I have finally gotten to the shifter in my wife's car. 110k miles...shifts like SH!T. 1st and reverse are ridiculous, the rest are terrible and the slop is stupid. I have read many-a-thread, prior to my dissection of our shifter, and the solutions that are floating around the 'net are partial ones (add bushings here, replace bushings there) and they're also fairly expensive, IMO. Ultimately, I don't feel that any of the solutions by themselves fix all of the problems and all of them combined don't either. Plus I didn't find a thread (on this forum) that combines all the fixes in one thread.
The problem: At best; slop in the shifter, vague shift pattern and feel. At worst; inability to get the car into gear(s), as in my case.
The goal; to have the shifter feel and behave like "a brick sh!t house"...like one that mounts directly into the transmission, such as in an F-body, or an older Mustang (T-5 or T45 Transmission). Also a goal of mine is to have adjustable shift stops, as you can have in the F-body cars, which reduces the chance of breakage to the shift forks, and wear on the shift linkage.
I feel that there are two distinct and very different solutions for the problem defined above;
1. Improve the shifter assembly as much as possible to eliminate slop, add a "gate" and adjustable shift stops (last two parts are optional). This is the road that I'm going down b/c the car is my wife's car. If the car was mine (I drove it), I'd do the following...
2. Eliminate the entire shifter assy except the shift lever and base. Extend the internal shift rail out the back of the trans. Hook shifter directly to the internal rail, through a precision U-joint. This is the BEST solution by far. It connects your hand to the internal shift rail (the part that we're ultimately trying to manipulate) through two parts; the shift lever, and a U-joint. In the picture below, I'm pointing to the rear support for the internal shift rail. There is a simple steel freeze plug in the end. Look at the proximity of that rail compared to the shifter hole in the floor; it's nearly perfect for linking to the shifter!
Since I'm making the best of the stock "Rube Goldberg" shifter, I'll cover that, starting at the rear and moving forward. Use the following picture as a reference, as it shows the entire shifter assy.
Starting at the rear, is the SHIFT LEVER.
Options are aftermarket shifters which are $$$ and also shorten the throw. Many like the short throw. I used to. The problem is that they take away leverage, which makes shifting FAST hard to to. It also increases missed shifts, in a competitive situation (the drag-track, primarily). At any rate, I can not see what is fundamentally wrong with the stock shifter, other than the giant rubber "blob" that dampens the upper rod. I pulled the upper rod off,
....cut the damper portion off the rod,
....and welded the upper rod back onto the lower rod. Anyone doing this mod could at this point, make a "short shifter" by either cutting out extra rod and physically making the shift lever shorter, or by cutting and adding some length under the pivot. Either way has a similar effect and it boil down to a personal decision as to what you're looking for (physically shortened shift lever, or shorter throws). I wanted the tallest shift lever I could have, and the longest throws, so I kept it stock height/length.
Moving "forward", there are the bushings at the bottom of the shift lever. PISSNUOFF has those bushings.
Next moving forward, and just ahead of the shifter pivot are the bushings that support the shifter vertically. My solution is to eliminate them, the bracket that connects it to the shifter base (the floor pan), and fabricate a vertical support for the shifter connecting the bottom rear of trans, to the shifter base. Pics of my solution to follow. Why is this my recommendation? The transmission/engine assembly moves around in the car -as does any engine/trans in any car, due to chassis flex and mostly, rubber engine and trans mounts. Therefore, you don't "rigidly mount" anything from the engine/trans to the body. Yet that is exactly what GM did with the shifter! They mounted the two forward rods to the trans body (fine), but then the vertical height of the shifter is defined by the shifter base being bolted to the body of the car! Retarded. As the engine/trans moves around, the relationship between the trans and body changes, and that will (somewhat) change how the shifter works/feels, and even moves on it's own when in a gear. Eliminate that and don't use the bracket/bushings that bolt to the underside of the shifter "boot" assy (aka, the body of the car) at all.
Next, moving forward are the shifter bushings that affix the shifter assy to the rear of the trans. My thumb is pointing at them in the reference pic. Here the "Home Depot bushings" work fantastic. Very snug fit.
Again, moving forward are the plastic bushings where the shift rod connects with the "U-joint". Again, PISSNUOFF has a nice bronze bushing solution that is superior to the stock plastic one.
Next, is the steel pin that provides lateral movement in the "U-joint" -my pointer finger is pointing at what I'm calling the "U-joint". It is a loose fit and allows slop radially (as in side to side motion at the shifter). Cadzilla found a solution in simply welding this joint. I don't prefer this solution as there needs to be some side to side compliance here and welding forces all the side motion to be absorbed in the bending of the shift rod, and causes side loading of what I call the "upper shift rail" going into the trans. My solution was to use a 1/4" roll pin. The hole is .238" -smaller than 1/4". I cut the split/groove in the roll pin wider w/a Dremel tool (a cut-off wheel would work too), and that allowed the roll pin to compress enough to fit. it is TIGHT, there is absolutely no slop now, and the joint still has the ability to provide lateral movement. I think that it is a fair solution, that will last a long time.
All of the above will provide much sharper shifting than stock. It will eliminate the "fighting" between the shifter mounts on the trans and where it bolted to the floor pan. It is a huge improvement. All slop will be removed from the linkage...but will all slop be eliminated from the driver's perspective? Will the shifter feel like a Pro5.0 shifter in a T56 Camaro? No, it will not. It will still have some lateral movement when in a gear due to compliance (flex) in the shifter frame, rod, and tolerances inside the transmission itself. How can we mitigate this and make the shifter feel like it's a "Brick sh!t house"? This is where the shift gate is required, and the adjustable shift stops. Since our shifter is remotely mounted, there will be flex in the assy no matter what. To mitigate this, we can build a shift gate that makes it so the shifter physically can not move side to side when it's in a gear. We're doing this AT the shifter, so any flex in the linkage is taken out of the equation, from the driver's perspective -shifter doesn't move, so it "feels" stronger. Pics to follow.
The problem: At best; slop in the shifter, vague shift pattern and feel. At worst; inability to get the car into gear(s), as in my case.
The goal; to have the shifter feel and behave like "a brick sh!t house"...like one that mounts directly into the transmission, such as in an F-body, or an older Mustang (T-5 or T45 Transmission). Also a goal of mine is to have adjustable shift stops, as you can have in the F-body cars, which reduces the chance of breakage to the shift forks, and wear on the shift linkage.
I feel that there are two distinct and very different solutions for the problem defined above;
1. Improve the shifter assembly as much as possible to eliminate slop, add a "gate" and adjustable shift stops (last two parts are optional). This is the road that I'm going down b/c the car is my wife's car. If the car was mine (I drove it), I'd do the following...
2. Eliminate the entire shifter assy except the shift lever and base. Extend the internal shift rail out the back of the trans. Hook shifter directly to the internal rail, through a precision U-joint. This is the BEST solution by far. It connects your hand to the internal shift rail (the part that we're ultimately trying to manipulate) through two parts; the shift lever, and a U-joint. In the picture below, I'm pointing to the rear support for the internal shift rail. There is a simple steel freeze plug in the end. Look at the proximity of that rail compared to the shifter hole in the floor; it's nearly perfect for linking to the shifter!
Since I'm making the best of the stock "Rube Goldberg" shifter, I'll cover that, starting at the rear and moving forward. Use the following picture as a reference, as it shows the entire shifter assy.
Starting at the rear, is the SHIFT LEVER.
Options are aftermarket shifters which are $$$ and also shorten the throw. Many like the short throw. I used to. The problem is that they take away leverage, which makes shifting FAST hard to to. It also increases missed shifts, in a competitive situation (the drag-track, primarily). At any rate, I can not see what is fundamentally wrong with the stock shifter, other than the giant rubber "blob" that dampens the upper rod. I pulled the upper rod off,
....cut the damper portion off the rod,
....and welded the upper rod back onto the lower rod. Anyone doing this mod could at this point, make a "short shifter" by either cutting out extra rod and physically making the shift lever shorter, or by cutting and adding some length under the pivot. Either way has a similar effect and it boil down to a personal decision as to what you're looking for (physically shortened shift lever, or shorter throws). I wanted the tallest shift lever I could have, and the longest throws, so I kept it stock height/length.
Moving "forward", there are the bushings at the bottom of the shift lever. PISSNUOFF has those bushings.
Next moving forward, and just ahead of the shifter pivot are the bushings that support the shifter vertically. My solution is to eliminate them, the bracket that connects it to the shifter base (the floor pan), and fabricate a vertical support for the shifter connecting the bottom rear of trans, to the shifter base. Pics of my solution to follow. Why is this my recommendation? The transmission/engine assembly moves around in the car -as does any engine/trans in any car, due to chassis flex and mostly, rubber engine and trans mounts. Therefore, you don't "rigidly mount" anything from the engine/trans to the body. Yet that is exactly what GM did with the shifter! They mounted the two forward rods to the trans body (fine), but then the vertical height of the shifter is defined by the shifter base being bolted to the body of the car! Retarded. As the engine/trans moves around, the relationship between the trans and body changes, and that will (somewhat) change how the shifter works/feels, and even moves on it's own when in a gear. Eliminate that and don't use the bracket/bushings that bolt to the underside of the shifter "boot" assy (aka, the body of the car) at all.
Next, moving forward are the shifter bushings that affix the shifter assy to the rear of the trans. My thumb is pointing at them in the reference pic. Here the "Home Depot bushings" work fantastic. Very snug fit.
Again, moving forward are the plastic bushings where the shift rod connects with the "U-joint". Again, PISSNUOFF has a nice bronze bushing solution that is superior to the stock plastic one.
Next, is the steel pin that provides lateral movement in the "U-joint" -my pointer finger is pointing at what I'm calling the "U-joint". It is a loose fit and allows slop radially (as in side to side motion at the shifter). Cadzilla found a solution in simply welding this joint. I don't prefer this solution as there needs to be some side to side compliance here and welding forces all the side motion to be absorbed in the bending of the shift rod, and causes side loading of what I call the "upper shift rail" going into the trans. My solution was to use a 1/4" roll pin. The hole is .238" -smaller than 1/4". I cut the split/groove in the roll pin wider w/a Dremel tool (a cut-off wheel would work too), and that allowed the roll pin to compress enough to fit. it is TIGHT, there is absolutely no slop now, and the joint still has the ability to provide lateral movement. I think that it is a fair solution, that will last a long time.
All of the above will provide much sharper shifting than stock. It will eliminate the "fighting" between the shifter mounts on the trans and where it bolted to the floor pan. It is a huge improvement. All slop will be removed from the linkage...but will all slop be eliminated from the driver's perspective? Will the shifter feel like a Pro5.0 shifter in a T56 Camaro? No, it will not. It will still have some lateral movement when in a gear due to compliance (flex) in the shifter frame, rod, and tolerances inside the transmission itself. How can we mitigate this and make the shifter feel like it's a "Brick sh!t house"? This is where the shift gate is required, and the adjustable shift stops. Since our shifter is remotely mounted, there will be flex in the assy no matter what. To mitigate this, we can build a shift gate that makes it so the shifter physically can not move side to side when it's in a gear. We're doing this AT the shifter, so any flex in the linkage is taken out of the equation, from the driver's perspective -shifter doesn't move, so it "feels" stronger. Pics to follow.
