C5 trans question

[80Merccapri]

Hi I have a 84 thunderbird with a 302 and a c5 the previous owner took the motor out so I’m having to do a lot of searching to figure out where some stuff goes. Never messed with an auto trans before until now. I want to make sure the bracket that holds the shift lever is in the correct spot. If it is great if not where does it go correctly. Also on my column shifter it goes into the low gear notch on the column and the shift handle Maxes out. But if I go under the hood I have to pull the linkage on the trans to get it to actually click into 1st gear. There’s a nut and bolt on the linkage that connects the trans to the steering column rod to chose the gear. I’m assumig that just needs adjustment to make the gears line up with there correct marks. Sorry if this is a little confusing. It’s been a long one.

[Haystack]

There is a bell housing bracket that holds the shifter linkage a but more sturdy. It taoes out a ton of slop in the linkages.

It is for sure on column shiftrd cars, the floor shifters use a cable and floor shifter obviously. They were much more common on the 83-84 cars, as the console was standard then.

You can use an aod floor shifter or brackets or the whole assembly from any 83-88 cougar/tbird.

If it was originally column shifted, the lever in the trans is slightly different. You can usually flip it and make up the difference with the adjustments

[80Merccapri]

Yeah I heard about putting the car on drive and hanging a weight on the shifter and than adjusting the nut on the linkage. I just wanted to see if that bracket was mounted in the right place. The guy who took the motor out before disconnected it. It was dangling there and it seems like that’s the spot for it but wanted to double check. Easier to do with no motor in the car and am getting ready to drop it back in

[Haystack]

If I can get around to it I'll crawl underneath my 86 cougar and try to take a picture of the shifter linkage

[80Merccapri]

I’d appreciate that!