I have a 94 6sp with 155K miles on the orginal shifter and trans. I did not realize how sloopy the shifting was until I drove a stick w/ much less miles. I would like to upgrade the shifter. Are there some aftermarkets ones you would recommend (Hurst,B&M)? Also how tuff a job is replacing the shifter?

thanks

 

JJ, I will be honest, with that kinda mileage, I am thinking the shifter rails are worn.

You might want to consider contacting Bill Bidreau at www.zfdoc.com, and check with him. I would consider getting the transmission rebuilt and have him install the shifter at the same time. He quoted me about $2800 for a full on rebuild. He goes through everything. It's better then new.

As for the shifter, I would recommend the Hurst. It is the better shifter for the street. It is also the choice for autox'ers.

If you race, consider the B&M. It is the popular choice for drag racers.

I have the Hurst. And have never driven the B&M.

Try both, if you can.

 

I totally agree with Bogus

 

Bogus is a genius yet again ... I have a B&M and love it... but there are those who will stand by Hurst as well. Hurst is cheaper, but the B&M gives it more of a race car feel... IMHO.
I would take Bogus' advice and have the tranny run through and see how that feels first.

 

Thanks guys,

Truth is the motor is orginal too. She doesn't smoke or use any oil. But my plan is to rebuild the motor winter of 05 and I was hoping the tranny would make it another year or so beyond that. I think my best plan is to drive it thru the summer (hey it a vert) and save some $$ to go thru the trans when I do the motor. I guess I was hoping a new shifter would make it feel more precise and tighter making my summer crusing more enjoyable.

 

I have a 92 with 133K miles. B&M helped alot. Send me your email address and I will send you a pic of these two shifters side by side as to compare them. You can see what big a difference the B&M is to the Hurst. tikibam2@msn.com

 

Another vote for the Hurst, feels like a bolt action rifle

 

I like my Hurst, minor pita to install. I don't see a need to rebuild the transmission, just put the shifter in and see if that helps. You can have it rebuilt if it is still problematic. You may get away with just the shifter helping with your sloppiness.

 

Hmmm. Yea. I gota belive just upgrading the shifter will make a positive difference. I think I'll go for it and see what happens. I still am on the fence between Hurst and B&M. I am leaning towards the Hurst Billet Plus because they claim that it is made uniquely for my car and so it is an "easy" install. The B&M some say is better for "drag" racing, which I dont do. But ,I do log lots of miles running through SoCal mountain roads where I am constantly shifting between 3,4,&5 gears. Do any of these have an advantage for this type of driving? What about installation? What were your experiences with installing your shifter?

Thanks

 

to give you a kwik break down of the B&M... well first off, both are a pain in the back side to install so don't let the Hurst instructions fool you... but the B&M is for racing period... not specific to drags or autoX. It has a very 'stiff' and 'notchy' feel to it. To me this is a good thing. There is only 2¼" of travel between gears and you can feel it hit nuetral then feel it again as you hit the next gear. It is a magnified sense of the stock shifter.

I race mine... but 97% of my vettes life is spent on the street and my B&M is fine. I liked it so much I bought one for my wifes 99 Cougar

This is not to bash Hurst in any way. Hurst is cheaper, but the only hurst MN6 vette I sat in, the shift was shorter than stock, but nothing like the B&M. The advantage is that if feels smoother or more like the stock feel.

 

I installed my Hurst a couple weeks ago in my '94 and love it. I'm a daily driver and don't drag race, either and we have some nice back mountain roads here in northern AZ. But, when I do get on it going thru the gears, it's great. I followed several previous threads on the subject which you should look up and read. All the tips I needed were on them. They're a coupla months old so they may be way back on the forum.

I followed the Hurst instructions and looked out for the PITA points that the threads warned about, specifically the shaft pin and lower boot. It was time consuming, but I didn't have trouble with the pin. I'm one of the lucky ones, I suppose, because it just tapped right in - with a five pound sledge. On your back with about 16" working room doesn't let you get much swing behind a hammer, though.

The lower boot took some manipulation and patience getting back on. Use a long, narrow rod to push the top of the boot rubber from below and inside the boot over the metal lip - pull/push the bottom on with a pair of needlenose.

The hardest part for me was getting the cam portion of the shifter back over the shifter shaft. That's the part the shaft pin fits thru to connect the shifter to the shaft coming out of the tranny. The hurst instructions say to have some one sit in the car to hold/move the shifter til you get it on. I did it during the week in my garage so any help I could have had was in school or at work. I just grabbed the bottom of the shifter thru the bottom of the rubber boot and held it up while I used a long thin screw driver in the shaft pin hole to slide it part way on to the shaft. Then I pushed it the rest of the way on and got the pin tapped in easily.

I'm making it sound easier than it was because it was time consuming to manipulate those parts. rather than mechanically difficult. Remember - patience and manipulation!

Okay, after that long winded bit, I have a question: I have not serviced the clutch yet since I got the car in Oct. I did change the tranny fluid to Castrol TWS 10w 60. Since I installed the Hurst, occassionally on the 1st to 2nd shift, I feel resistance and it acts almost like the earlier years' 1st to 4th mandatory shift(don't know the correct name for it). A couple times when it seems to "resist" the shift, it has made a grinding noise. I think I'm releasing the clutch early thinking I've gotten it into 2nd. Does this sound like a clutch fluid issue? Except for operator head space releasing the clutch early.