Ok I am tired of the ratchety-ness of the Hurst as well as the noise (yes I have the inverted factory boot on) :smash:

And I dont want to pay the $400 for the Mallet shifter. My father in law has access to a shop at his work that can cut my OEM shifter down and I was looking at getting this done. I would need to get it cut in the middle and then welded back together since the gripper **** that I have screws down so far that the base of it actually just touches the part of the shifter where it gets wide again, meaning that I cant just cut the threaded end and retap some more threads. If I did that I would have to cut the base of my **** and I am not sure I want to do that.

But after closer inspection it doesnt look like the shifter is a solid piece and there is some type of vibration dampner inside the shifter rod and its not one solid piece.

Has anyone sucessfully cut thier shifter down in the middle? If so can you please tell me what you did so that I can have the guys at my father in laws lab to do it to mine?

Thanks

 

Check my post here: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=553047

Here's the actual link with the instructions: http://benelliwang.badassride.com/Shifter/index.html
I did the Version 2 mod. In my opinion this is probably the very best mod you can do to the car. :D :steering:

 

You're correct that the factory shifter is in two pieces. There's a lower shaft that contains the pivot and moves the shifiting mechanism of the transmission. The upper shaft is threaded for the ****, then expands to about 1 1/2" diameter where it overlaps the bottom shaft. The two shafts are bonded to each other by thick rubber, which gives good dampening at the cost of a mushy feel. I would not weld the shifter as there is too much risk in the upper part coming off in your hand. One forum member had this happen. Here's what I did:

Cut the big part of the outer shifter tube at its top all the way thru the rubber, being careful not to cut the upper shaft. Twist and pull apart.The upper shaft is hollow already, but needs to be drilled out a little larger so it can be tapped. You can tap it 3/8"-24 or 10mm if you have a metric tap & die. The O.D. of the lower shaft is 10mm already, but I had to hand grind mine down from .394" to .375" so I could thread it 3/8"-24. By overlapping the upper and lower shafts, you can shorten the length by 1 1/4".
Threaded together, you have a real strong joint that should never fail. If they thread together a little loosly, use loctite. Make sure the keyway is aligned straight back so the **** will line up. Most of the rubber bushing is still there, so I've never had a vibration or buzz. Put some silacone RTV on top of the orignial rubber tapering it to the upper shaft. This will prevent having a sharp edge that will someday cut the leather shift boot. Leave enough axial space at the top for the center ring of the shift boot. This is a no cost mod that only takes an hour if you have the tools. :cheers:

 

OK just so that I am clear. Are you saying to cut the shifter at the point where the wide part starts to narrow down or at the part where it has already narrowed down to the size of the threads. I guess I am trying to ask if its at the wide part or narrow part of the "cone".

Thanks

 

http://benelliwang.badassride.com/Shifter/index.html

Go to that link and then page down to Version #3 (Chuckster) thats mine. And there are nice pictures that show how it comes apart..

I love my set up. Short, quiet, Fast, Easy... :smash:

 

I think there is now a version 4 :smash:


Ok well I decided that I wanted to give it a go on my own after checking out numerous sites on the net. I dont have a write up on it but here are the pics I took as I did it.
http://www.shagfinger.com/shifter.htm

:D

 

Very Nice Job!!!! :cool: :cheers:
I am really impressed on how neat you cut that...What did you use?

 

Thanks :cool:

I just used a regular ole hack saw :cheers:

I did put some colored electrical tape around the shaft to use as a guide though. :blueangel:

 

Lookin good. I used a air powered cutoff tool on mine, which left some scarring on the inner shaft, but nobody is going to see it.

 

I am not alone!!!! :hurray:

 

If you have access to machine shop tools, you can do it the way I did.

I didn't want a little stubby shifter (I did that method on the Rx7), so I raised the pivot location. My shifter is the same height as stock:
http://www.geocities.com/rx7rob/Corvette.htm . Scroll down to the shifter mod.

Its as quiet at stock, but has a very firm feel. Everyone that drives my car says I should be selling these.

Ya, I was lazy and should have machine the spacer and ball from one piece.

 

That's why I really like modding the stock shifter. No extra noise, and definitely not ratchety. :D

 

I shortened the stock shifter as well...works great, shifter feels much less rubbery...and it only cost $1.79 ( a bolt at Sears)... On another note, I purchased an "aluminum" and leather **** from Mid America Corvette...what a POS. The "aluminum" coating rubbed off and it turned yellow in about 3 weeks.

 

Alrighty, well when I got home from work last night I had another appointment to make and 30 minutes to spare. I think I did the shifter install in a record 25 mins including clean up

Anyway to the point. I like it. yes the throws are longer than the Hurst and it took a little bit of driving to convince myself that "hey, it was like this when you bought the car, you havent broken anything". It was just a different feel coming from the very mechanical ratchet feel of the Hurst to the smoothness of the OEM shifter. To tell th truth I almost miss the short throws of the Hurst but the smoothness of the shorter OEM shifter makes me think different.

I didnt have a chance to get pics but I had them side by side when they were out and they are the exact same legnth from end to end and the shifter **** is at the same exact height as it was with the Hurst installed. To be honest I wouldn't have minded being another 3/4" shorter but for now I am very happy with this mod and unless I get a wild hair to rip it out and make it shorter I will leave it as is.

Driving in to work today was so nice and the shifts were so smooth. Its not a chore to drive the car anymore and it actually downshifts easier too.

Another thing I noticed was that people always say "well the Hurst has centering springs" and this is supposed to help you shift into 3rd when drag racing. Well, if you take close notice, while there are no springs in the OEM shifter, the transmission linkage itself will center the factory shifter and I have noticed with the shorter shifter I can just push forward coming out of 2nd and it goes right into 3rd. But then again all of the races I have been in with my Z were with the stock OEM shifter and I never missed 3rd anyway.

I like it, happy with it, no regrets, wouldnt really change anything. Ok what can I cut up next???? I like free mods

 

Jeff, if you cut it like mine... Option 3... You will never go back....

Short shifts, Vibration free, Easy throws, Just plain sweet!!!! :smash:

 

I was looking at doing that and in fact that was my whole intention when I started taking it apart, but then I was like "what if" and ended up with what I have now. I am happy with it and have no desire to go back, but if you noticed I cut about 5/8 off of the top of the lower shaft that that you threaded to screw into the tapped upper stalk. I could go back and thread that if I wanted to but it would be mega short at this point. I dont think that I would really want to go too much shorter at this point.

 

I just saw that....

Actually you can take almost another inch off the top threads too... There are others who have done that too...

The combined effort may give you exactly what you are trying to achieve... :smash:

 

I also had looked at cutting down the threads, but with the MGW gripper shifter **** that I use, it threads all the way down on the shaft and it in and of itself sits about an inch lower than the OEM ****. With that, the base of it goes down so far that it actually snugs the upper cuff of the Ken King Shift boot right up against the point on the shaft where it starts to widen. I actually like that because the boot will never sag and leave an exposed area of the shaft.

 

OK here are some pics of it installed. You can really see how much shorter it is over OEM.

BTW I know my car is dirty :p: But I cant stop enjoying driving it enough to clean it :jester
http://www.shagfinger.com/images/jef...r/PICT2680.JPG
http://www.shagfinger.com/images/jef...r/PICT2681.JPG
http://www.shagfinger.com/images/jef...r/PICT2682.JPG
http://www.shagfinger.com/images/jef...r/PICT2683.JPG
http://www.shagfinger.com/images/jef...r/PICT2684.JPG
http://www.shagfinger.com/images/jef...r/PICT2686.JPG

 

That looks damn :cool: :cool:

I like it... :D