63 Rambler American 440 shifting issue

It occurs to me to say, try shifting slowly, like comically slowly. Times have changed. THe T5 in my roadster you can pretty much shift as fast as you can clutch and move the lever. The old Borg Warner T96 3 speed you have takes nearly 800 - 1000 milliseconds to change gears -- literally a full clock second. Think 1941, not 2021. It is s l o w.  SLOW. Feel it change, it's very unsophisticated. 1 to 2 especially, 2 to 3 is better, 3 to 2 not bad if there's not a huge RPM/MPH difference, and anything to first, generally don't.

So (you've already told me this but I forget, sorry farna.) The 3speed column shifter gears are oriented like this.... Pulling the shifter towards the driver, and up is 2nd gear, pulling down from there is 3rd, going back to neutral and letting the spring pull the shifter back towards the dash, then lightly with open palm pushing up is 1st, and lightly with open palm pulling down is reverse.

Buzzman72 wrote: The standard transmission column shift pattern is...pull back toward the driver and then UP is REVERSE. Pull back toward the driver and DOWN is FIRST. Toward the dash and UP is SECOND. Toward dash and DOWN is THIRD. This is a UNIVERSAL pattern for ALL US-built vehicles with a 3-speed manual column shift transmission. INCLUDING AMC.

and Ive had a few 3 on the tree trucks and cars .  Like above, dont get in a hurry, it will work .   I drove a chevy van with a 350 4bbl and 3 on the tree LOL. 

Just remember that when down-shifting these old transmissions DO NOT down-shift into FIRST while moving! Below 10 mph it should be safe, but don't use first for slowing except in an emergency! First isn't synchronized because it was never intended to be used for anything but taking off with a load or on a hill, only used on occasion. When these transmissions were designed in the 30s that's how people drove: used SECOND to take off most of the time (except with a heavy load or on a hill) then shifted to third. That's why the column shifter is laid out like it is -- it is spring loaded to pop toward the dash so it's just up (2nd) and down (3rd) while driving, not a lot of shifting. When BW introduced the "automatic overdrive" you had a third gear that required no additional shifting. Engines were usually big with low compression and lots of low speed torque, and axle ratios were low. Top speeds weren't very high since there were few roads that allowed speeds much over 50 mph. There were some cars like the Duesenbergs that were fully capable of attaining 100 mph, just very few places to safely test that, except maybe an airport runway.