Kblack_LT4

I've had a BM ripper that was in the car I bought just come loose while driving down the road. So I've started removing some of the dash and console, etc.... I've removed the 4 nuts over the metal plate and rubber boot but it appears the boot doesn't attach as other cars. I do not want to mess this car up, so please tell me if you know, how does it remove so I can get to the shifter? Also, I have the instructions and pics from the BM website. http://<a href="http://www.bmracing....681-03.pdf</a> But somethings do not match mine, especially the rubber boot information, mine is a single piece that doesn't have edges I can find except on the left side that was covered by the console. I do not want to tear it. Am I going to need to remove the exhaust to get to this from underneath. The car is jacked up right now, and I cannot see how this boot attaches yet. It feels like it is 'sealed' to the metal and I do not want to harm this car. I have to say, this is one of the most troublesome installations I've seen on a car. Of course the others are earlier Camaros and have more room. This one is just a LOT nicer but seems a LOT tighter in fit. Any help is appreciated. Direct e-mail is kblack@geusnet.com Thanks Ken :cry

Eric 96

I have been doing some research because I want to install either the Ripper or the Hurst...and yes...you will have to get to the boot from underneath the car. A strap holds it to the housing under the car....once you get the strap off, you can peel the boot back.
If you have small hands, some say you won't have to drop the exhaust...I think you will though.

Kblack_LT4

Thx Eric, I will get to looking and removing, or I should say, lowering first to see if I can do it from there. By the way, I am USAF retired also. I will keep coming to check from time to time to see if there is an update.

thx

Ken :chevy

xs650

Ken, I just got done putting a Hurst shifter in my 96 yesterday.

Before you go any further..... Do you know what came loose? You might not need to take the whole thing apart. If it's the drive pin on the front of the gear rod, all you need to do is cut the tie wrap from the lower front part of the bottom boot and slide it back so you can get at the pin and snap ring. It needs to be in neutral or maybe third gear so you can get at the pin If that's not the loose part read on....

The B&M instructions look good, read them carefully, especially the part about not dropping shims when you pull the shifter out.

To elaborate on the B&M instructions a bit...

There are two boots, one abpve that needs to come all the way off the car and one below that needs to be loosened at it's top and the small part that fits over the geashift rod needs to be slid back. You shouldn't need to completely remove the lower boot. You only need to remove the top plate and slide the lower front part back on the shifter rod.

Are the nuts you have removed the 4 acorn nuts over the thin melal plate that sedures the upper boot? If so, the next step is to gently pry the metal plate loose from the upper boot and remove the plate.

The upper boot may be glued to the tranmission tunnel. If it is, you are going to need to carefully work it loose by running a screw driver between the boot and the tunnel and gently sliding it around the boot.

The left side of the boot may be pinched in place by the left side trim/carpet panel. You can pry it out of the way a bit and hold it while you work the boot off.

On the lower boot, you need to remove the next 4 hex nuts on the top and take off the shifter base plate. Gently work the lower boot off the shifter baseplate as you remove the baseplate. Do this from inside the car.

If the boots are torn or you tear one, read my repair instruction I posted a couple of days ago.

If the lower boot is torn where it slides over the shifter rod, it's easy to repair it after you install it so you don't stress the fresh repair.

My top boot was glued in place. The shop manual doesn't say anything about gluing it and it sticks in place real well without glue if you get it over the lip properly. I don't think it needs glue. I spent about an hour cleaning the old glue crap off of mine.

Good luck.




[Modified by xs650, 8:00 PM 2/15/2004]

Kblack_LT4

OK, I removed way to much but learned a lot about these cars. The top boot was stuck on pretty well but you covered things greatly & I thank you. For reference again... http://<a href="http://www.bmracing....681-03.pdf</a> I found that both the reverse lockout pin, spring and locknut were missing. OK, there's more, the pivot axle and the lock nut were both in the rubber boot but the other locknut for the other side of the pivot axle was gone. I suspect all missing items fell thru the drain hole in the rubber boot. When I bought the car a few months ago in Florida, I drove it back to Texas. I had to go across some really rough roads in sections with lots of construction on several. I'm thinking it just vibrated the things out or apart. Essentially, all I had to get home with was the shifter hanging loose in the swingplate. Now the throws were extremely exagerated and huge pattern wise, so I guess you could say my Ripper shifter becasme a 'Search' shifter. It got me home, there was hardly any gear feel at all, but it would go into gear with some effort and sometimes going into another one than expected (higher wise so no over revving) and reverse worked when I backed it into the garage. I was lucky as I was about 40 miles from home when it happened. I will call B&M tomorrow and try & order replacemtn parts. Thanks for the support, & I see now what all you mentioned in the post. You have more details I think than B&M did. :) I would like to know later what you think of that Hurst stick. It's all I've ever used in my Camaros in the past. Thx again. Ken

xs650

The Hurst is great. I love it. It feels just right to me, although I was wondering what a bit shorter throw would feel like :)

I grapped the shift lever below the **** and drove it that way awhile. That was probably about the same throw you get with a B&M. That felt real good too. I think I would still prefer the Hurst, but either one is way better than stock.

The funny part is that the hurst parts are cheaper to make than the stock parts (no rubber damper), so the Chevy factory added cost to give us a poorer shifter.

While you're mucking around with your shifter, check the transmission to tranmission tunnel clearance compared to the shop manual specs. Mine was about 1/2 inch too far left and 1/4 inch too high.

A lazy or ignorant mechanic who disconnects the C-beam for any reason will leave the transmission too far left every time when he puts it back together.

To adjust it you need to loosen the bolts on boith ends of the C-beam and move the tranmission to the correct position, then retighten the C-beam bolts. That centered the shifter in my transmission tunnel and made things a bit easier to work on too.

I'm finding it really pays to study the manual and take my time whenever I work on the car. If you look close enough there is always something else to tweak while the car is up on stands.