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Kversch

New Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2010
Messages
7
hey guys this seems to be the only place that has much info on lightning rods. I have a 1972 Ford gran torino. I recently purchased. has lightning rods installed. I am not exactly sure how they work or anything really about them. i would like to keep them in the car as they look pretty cool. Any information you guys could give me to help me make sure these have been installed properly, they are working properly and everything.

are there any good sites to get info about them or find parts if needed to fix them. thanks for everything guys.
 
Those things are awful! J/K:biggrin: Take em out and sell em to me cheap so I can put em in my car....:D:tongue: Got any pics of em in ur car. Love lightning rods.
 
I have them in my car. Yours are the three speed rods.
My first Car was a 73 Ranchero GT (351c/fmx) and had the rear side bulges like the Torinos.

Lightning Rods In a nut shell operation

Lever closest to you is just like a regular auto shifter when putting it in gear.....push in button and pull back to whatever gear out of park, etc.

If you want to do manual down shifting or setup to use the rods to go through the gears.

Car stopped or manual down shifting/engine braking

Push button pull lever closest to you all the way down which is drive or 3rd

Push button Then pull middle one back thats second

Push button then pull Far right one back is lo or first

If you do the above and want to go through the gears using the shifters (which is fun)

Have your hand on far right shifter with button pressed and once shift point is reached then push lever forward (have to press button while pushing forward)
now the car is in 2nd gear

Grab middle rod and repeat .....press button and move forward at shift pont

now its in third or normal driving around automatic position.

To go to park from drive
it has reverse lockout so you can push 3rd gear rod forward to neutral without pushing in the button. But have to press button to go further

Once in nuetral you have to press the button to go to reverse and park. Which im sure you know since you have drove it.
 
I have them in my car. Yours are the three speed rods.
My first Car was a 73 Ranchero GT (351c/fmx) and had the rear side bulges like the Torinos.

Lightning Rods In a nut shell operation

Lever closest to you is just like a regular auto shifter when putting it in gear.....push in button and pull back to whatever gear out of park, etc.

If you want to do manual down shifting or setup to use the rods to go through the gears.

Car stopped or manual down shifting/engine braking

Push button pull lever closest to you all the way down which is drive or 3rd

Push button Then pull middle one back thats second

Push button then pull Far right one back is lo or first

If you do the above and want to go through the gears using the shifters (which is fun)

Have your hand on far right shifter with button pressed and once shift point is reached then push lever forward (have to press button while pushing forward)
now the car is in 2nd gear

Grab middle rod and repeat .....press button and move forward at shift pont

now its in third or normal driving around automatic position.

To go to park from drive
it has reverse lockout so you can push 3rd gear rod forward to neutral without pushing in the button. But have to press button to go further

Once in nuetral you have to press the button to go to reverse and park. Which im sure you know since you have drove it.

ours is 351c withe a C6 and yes its the 3 rods. so I guess if I understand you right, if you put the lever closest to you in drive you can just drive the car as if it were any other auto car correct? :confused::confused: the lever should move smoothly from position to position and not have to put a lot of pressure on the buttons right? i will take some pics of the them today and post them up.
 
I had those in my 1983 Hurst/Olds, they were verry cool. Post above explained them perfectly, but I do not remember mine having buttons on top of the two furthest away from you, I could be wrong.
 
is the switch looking part for reverse lights? any my other question is the part that connects to the shift cable doesn't seem to move like it should when I pull the lever closest to the drive side all the way back I still can not put the button on the other 2 down to be able to move them but if I pull on the part that the shift cable hooks to all the way back I can then push the buttons down. so it seems like something doesn't/ isn't moving like it should. where should I look for problems is there anyone that does rebuilding of these. is Hurst any help with anything to do with these?
 

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Those are a lil different looks like they have a lever that works as a reverse lock out that may need to be moved once the shifters are in neutral to allow shifting in to Rev or Park


The adjustment on the LR are VERY finicky. pull it back to d/3 and then move the lever that the cable hooks to back and forth a little until you can push down the button. Use the buttons ease of being able to be pressed down your basis

Figure out which way it needs to go so the button can be pushed down and make the adjust ment on your trans where the other end of the cable hooks up if possible. Sometimes the cables outer sheath can be adjusted.

and yes the switch looks like it may be the back up lights
 
I think they make your car 3-4 tenths and 4 MPH faster....:rolleyes: oh well.
Maybe not.
 

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cool guys thanks for all the info its a big help so far. I really want to see these stay in the car instead of some plain jane hurst shifter. I think they really give the car character.

Am I able to put the car in drive and just drive like normal and let the trans shift threw the gears on its own?? if I dont feel like shifting threw the gears manually or well i am working on getting the lightning rods set up right. might sounds like a stupid question, but I just want to make sure I dont do any damage to my trans.

thanks again guys you a have been a great help
 
cool guys thanks for all the info its a big help so far. I really want to see these stay in the car instead of some plain jane hurst shifter. I think they really give the car character.

Am I able to put the car in drive and just drive like normal and let the trans shift threw the gears on its own?? if I dont feel like shifting threw the gears manually or well i am working on getting the lightning rods set up right. might sounds like a stupid question, but I just want to make sure I dont do any damage to my trans.

thanks again guys you a have been a great help


If your trans has auto Vb in it then yes you can just put in D and drive normal if your VB is manual then you will have to shift through the gears with eth levers
 
Dont know on Fords. I bet its not a manual valve Body since that stuff is typically race parts. Just puut it in D and see if it shifts on its own
 
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