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Hey Guys got a question about neutral safety switch & Hurst Dual Gate Shifter - was the OEM location for the Neutral Safety Switch on the COLUMN or was it attached to the Dual Gate aka From the Factory/FACTORY FLOOR ????
The next question concerns the Hurst Dual Gate Indicator LENS there is a Crystal Clear LENS with P R D S L is the a light diffuser underneath this so you can't see the light bulb 💡 it makes no sense to the Hurst Floor Shifter if the is nothing but crystal clear lens where you look down and see a shining bulb 💡 if there is a diffuser lens or plastic what color is it? Where can I buy it? Or some description of how to make oneThanks very muchAL
Joe thanks but now I'm very very confused I thought that in 68 & 69 the neutral safety switch was on the column I thought it changed in 70 to the Dual Gate as you are showing I don't doubt you but Oldsmobile was famous for having 2 3 or even 4 variations on the assembly line I'm asking because mine is on the column wired in it's just I tuff shape needs replacement my mind says how did they do that on the column guess the Engineer in me is trying to understand what the Engineer at the time was thinking and whether it was a good or bad idea and were others better & whyWould like to know you and my friends answers your point of view
Joe thanks but now I'm very very confused I thought that in 68 & 69 the neutral safety switch was on the column I thought it changed in 70 to the Dual Gate as you are showing I don't doubt you but Oldsmobile was famous for having 2 3 or even 4 variations on the assembly line I'm asking because mine is on the column wired in it's just I tuff shape needs replacement my mind says how did they do that on the column guess the Engineer in me is trying to understand what the Engineer at the time was thinking and whether it was a good or bad idea and were others better & whyWould like to know you and my friends answers your point of view
No 1969 Oldsmobiles with floor shift had the NSS on the column.
TBH, since you're so interested in the factory state of assembly, the car left the factory floor without the dual gate. It was installed at Demmer during the Hurst conversion. But Joe is right, it didn't come with a NSS on the column at any point in its life either while at the assembly plant or at Demmer.
There is a "reflector" of sorts below the lens. Called the lamp housing in the pic below.
Last edited by 69HO43; August 26th, 2022 at 02:55 PM.
TBH, since you're so interested in the factory state of assembly, the car left the factory floor without the dual gate. It was installed at Demmer during the Hurst conversion. But Joe is right, it didn't come with a NSS on the column at any point in its life either while at the assembly plant or at Demmer.
In fact, the engineering instructions for the 68-69 H/Os required the stock Olds floor shifter to be installed on the assembly line, but without the console (no reason for it). Some sort of shifter was installed to allow the car to be driven off the end of the line. The carpet wasn't installed either. Demmer extracted and tossed the stock shifter, installed the dual gate, then installed the carpet.
This is from the 1968 instructions, but 69 is similar.
I wonder if they didn't just toss the factory shifters but maybe gathered them up at some interval and sent them back to GM to re-install for future H/O production? I can see GM doing it both ways.
During the 4th gen Camaro SS upfit by SLP (the same type of deal like the H/O conversions), the factory put on "temporary" hoods and spoilers on the cars. Some kind of deal where the cars had to meet the safety standards as they left the assembly line from GM as "completed" cars. The hoods are obvious, but the spoilers- the only reason was the third brake light was in the spoiler and the mandate said it had to have the CMHSL. SLP replaced the hood and spoiler with their parts, and periodically gathered up the hoods and spoilers and sent them back to the GM factory just up the road to be used on the next batches of SS cars.
I guarantee that Olds would not reprocess those shifters for reuse. Between the liability of putting "used" parts in a new build car and the hand labor necessary to re-tag and re-stock those parts into the assembly line supply chain, I'm sure it was cheaper to toss them.
What I meant was I was just wondering if they re-used them for the next round of H/O production and put those shifters in subsequent H/Os destined for Demmer like SLP and GM did with the Camaro temporary hoods/spoilers. Not putting them in other cars destined for customers.
It would make more financial sense to toss them, though. Less than 1000 units produced, plus when you have a majority of the market share back then you can be wasteful like that. Probably got to write off retail price in shifters that way. I guess when you're making 10,000 upfits like SLP did, you might be more inclined to recycle the parts, though.
I guarantee that Olds would not reprocess those shifters for reuse. Between the liability of putting "used" parts in a new build car and the hand labor necessary to re-tag and re-stock those parts into the assembly line supply chain, I'm sure it was cheaper to toss them.
Originally Posted by 69HO43
What I meant was I was just wondering if they re-used them for the next round of H/O production and put those shifters in subsequent H/Os destined for Demmer like SLP and GM did with the Camaro temporary hoods/spoilers. Not putting them in other cars destined for customers.
It would make more financial sense to toss them, though. Less than 1000 units produced, plus when you have a majority of the market share back then you can be wasteful like that. Probably got to write off retail price in shifters that way. I guess when you're making 10,000 upfits like SLP did, you might be more inclined to recycle the parts, though.
Both are right, you cannot resell a part used, but you can reuse it. We used to do this with off road package Sequoias, the shocks let the suspension have too much bound, and the tires on Final 3 would roll on the ergo mat platform flooring as the car went by on the final carrier. We had gaily painted temp shocks that would be used to do that to get the cars offline, then they'd be swapped. Low option, so it made sense. Another example is we remove and reuse the engine hooks.
Both are right, you cannot resell a part used, but you can reuse it. We used to do this with off road package Sequoias, the shocks let the suspension have too much bound, and the tires on Final 3 would roll on the ergo mat platform flooring as the car went by on the final carrier. We had gaily painted temp shocks that would be used to do that to get the cars offline, then they'd be swapped. Low option, so it made sense. Another example is we remove and reuse the engine hooks.
They did a similar thing recently with a bunch of cars/trucks just to get them off the line due to the chip shortage (Frito-Lay, are you listening? ). For a while, I read about where they were swapping ECUs from Ford trucks once they got them off the line to the parking lot and re-using those for the next batch coming down the line until they could get more new ECUs for the ones in waiting. Probably not the only ones. I'm sure there are other things you can point at where items are re-used to get by until they get the right parts.
They also repair damage and broken stuff at the assembly plants that isn't always disclosed to the buyers, either. I've personally witnessed it at both St. Louis and Bowling Green Corvette assembly plant where my dad worked. They normally don't show you those things on the public tours. They did replace parts as needed with new ones, though.
As far as the lamp housing, you can get a repro here. I have no idea of quality or fitment, but they seem to have them.
Oldsmobile had a very active excess parts sale for employees. parts that could not be used again where offered to employees at low prices. In 1968-70 my dad got complete distributors for $1.50, AM-FM radios for $15-20, with speakers, upholstery was .10 a piece, fender for a 62 cutlass $15 and complete light buckets for $1. Those shifter may have ended up being sold to employees.
In fact, the engineering instructions for the 68-69 H/Os required the stock Olds floor shifter to be installed on the assembly line, but without the console (no reason for it). Some sort of shifter was installed to allow the car to be driven off the end of the line. The carpet wasn't installed either. Demmer extracted and tossed the stock shifter, installed the dual gate, then installed the carpet.
This is from the 1968 instructions, but 69 is similar.
Notice he said "stock Olds floor shifter" from the factory...
Very interesting. As a high schooler and college student (68-74) I drove by Demmer several times a week. I got to see most of the cars when they were delivered and when they were finished. My HS shop class tried to get a tour but were always turned down.
Last edited by firebird; January 16th, 2024 at 09:09 AM.
Reason: captialization
August 26th, 2022, 01:08 PM
). For a while, I read about where they were swapping ECUs from Ford trucks once they got them off the line to the parking lot and re-using those for the next batch coming down the line until they could get more new ECUs for the ones in waiting. Probably not the only ones. I'm sure there are other things you can point at where items are re-used to get by until they get the right parts.
