't want to go there. The folks at ididit have come up with a simple and clean way to install a shift indicator on a column shift column. The shift indicator is available for three or four-speed automatic transmissions. The shift indicator includes a sculpted billet aluminum bezel that will match your chrome column or can be to match a column.
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Image 1a, 1b: The 1955-56 cars actually had a different instrument bezel between manual and automatic transmissions. On manual shift cars, the window for the indicator was not even cut out. Replacing the bezel can be fairly costly, and cutting the window is all but impossible.
Image 2: The new shift indicator anchors to the head of the steering column with two sheet metal screws while the anchors to the shift collar with double-sided tape. The indicator has a clear lens with a billet bezel and billet . If the steering column is , the billet bezel and may be to match the color of the steering column. PIN 06 -350 is for a three-speed automatic and PIN 06-351 is for a four-speed automatic.
Image 3a, 3b: With the column in the tilted locate the indicator on the steering column head at 12 o 'clock. This will the left-hand edge of the billet bezel about 3/8" from the hole in the column for the tilt lever.
Image 4a, 4b: Mark the steering column head and drill two 1/8" holes and attach the bezel and lens to the steering column head with the screws.
Image 5a, 5b, 5c: The for the indicator is aluminum and is held to the shift collar with double-sided tape. Using some red touch-up, we the face of the to make it much easier to see through the indicator lens.
Image 6a, 6b: Peel the covering from the tape on the and with the steering column in the on the shift collar so that it aligns with the "P" on the indicator lens. This is a great way to add a shift indicator to a car that never had one and gives a great custom touch at the same time!