Last night I took my shifter to a friend that has a tap & die set, drill press and a vise.

I had already taken the shifter apart and cut the threaded end that the **** screws onto off of the old shaft.

we threaded the shorter shaft with a 7/8 die, then drilled out the cut portion of the old shaft to 3/8 and threaded it with a 7/8 tap. we left the rubber isolator on the shaft to act as a counter weight, then we used a jam nut and some red locktite and assembled it.:smash:

I installed it into the car this afternoon! :D

I have to say the shift effort is only slightly more than stock but the feel is a lot more precise. feels like a different car!:eek:

best 0.00$ I ever spent! :D

this is a Must do Mod!

:cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

 

What did I tell you. ;)

I would NEVER got back. Every time I drive it I love it more and more...

 

:cheers: :cheers:

 

chuckster,

thanks to your idea, I was able to do this!

I think I'll call it the "chuckster shifter mod"! :cheers:

 

Thanks but I can't take all the credit. I just took anothers great idea and made it better... What do you think?

Still coming down on the 30th?

2nd is a straight pull down and 3rd is a jam straight up. :D


[Modified by chuckster, 10:06 PM 3/21/2002]

 

still coming! :D


the shifter is a lot tighter.:cool:

 

:cheers: :cool:

 

:cheers:

 

Thanks to all who recommended this mod. I did it today and love it! I just cut the top piece of the shifter right at the bottom of the threads and then welded the threaded piece to the top of the shifter shaft. Simple as that and it's as solid as a rock. It helps to have a welder though. :D

 

:yesnod: :yesnod: :yesnod:

 

Chuckster - let me add my thanks to those of others. As you may recall, I might have started the latest round of interest in this subject by posting my unfortunate experience with the Ripper shifter at Summit a couple of weeks ago. My car is still disabled (but boy is it going to be better when it is running again) at considerable expense.

One of the things which will not be expensive is my modification of the stock shifter (pretty much) along your line. I dug out the old stock shifter, cut off the top, cut some off of what was left of the top of the bottom half, and threaded them both to mate. I removed a little more than an inch, but can screw it down further another half inch if necessary.

One thing I did not do was peel off the outer shell, since there is not a problem in accessing/cleaning the internals. The rubber boot/housing at the bottom of the assembly slips off with no problem for this purpose. After doing the cutting and threading, I just blew everything clean with compressed air and lubed with hi-temp grease. The remains of the rubber damper are still in the shifter assembly.

I put the whole thing in a baggie and will wait until the car is running before the install.

BTW - 10 mm tap & die is (as you suggested) is probably the best, as it sort of splits the diference between the inside and outside diameters, and should not weaken the assembly. As someone mentioned, 3/8" is pretty close and should work OK as well if they are not metric.

Finally, I realize you did this with a Dremel and cutoff wheel. But if you have a good angle grinder, the cutoff wheel on this tool takes the thing apart in about 30 seconds. Thanks again for your help! Robert

 

Glad to hear you did the mod Robert. :smash:
Wait till you drive with it. You'll be :cry tears of joy!

Just mount it anyway. Sit in the drivers seat and pretend. It's awesome even when you are not moving. :D