MTFCA Forum

I have the privilege to be recommissioning a mercury speeder for a forum member and he has decided to add a ruxtell rear end. my question is where have you fine owners put the shift handle? we have a side shift handle but I cannot figure out how to mount it. being the floor is at the same level as the top of the frame, you cannot install it on the frame as you would be able to do with a non-mercury body. I am looking for pictures of your install if at all possible. please help a poor guy out.

Harold III

Outside the body next to the driver's left arm might be the best place. Even having the brake lever inside takes up enough room even with the lever massaged to get it close to the inside of the body. For mounting, consider using a stock ebrake crossshaft with an extension and the stock brackets.

Use 1 stock bracket on the left frame rail and fab up an inside mount off the hogshead/pan bolts to support the inboard end.
(disregard the bracket thingie in the picture- its long gone).

I had a similar outside shifter on mine but I rook out the ruckstell and put in a warford so I don’t have the shifter anymore.

Andy

Mine is in the center, the body is smaller, it's a Model B Mercury.

Even though Mercury is fairly wide in speedster land, as you can see from Mike’s photo that legroom is pretty tight with the center shifter. It is also pretty tight on the left leg from the brake handle. While you’re driving with the handle forward it’s not too bad. But I’m not the biggest guy around so you have to rake driver size into consideration. The outside handle may be your best bet even if it means a little more tinkering.

Andy

well the outside handle option is not going to be a good one. We have the valance panels that are about 8 inch's tall, causing them to hang down about 5 inch's below the frame. Now if we drill a hole in them , than maybe they would work. I will have to talk with the owner and find out his preference. I have the original style center shift handle that we can use, but as Andy says, it will make it more difficult to get into the drivers seat. Thanks for the reply's so far. here are a few pictures to help with the issue.
Harold III

How about not using a shift bracket that mounts on the back of the hogs head, but back farther just in front of the seat pan? Again you might be able to use an old pair of cross shaft brackets for a cross shaft mount.

On the one above we also reshaped the ebrake lever so that it was as far to the left as possible, leaving just enough space between the handle and the side panel to get your hand in thereto pull the lever back. You still need long arms to reach it when its all the way forward, so consider bending it back a bit toward the driver as well.