hey everybody, has anybody built an floor shifter for a th350. I'm working on a 40' chevy and i will need one but im not to cracked about shelling out 200 dollars for one from Lokar or American Shifter. I'd rather make my own, If anyone has done anything like this I'd love to see some pictures
Biggest problem will be some kind of detent system. Otherwise a big bump and you shift right into nuetral or worse, reverse. I'n my 46 I forked out the dough for the B&M streetrod shifter. it has a traditional looking round handle and mounts to the tranny. The only thing I did was change the knob, it has some billet looking cheesy piece of shit on it out of the box. Still had the shitty billet knob, but you get the idea. I then used an old school hurst 4 speed shifter boot to hide all the modern do das.
I made one for a V8 pinto. For a detent I used a piece of common galvanized flat stock and cut notches in it to stop the lever. The shift lever I used was spring loaded to the left and this spring pushed the lever against the homemade detent. I may have used another piece of flat stock on the right side of the shifter with more cutouts to control the travel. This was in the early 80's so the details are gone.
try a search here for: I Needed a Shifter.....So I Built One. also, for the not so talented here summit racing has B&M Unimatic Shifters #80775 for $123.
Speedway Motors, in the Dirt Track catalog. Cost is like $40, If anything the ideas on how to make one like them for a couple of bucks, TR
I made this one (still not quite done) using the old shifter from my original 36 truck, It had a reverse lock out that I modified to operate the detents by putting a spring around the body of the shifter arm I made a new larger handle to get more leverage on the spring.. let me know if you want any more info
Pretty sure you can still purchase genie shifter parts from par automotive.I only purchased the main mechanism and made my own custom lever and knob.
I make them all the time. Keep it simple & lite & it wont kick out of gear. On Ts & As I use the throttle lever on the column. For floor mount, I use the center overhead garage bracket with holes & a piece of pipe as wide as my fist.
Geez,I figured I'd take a chance for under $40 and free shipping.I ordered on Thurs. and had it on Friday!