A friend who has a c6 base (2007) bought a new shifter for his car, and gave me his old one. I know the c6 z06 shifter is an upgrade for the c5 and c5 z06, but can't find any info on the c6 base shifter. Anyone know if it will bolt in, and if its an improvement? How different are the c6 base and c6 z06 shifters?
And all I have is the shift rod, no **** or box or anything, so I'm not sure if this will even bolt in?

Thanks in advance!

 

It'll drop right into place of your oem C5/Z06 shifter mechanism. Just R&R the mechanism from the box. You have to remove the radio surround. There's plenty of past threads about how to do that in C5 Tech. The mechanism is attached to the "box" with four 1/4"-20 bolts. Use the alignment pin to maintain neutral. You'll need to transfer the plastic bushing on the end of the C5/Z06 lever to the newer shifter mechanism.

The difference between the base C6 and C6/Z06 used to be a minor cosmetic difference between the shift pattern caps (during some years on the **** and the Z06 shifter used to come with metal bushings instead of rubber bushings on the "box" mounting above the torque tube. I believe GM has since standardized that for a couple of years now.

Your C5/Z06 shifter used 9/16-18" threads for attachment of the ****. The C6/Z06 shifter used a machined flat at the end of the lever and a fastener that captured the "ear" of the ergonomic **** to the side of the lever. You will need to find another **** or modify the oem **** if that's your preference.

You may have to modify your C5/Z06 boot to accept the C6/Z06 shifter. Again that's been discussed in C5 Tech in multiple threads.

That said, all C5/Z06 and C6/Z06 shifters are basically the exact same thing...stamped steel with rubber isolation. The difference was the bent back lever, boot, manner of attachment of the **** and the **** design. I wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, but you may not experience much change over the oem shifter.

 

Excellent info, thank you very much! That may be the first time in my internet forum history that I asked that many questions and had them all answered in the first reply!

I think I might install it without the new **** and other modifications and try using it to see if I notice a big difference. If its not a noticable improvement (which I agree it sounds like snake oil) then no sense in going through the rest of the effort to finalize the install.

 

I paid for the shifter, its much better than the stock one, go for it .

 

Thanks, I will indeed give it a try. Can you comment on what improvements you noticed?

 

All these C5/C6 shifters are just sticks with pivots. It's not like swapping an old Hurst Competition Plus box and linkage into a muscle car where you got a world of difference on most vehicles.

I've tried all the shifters for a C5 and none do much for the incredibly poor shifting of a C5 manual. I particularly dislike the "short-throw" shifters as the VERY LAST THING a C5 manual needs is LESS mechanical advantage to overcome the balkiness.

I wish a good trans guy would dissect the C5 transmission and see if internal work short of a major redesign might help the shifting.

 

See this is what confuses me, for every guy I find saying the shift lever made a huge improvement, I find another saying it made no improvement. How can there be such conflicting results? I'm not afraid to waste a little time so I think I'll try it myself to find out.

 

Shifters are subjective. We're all different. Some like notchy (precise) shifters (HURST, B&M, etc) and don't mind that they may transmit noise/vibrations into the cabin. Others like softer shifting with no noise. That's an advantage of the C6/Z06 shifters. It's oem so GM engineered it to be quiet.

I chose a B&M "Sport" shifter for my car, kind of a compromise in after market vs oem as it has a shorter throw, but is billet construction with rubber isolation.

Maybe that's why some people change their shifter as often as they change underwear. You'll get conflicting advice on which underwear is most comfortable as well...

 

this is a prime example of the info you get on the internet.

you will like the shifter

 

Just did it to my 99 last month. I cut the top off 2" rethreaded it 9/18-18 and screwed in a Black Ball ****. Much better than the C5.

 

As far as shifting, its about the same, but what I like is the angle of the C6 , and it just fits better and is much more comfortable to me. Plus I like the way the shifter and **** look,to me much better than the stock C5 ****.