Transmission Lever Position?

[Bizzy77L82]

I feel like an idiot for posting this, but I have a problem here.

My 1977 Corvette L-82 is nearing the end an eight-year body-off-frame restoration, and I just got it out of the paint shop.

At this point, I'm trying to install the 4-speed shifter and linkage.
The close-ratio Borg &Warner transmission was rebuilt sometime ago, and I have just now installed the transmission levers onto the shifter forks, but I do not have a book or a picture showing how the levers should be pointed. To make a long story short, do the 1-2 and the 3-4 shifter levers point up or down? The AIM manual shows the shifter levers pointing upwards, but I seem to recall that, unless I'm mistaken, they originally pointed downward.
I would appreciate your input all of you out there.

BTW, this is a good reason why we should use a digital camera to take pictures during all phases of the restoration; that way, ther's no question as to what it looked like before we got our hands on it, and where it went as well...

Thank you,

Bizzy77L82

 

[bmotojoe]

I think if you install them in the down position, 1st gear will be 2nd and 3rd will be 4th.
Brian

 

[duke94]

Here's a 71' Muncie. My 78' was the same way. Levers on top.

Here's the AIM from my 78'. Hope it helps.

 

[Bizzy77L82]

Duke94,

Your photgraph and your scan of the AIM manual shows how we should do things. I had been having problems getting the transmission to shift into reverse, so I took the shifter out, including the shift levers. It turned out that the reverse shifter spacer(?) was bent, and the cause of that was the incorrectly installed shifter linkage. The shifter linkage rods were interfering with each other. After I checked my AIM manual, and a couple of publications on the B&W transmission, I installed it the way the book says it should be. BTW, insert the shifter adjuster shim into the shifter and tape it ther, then adjust the linkage rods after you have installed the shifter. Don't forget to pull the shifter adjuster shim out when you have completed the adjustment process. It's a real $%^&@# to try to adjust the shifter linkage without inserting the shifter adjuster shim before you install the shifter to the transmission. My hands aren't small enough to fit in that transmission tunnel space.