[PetChemMan]

There were some floor shifters made for racing Hydramatics, , and they were used with altered valve bodies for the transmission that gave complete control of the transmission shifts. It might indeed be neat to have full control of the Hydramatic using one of the racing valve bodies made by B&M and by Hydromotive back in the 1960s. However, for street performance, you won't see much difference between the racing version and the factory version, especially if you're using the 303 Olds engine. The stock Hydramatic always starts in first gear, then shifts to second gear, where it will stay if the shifter is in Low range. If the shifter is in Super, the trans will shift from first to second to third, and stay in third. In Drive, the trans will shift into fourth gear. When the transmission is kicked down into a lower gear by flooring the gas pedal, it will downshift into third or second, but not into first. That's ok, since first gear is so low that it runs out at about 20 miles per hour or less. The engine rpm when the transmission shifts and downshifts is controlled by the transmission internal governor settings, and by the TVR rod, which is a rod that runs from the transmission to the throttle linkage on the engine. If you adjust the length of the TVR rod, you can increase the rpm for transmission shifts, within limits. Since your 303 is probably not going to be running at a lot more maximum rpm than stock engines ( I'm assuming), I think you can get good shift points simply by small adjustments on the TVR rod. Some transmissions also used a vacuum modulator to help control shifts, but I don't think the early Hydramatic had one. Finding a floor shifter for your retro-rod would be a nice touch. Be careful, however, because the racing floor shifters were made to be used with altered valve bodies, and the shift pattern may not be the same as stock. Hence, a racing floor shifter might not work with a stock valve body. Or, it might work, but you'd wind up with an odd shift quadrant that puts reverse between Low and Super ! It may take some custom alterations to make it work, but that's what hot rodding is all about !