Sometimes the simplest ideas are better. We were messing around with a column shifter for the TH400 automatic in my ’66 Chevelle awhile back. Because the car has been sitting around for two years, the shifter had become very stiff, and it seemed like every time you pulled it into Park, the shifter was going to break off in my hand. Plus, the shifter linkage was very close to the headers. There were all kinds of suggestions for a new shifter, but we didn’t have the time. My buddy Tim suggested just taking the column apart in the car. I yanked the steering wheel and removed the turn signal and then used WD-40 to loosen up that 40-year-old factory grease. Then I liberally coated the slide mechanism for the column shifter with Lubriplate until the shifter would move easily. After reassembling the column, I removed the factory shift linkage and replaced it with a very simple Kugel Komponents (kugelkomponent.com) shift arm kit. This uses a stainless steel threaded rod, a simple universal ball, and a splined linkage piece for the transmission. The kit will fit all the popular GM automatic transmissions. The shifter moves like butter now and the cost was less than $50.00.