When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
BIG OLE EDIT: Apologies! I may never get used to typical forum UI. I wish I could simply delete posts, for example. I'd be able to clean up everything and make it oh so readable. But I am very grateful to everyone who replied here. I don't know any other way I could have learned the answers to my questions. By all means read everything you see here. But I'll summarize it first:
I bought a 2004 C5 base coupe about six weeks ago. 35k miles on it. Manual trans, power seats, basically loaded. I had no experience with Corvettes and love this car to death. Last week I had a frickin' genius Corvette specialist in Albuquerque give the car a post-purchase inspection. He found a couple minor things but also declared that "This is MINT!" which cheered me up no end. One of the things he noticed was the aftermarket short throw shifter I didn't even know was there. I just assumed they all worked like mine. He felt around the boot and thought we had a B&M shifter. I was having lots of trouble getting into 1st and Reverse. But after reading about how short-shifters work, especially the ones with springs, I realized I'd been fighting with the mechanism... After letting it work FOR me, I liked it just fine and had no trouble shifting. We were even going to swap it out for something else, maybe even a stock shifter, but now I LIKE it. The only thing I didn't know was if it really was a B&M. After lifting the boot and relying on some very helpful research from forum members, I now know the shifter is a Breathless Performance Products Short Throw Shifter and highly regarded by many customers. Exactly what I needed to know, confirming my own impressions.
Read all the rest to see the details, and many thanks, again!
Dang, that is... different. I've scoured Google and can't find anything like it. Wonder if it was a custom design.
Looks like they used a piece of leather to isolate the shifter handle which would help reduced rattling/vibration. You could try taking it out and see how it feels; certainly there would be less play.
Dang, that is... different. I've scoured Google and can't find anything like it. Wonder if it was a custom design.
Looks like they used a piece of leather to isolate the shifter handle which would help reduced rattling/vibration. You could try taking it out and see how it feels; certainly there would be less play.
Those are lock nuts of some kind, right? The washers move. Seems like everything needs tightening. I like the way it shifts. Pretty strong centering springs, I have to say. The stick jumps right into the middle of the 3—4 plane. BTW, Google Image Search does return a lot of similar shifters. Haven't found this exact one.
Might be one of the early Chineseum Motorsports shifters. Whatever is in between the shifter and lever is preventing minimum thread engagement on the self-locking nut.
Those are lock nuts of some kind, right? The washers move. Seems like everything needs tightening.
Definitely nylon-locking ("nylock") nuts. It probably feels/is loose because of wear on that isolation material, as indicated with the red circle:
Originally Posted by jhfarr
I like the way it shifts. Pretty strong centering springs, I have to say. The stick jumps right into the middle of the 3—4 plane. BTW, Google Image Search does return a lot of similar shifters. Haven't found this exact one.
There are plenty of others with centering springs... Hurst, Hinson, Kirban, etc. and many have the separate lever. But that handle with an extra set of holes (presumably to adjust **** position fore/aft) is unlike anything else apparently.
GREAT WORK! I love knowing all the details. Supposed to be a very good item. But I don't think you've nailed the shift **** yet. It's more tapered than the one you linked to.
Well, the two bolts tightened right up. More than a full turn on the top one, and the play is gone. The shifter has been identified, too: a Breathless Performance Billet Short Throw Shifter...
Triple confirmation. I have owned one and can confirm it is a BPP.
They are not a common shifter to find these days. I enjoyed mine greatly but I have made a point of trying many shifters in these cars and I went back to my preference for a modified MGW.
The BPP is awesome! Definitely grease the cup. I forget if it was able to take a fresh cup cover from TMod or not. I can say that the BPP I tried was probably the most finicky shifter to get lined up correctly with the linkage and that's saying something for a guy who has swapped a dozen shifters. But once in effective alignment and locked down I really liked getting the upper rod and **** exactly where I liked them. I resold mine because I have no need to just store tons of shifters not being used.
You will benefit from sending the tub out to TMODCustoms for his refreshed bushings. No one notices these old shifters are worn out until you put a fresh tub in. His are lifetime units which won't wear out, only wear in. And whenever you go to do the clutch some day plan ahead with him how to do the linkage mod. Absolutely worthwhile but only when the transmission is out of the car.
Triple confirmation. I have owned one and can confirm it is a BPP.
They are not a common shifter to find these days. I enjoyed mine greatly but I have made a point of trying many shifters in these cars and I went back to my preference for a modified MGW.
The BPP is awesome! Definitely grease the cup. I forget if it was able to take a fresh cup cover from TMod or not. I can say that the BPP I tried was probably the most finicky shifter to get lined up correctly with the linkage and that's saying something for a guy who has swapped a dozen shifters. But once in effective alignment and locked down I really liked getting the upper rod and **** exactly where I liked them. I resold mine because I have no need to just store tons of shifters not being used.
You will benefit from sending the tub out to TMODCustoms for his refreshed bushings. No one notices these old shifters are worn out until you put a fresh tub in. His are lifetime units which won't wear out, only wear in. And whenever you go to do the clutch some day plan ahead with him how to do the linkage mod. Absolutely worthwhile but only when the transmission is out of the car.
Thank you! I was going to have my Corvette specialist in Albuquerque change the transmission and differential fluids anyway and I'll try to work this in. Very much appreciate the BPP endorsement. I do like the way it shifts, although I've never driven any Corvettes before. Before I understood how the centering springs worked, I could never find 1st gear and now I can. From 4th to 5th and 6th (and reverse) takes more muscle than I'm used to, but I'm not sure I really want to change that. Might do the anti-venom mod while it's on the rack, tho. All in all I'm just enthralled with the whole package.
Well any quote to do the linkage would not be friendly or worth doing until the driveline has to come out for a clutch swap. Wayy too much time and hourly rates for the linkage alone.
The tub is very easy. A few 10mm bolts in the console and shifter covers and the I think three T25 torx bolts holding the tub and linkage. I replaced those old torx with new hex heads which are easy to use and will never risk stripping.
Happy motoring. And don't be afraid to try other shifters either. Much as I enjoyed the BPP, my top 3 are MGW, Tick, Callaway. The only no-go on my list is B&M which went to junk.
Designer Imagines A Corvette That Looks More Like a Corvette Than the Corvette
Slideshow: A Jaguar designer's personal project imagines what a modern front-engined Corvette might look like if Chevrolet revisited the golden age of the Stingray.
Shifter Question I Posted in C5 General
