plate in middle of floor??

[magnethead]

in our truck, there is a plate held in with carrage bolts right above the transmission in front of the front bench seat. There's no evidence of the truck ever being a floor shifter, so what is it? I'll get a pic of it ASAP.

[magnethead]

its not THAT big...it's about 2" wide and 6" long.

[plumbcut]

its just call the inspection cover.... there was many differnet ones.. auto/4wd, auto/2wd, manual/2wd, manual/4wd -- they would all have been different... Ive heard some cabs didnt have a bolt in inspection cover but Ive never seen one....

pc

[plumbcut]

errr if its only 2"x6" than Im talking about something else! Dont know what that one is when you say carriage bolts, Im thinking its not stock....

PICS!!!!!!!!!!!!

pc

[magnethead]

this should be the right pic

[magnethead]

each one of those holes has a carrage bolt in it, and the outline of a previously existing plate is very clear.

[magnethead]

well it's column shift, thats the thing...this really has me baffled

[magnethead]

theres a chance of that- the shifter on the column is missing the very tip, i'll have to go see how well it fits...if it doesnt line up well, the answer will be known..theres no way it can be made to look perfectly stock if its been removed.

[magnethead]

heres what the steering column looks like-

[magnethead]

Hey jeff (bigblock73), if you're reading this, do you have any info that would be relevant?

[magnethead]

wouldn't know..how would the swap effect the shifter idea? I dont even know if we have any papers on the truck concerning whats stock whats not....theres no tags on any of the doors, so if there isnt anything in the glovebox, about the best thing i have for reference is the VIN and any other number held with welds, is stamped in, or is riveted....otherwise its long gone...that or i havent looked hard enough.

[corn]

Could there maybe have been a 2-way radio or a phone or something else bolted there at one time? I dont see a cable/shiftarm hole anywhere to have had a shifter there...corn

[magnethead]

i dont think anybody knows anything about that plate (except the previous owner..from 20 years ago).. i dont even know if jeff would know anything.

it needs alot of TLC..did you see the picture up close of the bototm of the drivers door? theres a HOLE there..not just rust..

[magnethead]

i thought orrigionally there might be a console there, but it has a lap belt in the center...not something normally associated with consoles (unless it was put there custom..but even then, it would have more bolts than that)

[1FaastC10]

whatever it is, its not factory. you are correct, the only person who knows is the PO.

[bigblock73]

I doubt the truck was ever a floor shift, reason I say this is because if they did, they did a good job of getting all the linkage, column, wiring, and gear indicator stuff. I am with Jeremy, only one of the PO's will really only know what happened. You could crawl under the dash and look for signs of removed parts (for the manual tranny), or tampering of any kind...something that might look out of place.

Maybe a PO attempted to start a auto floor shift conversion and never followed thru?

[magnethead]

as far as we know, the '400 is the stock tranny.

I'm thinking what you said about the attempted conversion is true. it's the only thing that's been said that actually makes logical sense (considering the column shift is kinda obstructed by the huge wheel).

[magnethead]

hey jeff, if i PM you the VIN, could you figure out if the 400 was stock?

[1FaastC10]

cant tell by the VIN, could tell by the build sheet, or the RPO sticker in the glovebox. RPO sticker is non-existant as you said before, so the build sheet is your only hope. look on the bottom of your seat between the foam and the springs, and on top of your brake pedal, inside the bracket. that is where i found one of mine. im really surprised i didnt find the one for my 86, since it has never had any major work done to it until i got it.

[bigblock73]

Originally Posted by magnethead

hey jeff, if i PM you the VIN, could you figure out if the 400 was stock?

I cant help you on the trans, it can't be determined by the VIN.

Here is a VIN decoding page for 73-80.

http://www.73-87.com/7387info/7380vin.htm

I think all 73-80, and possibly 81-87, BB automatic trucks had a th400 behind them.

[magnethead]

if it's a sticker, theres a chance it might exist..

thanks for the decoder jeff

[Captkaos]

That's not factory. GM didn't offer any type of shifter that would mount in a space that small.