Technical Auto Trans Shifters Whats Really Best

Hey all, share your thoughts on auto trans shifters, race type, rod type etc B&M, Hurst, Genie, Mr Gasket and especially home built.
Here isa Mr Gasket Ratchet shifter a friend gave me, no housing, no cable or parts, is it even worth getting into to make work on say an A904 trans.
I really dig the look of the cheaper B&M Unimatic and Mr Gasket 7668, but both have no reverse lockouts or detents.
904s have their own reverse light switch and neutral safety circuit too.
So whaddya all think on this topic.
Really like to see some home built types too.

 

I have had B+M, Lokar, Hurst and a couple of unknown brands. They all shifted well with the Lokar being the best. Had a Hurst "quarter-stick" shifter that I hated. Ended up disconnecting the lockouts, 'cause it took two hands to shift it. Guess I just never got got the hang of it...

 

Aftermarket shifters have lousy neutral safety - backup light switch gear. You have to be in Park to engage the starter. If your car stalls out while in the middle of the freeway, what do you do? Also, it is either a neutral safety switch or a backup light switch; not both. This is something the OEMs got right.

 

My B&M Pro stick is the opposite. It only starts in neutral and not in park. Once you get used to pushing the small lever to shift into reverse it's not such a big deal.

 

Depends what it's going in, and what you plan to use it for. You listed a lot of shifters that would work ok in some cars, but I still think the stock column shifter is what you'd want in a lot of cars, if you can.

Home made? Here's one. It's the best shifter for this car, which is trying to be period correct for 1966....and there isn't anything on the market at all that even comes close.

 

Nothing looks worst to me than some ratchet shifter in a stock looking car especially with nothing around it giving it a finished appearance. Drag cars no problem and I expect it. Without a console, I do not like a floor shifter for an automatic with bench seats but a Lokar style with a boot looks nice. GM, Ford, and all the rest did a great job in 1960’s putting floor shifters in consoles with bucket seat both manuals and automatics.

 

I liked the old Mustang floor shifters best. I used them on everything.

 

Jim, is that shifter in your Barracuda? I really dig the simplicity and clean appearance of it. Does it use a cable?


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

This is in my Chevy II. It uses linkage, pretty simple....

Aftermarket cable floor shifters came around in 67.

 

Not one of the prettiest, but the top as far as tough. You can use your foot to shift and not hurt this one.
Easy to change to match different transmissions too. With and without start lockout, 3 and 4spd. forward and reverse shift pattern...all on one shifter.

I've got one in my soon to be running daily driver.

https://www.wideopendesign.com/winters-shifter

Mike

 

I have read this a number of times.
What years we talkin bout?
Well now old Mustang shifters will not be too plentiful at the pick and pull yards.

 

Gotta find something to work with this. It ain't a racer yet...lol But it sure aint stock...lol

 

I have a Shiftworks shifter in my custom console in my Chevy II Wagon and love it, made in the USA too.
Be sure and look them over, they are available through Summit Racing too.
Click here: https://shiftworks.com/collections/shifters

In my Hot Rod I have a TCI Pistol-Grip, and I have neutral & park start and a backup light switch, and I made my own shifter cover.

 

I'm a series 60 guy myself when AT.

 

I always thought the dash mounted Mopar shifter were pretty cool in a Mopar. My buddy had a dodge pickup with a factory dash mounted shifter and it worked perfect.
I hate ratchet shifters in a street car they get old real quick. I liked the Lokar that I had in my old Pro Street Morris Minor. It was easy for my wife to drive also.
Turbo Actions cheetah shifter is the best street strip shifter going. A little more expensive but well worth the money. I have had 2 of them and they work so much smoother than the other shifters I have used.

 

I have a Winters shifter in my 39 Dodge pickup. I also have a 46RE trans (a Mopar auto-over drive) and the winters shifter requires making linkage and brackets to work on the Mopar overdrive transmissions, even though they sell them as compatible. Once the linkage and brackets were made, it seems to work pretty well. I do like the individual gate position for each gear, there won't be any concern about slipping into neutral, reverse, or park by accident.

There wouldn't be any issue with hooking it up to either a 904 or a 727, its the OD transmissions that have a linkage problem. Gene

 

I liked the '65 to '68 ones, maybe they are repopped. You should be able to find one on eBay.

 

The “Mustang” type shifter was also used in the Pinto and Mustang II. But you still aren’t likely to find them in a junkyard. Swap meets yes.

 

I used a Gennie Shifter in my '32 tub with a TH350 because I wanted the shifter to mount to the transmission and not to the floor - I like to feel the pulse of the engine through the shift knob. I also wanted detents instead of a push button so that I could use any type of conventional threaded shift knob. I also wanted some kind of stick that was different from those offered by the current aftermarket manufacturers. To make all this happen I made a simple adapter to fit an old Hurst Indy shift lever (I really like the graceful shape of these) to the Gennie Shifter guts, screwed on the vintage shift knob from an old school bus and found the traditional rubber boot on eBay. I'm happy with it.

 

My favorite used to the 350 trans shifter from a Vega, they also had a neutral safety built in. Hard to find today.

 

I used one of these but it had such an ugly plastic console. How did you make it look good?

 

I've had this B&M for ten years now, works perfect, will start in Park or Neutral.

 

Home built for a Powerglide. Freind gave me a Powerglide with the shift lever bolted to the tailhouse and the shift lever on the trans pointed up, right where I needed room for a size 12. E-Bay B&M(?) pieces to point the shift lever down, also the cable bracket.

Shift Mechanism: 2 pieces. In the top picture you can see the 1/4" bolt both pivot on. It gets a jamb nut. The shift lever fits through a slot in the bottom piece so they move together.
Shift lever is apiece of 1/2 rod with a bushing pressed on to re-enforce the pivot point and barrel shaped on a belt sander. (Froze the rod and heated the bushing.) The pivot hole was elongated so the shift lever could rock sideways.Turned it in drill press with a hole in a piece of OSB to pilot the bottom end. Roughed it out with a 4 1/2 in. grinder and then used successively finer grits of file paper, nailed to piece of 2x3, and then wet and dry paper to finish it. Note! When you clamp it in an aluminum block to bend it you should split the block through the hole before bending. LOL



Detents: The little tab that indexes the detents is welded to the shift lever and the shift lever is spring loaded against the piece that moves the cable. There is a plate to cover the bottom so everything is sealed.



Neutral safety switch: Ball pushed in closes the switch. It is operated by steel block with a depression drilled in the middle to clear for reverse.

 

Not true, I have a Gennie shifter and the neutral safety switch will allow starting in Park and also in neutral.
You can’t start in any gear position other than park or neutral.
Backup lights? What are those ?
Don’t have them on my RPU.

 

Some aftermarket shifters are like he says, others have good switches. Not sure you can tell, before you buy, though...maybe read the instructions, and study the diagrams?

 

My A904 has the OEM Mopar harness for , Neutral Safety ground interupter and back up lamps.
The neutral safety wire goes to mopar starter relay to function correctly.

 

Okay back to the shifter 4 my truck.
I got lucky, local guy, racer trans builder etc.
He had the parts for my Mr Gasket ratchet shifter, handle, cable, brackets and lever.
And lical right near me.
I just need to find a cover or make one.

 

The Art Carr/Winters and the Turbo Action Cheetah are the same mechanism...Turbo Action puts a nice T-handle with a line-lock/transbrake switch built in on their version.
Great gated shifter.

Kilduff shifters are probably a bit too new for the crowd here, but the Lightning Rods are really cool. They also have a single stick and Horseshoe models too.
Very durable shifters.
https://www.kilduffmachine.com/

 

The guys using Mustang shifters. Is there a way to lengthen it to give it a more hot rod look?

 

I liked the old B&M Z gate, simple to use, the two I had started in neutral and park, also had back up lights.