Damn Jeff... You coulda wore some better looking shorts at least!





mischiefse7en - I would make sure that someone hadn't shimmed out your detent bolt in the tranny OR installed the actual Anti Venom Bolt, You are running a stock shifter right?



Tim

 

haha lol...it's mostly my girl (yes always a woman) she said I need to "get with the times" tells me "plaid" is in these days...

 

Did you try this with the car running or not running? Make sure it is running and the temperature is warmed up. Must have something to do with the fluids being moved around and under pressure in the transmission. Mine won't snap back to center from the right side all the time either if the car is not running. It's probably recommended that the transmission be warmed up as well before you start moving the gearbox around like I demonstrated.

 

XtremeVette,

Nice shifter ****! I know this is a little off topic, but where does the **** get power? It would be even cooler yet if it would change color while shifting into a different gear!

 

Yeah my aftermarket is the same....tranny must be warmed up and running

 

Oh good God!!!!! Don't give him any ideas!!!! He'll ask me to come up with a solution for that mod... Hmmm actually I do know of a way to do that...

Tim

 

lol hehe....no Iam good tim with the way mine lights up all on its own.

Eric mine is wired along with 4 other devices to a central switch area that I have created in my ashtray. I'll take a mini movie of that also. I have 5 switches currently all fused and running off the cigarette lighter which itself is also fused.

1. Radar detector power
2. Side Vent lights steady on power
3. Side Vent lights strobe on power (like knight rider)
4. Underdash led power
5. Shift Light power

Jeff

 

Jeff,

That is too cool. I really like the newer LED's on the market. You might want to start a new thread with your LED videos. I look forward to seeing them!

 

Perhaps I should make a separate thread, but I am having this problem to an extreme.

I took my car apart to replace the throwout bearing.....and now I can't find reverse at all on the shifter. The shifter clicks over as if to go into reverse, but it is just fifth.

Also the shifter doesn't have any spring to it.

I did the alignment pin and the adjustment procedure, but still no reverse. Is it possible I could have damaged the linkage while raising or lowering the torque tube? The front of the linkage seems to bend much more easily than before.

 

It's possible... getting at it to check is an endeavor though! I would start a new Thread... perhaps someone else had the same thing happen to them??

Tim

 

C6Z shifter, doesnt snap back ever from the right, cold or warm.

 

Did you get the reverse lockout solenoid plugged back in on the transmission during your reinstall? That would keep it from working.

 

New thread has been started....
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...post1571402887

 

Eric you just saved me big time...the linkage caught at one point during the lift process so I thought I busted it...turns out this sensor was only half plugged in.

Thanks

 

This may be a long post but, I'm going to try to explain C5/C6 shifter and how it works and problems that I have seen.

The C5 shifter and for that matter, the C6 shifter does NOT have ANY centering or positioning springs inside the shifter handle or base. If, you remove the shifter handle from the base, the handle will FLOP around to any position that you can move it to. NO gates, no springs no detents, NOTHING. The base is the same way. If you remove the base from the torque tube the yoke inside the box can be moved forward or back and rotated side to side very easily to ANY position!

So,, where do we get our gates and return spring force? Its all inside the transmission. The return spring is a wire thats bent into a curly Q loop and the two spring arms force the shifter rod back to the center. Early C5 transmissions had a weaker return spring and the return force from 1st/2nd neutral gate to the 3rd/4th gate was less than desired. Sometimes my 98 coupe would have a tough time returning from the 1st/2nd neutral gate to the 3rd/4th neutral gate. The shifter was perfectly aligned. Later C5's had a better return spring and a more pronounced return pressure. If you shift the trans mission into neutral, you should be able to use two fingers and push the shifter to the left and right. when you release the shifter, it should return to the 3rd/4th gate neutral with out any assistance.

The shift gates come from a steel plate inside the transmission that actually has little gates machined into the plate and a pin follows those gates.

There is a ball detent on that plate that the shift detent ball bearing fits into that provides us the IN GEAR feel. Adding the ANTI VENOM mod, just shims out that detent plug and puts less ball pressure on that detent plate and lessens the in gear feel and some force that is required to shift to that gate. I personally do NOT like anti venom mod feel.

Shift feel also comes from how efficiently your synchros work and there are also some aluminum slider dogs that keep the gear slider ring locked on to the gear that you select. The slider actually slides over the actual gear and locks the gear and the main shaft together. The little dog keeps it from sliding off. Most of the notchey feeling that people complain about, comes from that sliding action and the force it takes to lift that little slider dog. The new T60/60 transmission redesigned the synchros and that slider dog and the sliding action of that device is significantly reduced!

If your transmission fluid (Its actually Mobile 1 ATF Fluid) is dirty, it can effect shift feel and shift efficiency. Early C5 transmissions use paper style synchro blocker rings and may be adversely effected from using synthetic fluid as a refill. AMSOIL has a synthetic ATF that they say is compatible. Later C5 transmissions use a carbon back up ring and the synthetic ATF can be used as an up grade and works very well. It improved the shift feel of my 02 ZO6 MN12 trans some.

Aftermarket shifters: There are TWO styles of aftermarket shifters. OEM style with NO, NADA, ZERO return springs inside the shifter handle & aftermarket types WITH return springs in the handle. There are some shifters that incorporate shift stops (see pictures below)

That being said, aftermarket shifter come in too many to count combinations of design differences. Most have shorter than stock shifter handles which effect shift throw and the force required to move the shift handle. Some move the fulcrum point and shift lever length. Each design will add some additional force that is required to shift the transmission into gear. If you have a 2" long shifter handle, you better be eating your spinach to shift properly. The force require to move the shift handle will be great!

Here is an example of an aftermarket shifter that has built in return springs inside the shifter body. Its a KIRBAN Ripper Shifter. It also has shift stops (Not needed for the T56 tranny but, I use them):





KIRBAN compared to the stock C5 shifter:




Shifter removed from the lower box:



Actual alignment pin inserted into the shift rod:



Alignment of the shifter to the precise neutral position when the transmission is in neutral is critical for proper shifting.

There are TWO basic C5 OEM shifter designs. ZO6 & NON ZO6.

The ONLY difference between the two shifters is the type of bushing that is mounted between the shift box an the torque tube. In this picture is a ZO6 shifter with solid aluminum bushings. Sorry, I don't have a NON ZO6 bushing picture.

The NON ZO6 rubber bushings can deteriorate and cause poor shifting. The box can actually move around and make shifting very vague and difficult. You can replace the old bushings or make some solid nylon or aluminum bushings like the ZO6 style. I do not know if you can get replacement bushings from the dealer. I have been told that they are NOT SOLD Separately! There was a post in the C6 section where someone made their own new bushings and was selling them. Another problem that I have encountered is loose bolts that secure the shifter handle to the shifter base. I have had all four bolts work loose and I had that vague shift feel and difficulty keeping the transmission in gear.
Make sure that there the correct length (when using an aftermarket shifter ) and properly tightened.

If the black plastic shifter foot is worn or damaged it too cam have an adverse effect on shifting. Unfortunately that plastic foot is NOT available from the dealer as a separate part. You have to purchase a complete new shifter.

Make sure that the shifter box to torque tube bolts and the coupler bolt have the proper torque on the bolts.

I hope this helps someone.

Bill

 

Regarding spring back to center neutral: 99 coupe 122,000 miles, original owner. I had my tranny " refreshed "at R.P.M. at 113,000 miles due to shifter jumping out of 1st upon starting up. During the refresh the tech strengthed the internal spring ( that resembles a wish bone from a turkey ). he did this by bending it to gain a stronger feel. This action changed the entire feel of the tranny in shifting. It snaps back to the center on it's own.The strong positive feeling never was as great as it is now. I find absolutely no reason to change out the shifter to an after market.
That's my 2 cts !

 

Sorry for the bump on a really old thread, but wanted it be known that this recently help me out big time. I thought my 1-2 syncro was shot. Even had a mechanic buddy to start pricing out parts to replace. Thought I would give this a shot and see if it would help.

For the last month shift from 1st to 2nd on mine was not smooth, and 2nd would "pop" out of gear frequently and grind on shifting. I followed the RPM Transmissions adjustment (http://rpmtransmissions.com/files/c5...adjustment.pdf) and it helped, but it wasn't exactly right.

I found that with the 2 assembly bolts and the shaft bolts loose, per the instructions, there was still 2-3 mm of play on the shifting assembly even with the neutral lock on. With mine, only when I would shift hard, would it go into 2nd. Otherwise, it would grind and not go in. That got me thinking that the reason it couldn't go into second without forcing, was there wasn't enough shaft or pressure pushing toward the rear when I put it in second gear. Maybe the reason it would grind was because it wasn't fully being put in 2nd. With the assembly having 2-3mm of play, I pushed the whole assembly toward the front of the car and tightened the 2 assembly bolts down. I the did like Extreme did and took the shaft clamp bolt completely out, and lined up the shaft's notched section with the bolt hole, then tightened it down. Now, 2nd has not popped out nor ground since.

I wanted to mention this to others to try this before springing for expensive transmission work. Thanks to all the advice I've read in this thread, as it has proved invaluable.

 

Glad it helped you out! I gotta recheck mine actually. It's been a couple years now. My 4th to 5th has become tricky at times.

 

I LOVE up-dating this post.. Here is a picture of the SPRING inside the transmission that provides the force that pushes the shifter handle to the center position:

Bottom center in the picture:




Next picture is the plate that controld the shift gates and SHIFTER DETENTS:

 

You're such a pic ***** Bill!!!!!





How have you guys been???? Well, I pray!

Tim