datsunfreak Posted October 20, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2022 8 hours ago, datsunfreak said: Should have it installed in the car soonish... "...after cleaning off the rest of the mud and throwing some paint on it", that should say... 😁 1 1 Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted November 10, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2022 On 10/20/2022 at 4:42 PM, datsunfreak said: "...after cleaning off the rest of the mud and throwing some paint on it", that should say... 😁 Finally did that last night... In preparation for getting that bolted in for good, decided to play with the shifter a bit. Took the stock shift lever and cut it down to a nubbin. Then Tim did some welding for me... And ended up with this. What I did was I cut a 1/4" slot in the nubbin, then Tim welded in a peice of 1/4" plate steel to get here... Next is drilling a hole in that plate steel, mounting the shifter back where I need it, then making a connector to attach them together. I am making a remote shifter because the transmission's shifter was way too far forward, in case that isn't obvious. 😁 FYI, I bought one of these T5 short shifters to use as the remote shifter since they look neat and are fairly inexpensive... 4 Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted November 17, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2022 (edited) Shifter showed up yesterday, so we had a grok. As you can see, there is a slight problem with flush mounting it to the floor... So Tim disassembled it for me and we cut that dildo off... Reassembled, and taking a look at where to mount it... Right in front of that floor reinforcement looks good, since it makes the knob fall right to hand when in 1/3/5, and put it's down by my thigh in 2/4/R. Obvious issue is the shifter is flat on the bottom but the floor is not, so the next step is building an intermediate piece that solves that issue. I have an idea on which way to go here, and that is to build (or buy) something like this... My vote was a short one (1" above floor) so that I can hide it under the carpet and the shifter gets bolted down on top of the carpet. Tim's vote was for something taller (6-8" above the floor) so the push rod is more level and the shift throws at the lever would be shorter. Thoughts? We had initially been planning a console of sorts to cover this entire assembly, but if I can make it all look pretty, I would kind of like having it "on display"... Edited November 17, 2022 by datsunfreak 2 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted November 17, 2022 Report Share Posted November 17, 2022 8 hours ago, datsunfreak said: THAT! That is exactly what I envisioned! Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted November 17, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2022 35 minutes ago, dimlight65 said: THAT! That is exactly what I envisioned! Well, my birthday is coming up soon, so... 😄 1 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted November 18, 2022 Report Share Posted November 18, 2022 1 hour ago, datsunfreak said: Well, my birthday is coming up soon, so... 😄 No one bought me the disco hotpants I requested for my birthday last week.😢 2 Quote Link to comment
KELMO Posted November 18, 2022 Report Share Posted November 18, 2022 And no one is going to either. Suck it up and drive on mister. 1 Quote Link to comment
iceman510 Posted November 19, 2022 Report Share Posted November 19, 2022 On 11/17/2022 at 7:33 PM, dimlight65 said: No one bought me the disco hotpants I requested for my birthday last week.😢 Wait, I thought you were getting short shorts for bike riding. 1 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted November 19, 2022 Report Share Posted November 19, 2022 (edited) 18 hours ago, iceman510 said: Wait, I thought you were getting short shorts for bike riding. LOL, and for trolling the squeamish! 😝 Edited November 19, 2022 by dimlight65 Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted November 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2022 Sorry to drag this off the topic of Tim stuffed into those hot pants, but our shift tower came in, so we had to do a test grok... I think this is where the tower and shifter will end up, pending a test with the seat installed to make sure it's not too far back. Also got the bits to make a shifter rod... And some matching tubing. Got 3 feet, which should be enough to do it twice... 😁 1 Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted November 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2022 Took the pedestal and drilled two holes in it, and trimmed a wee bit off the front corners... Then took some plate steel of the same thickness and made this... Then Tim hot glued them together for me... Also, you can see we shortened the length of the shifter base a bit... 😁 After that, we rounded off the corners on the steel plate to match the shape of the shifter base (no pic). I think we will end up trimming about 1/2" off the back of the pedestal at some point. Also, we shortened the shifter base to free up some space on top of the pedestal for a mod to be named later... 😄 2 Quote Link to comment
Duncan Posted November 24, 2022 Report Share Posted November 24, 2022 Just curious here, but how far does the shifter rod have to go to reach the trans? It looks like the rod will be quite a bit taller then the floor. Are you going to weld in some sort of tunnel, or will it be exposed? Not being snarky here, just never seen anything elevated like that. I'm thinking this type of arrangement might be more common on racecars, and I've never really been around them.. 1 Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted November 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2022 31 minutes ago, Duncan said: Just curious here, but how far does the shifter rod have to go to reach the trans? Looks like about 18". 31 minutes ago, Duncan said: It looks like the rod will be quite a bit taller then the floor. It's about 6-7" off the floor back by the shifter. 32 minutes ago, Duncan said: Are you going to weld in some sort of tunnel, or will it be exposed? Much like Tim in his hot pants, the rod will be fully exposed. 😁 33 minutes ago, Duncan said: Not being snarky here, just never seen anything elevated like that. I'm thinking this type of arrangement might be more common on racecars, and I've never really been around them. I have been around quite a few race cars in my time, but never seen anything quite like this. On race cars, this is often hidden away under the floor/console/some kind of panel. I think maybe you want a minimum of moving parts around the driver at high speeds? It's more common in trucks where people want a rear mounted "short throw shifter". This is the best way to have a "tall" shifter that isn't a really long throw. 1 1 Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted November 26, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2022 (edited) So I had intended to use a braided stainless line for the clutch. I had done some research and was told that if I ordered these Russell fittings, I could convert both ends to a -3AN, thus making it super easy to use a generic braided stainless line. Well, I put one in the clutch master with minimal fuss. Jost pop out the roll pin, swap the connectors, then put the roll pin back in. Then tried to connect the other fitting to the clutch slave, but there is no roll pin. And no way to attach it... So I broken down and ordered a Ranger hard line, thinking it would be the closest to doing what I needed it to do. After staring at the connector fitting on it... I then realized this is the same fitting Dodge and Chevy use on some of their transmissions. So I did some more digging online and found this fitting from Earl's... It is the same as the stock Ford connection, but it converts the slave to a -4AN fitting. 👍 Of course, now the Russell fitting on my master is -3AN, which is a small problem. Went back to digging and found out Earl's sells a fitting identical to the Russell fitting, except it's -4AN instead of -3AN (and stainless)... 😁 Hoping to install those with the new master shortly, then measure the ideal length for a line. Then I should have a functioning clutch! 👍 Edited November 26, 2022 by datsunfreak 2 Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted December 1, 2022 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2022 Well, after thinking on it awhile, I wasn't reeeally chuffed about the overhang of the shifter on the base. So I started looking at how best to fix that, even looked at just buying a smaller shifter. But after grokking the shifter itself, and idea came to me. The shifter is two piece, top is bolted to bottom, sandwiching the actual lever between the two. Since there are four bolts holding them together, I came up with a plan... I disassembled the shifter and took the base to the drill press. I used a bit smaller than the bolt hole to drill all the way out the bottom... The drilled from the bottom up with the correct size bit and retapped the holes... Then I removed the shifter base attachment flange entirely... Then got some longer bolts to replace the original one... Now the bolts that hold it together go all the way through and out the bottom... I removed the plate we welded to the base and drilled four new holes for the now modified shifter... This gets the shifter slightly farther back as well. And now you can see what I had planned for the back half of the pedestal. 😁 Forget to mention/show that I also trimmed about 1/2" off both ends of the pedestal top to remove the extra overhang/flange that was no longer needed. 👍 2 Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted December 1, 2022 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2022 The hockey puck base is not perfectly round, so I may some day buy another one and machine it down on a lathe (if I can get access to one without paying a machinist to do it). We shall see, if it gets to a point that I am laying awake at night thinking about it... 😅 I ended up shaving the sides down slightly anyway to make it more of an oval so it did not overhang the sides of the pedestal. If I had a lathe, I could just machine the whole thing down to that width instead. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted December 1, 2022 Report Share Posted December 1, 2022 Do you expect any binding having the remote shifter mounted to the body and the transmission free to move from engine torque? Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted December 1, 2022 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2022 (edited) 56 minutes ago, datzenmike said: Do you expect any binding having the remote shifter mounted to the body and the transmission free to move from engine torque? The shift lever itself (which is what is attached to the rod, not the base) is also free to move with engine torque. 😁 That, and the tube being able to flex a tiny bit, should mean it can't bind. Edited December 1, 2022 by datsunfreak Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted December 4, 2022 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2022 (edited) Got the shifter base and the front piece of the rod attached to the transmission with some new hardware... Got the pedestal bolted in and the shift lever worked out. Bolted down the seat to dial in the best position and ended up here... Made a thing to attach the shifter end of the rod (still need to trim it a bit more)... Put all that in and cut the rod to length and tested out the shift throw a bit. Then took it all apart so Tim can weld the rod together and so I can paint a few of the bits. Forgot to take a photo of it all together, so you'll have to wait until Wednesday. But trust me, it's pretty fucking rad. 😁 Edited December 4, 2022 by datsunfreak 4 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted December 4, 2022 Report Share Posted December 4, 2022 14 minutes ago, datsunfreak said: Forgot to take a photo of it all together, so you'll have to wait until Wednesday. But trust me, it's pretty fucking rad. 😁 Can confirm, it is totally rad! 3 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted December 7, 2022 Report Share Posted December 7, 2022 On 12/3/2022 at 6:45 PM, datsunfreak said: ...took it all apart so Tim can weld the rod together... I'll be headed to the shop in a little while to zook it together. I just hope this is a "Tim can weld" day today! Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted December 7, 2022 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2022 7 minutes ago, dimlight65 said: I just hope this is a "Tim can weld" day today! Me too. 😄 1 Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted December 8, 2022 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2022 Did not care for how short the stick was that came with the shifter, so we made a new one. I cut off the stick and got a 6" bolt that Tim welded to the stick's base for me... Tim also welded up the rod for me, so it was time for one more test drive before painting all the bits... That photo is with it in 3rd gear. The side-to-side was a little sloppy due to the nubbin on the transmission not being locked down tight enough. Once that was fixed, it did better. Shift throws are very short (which is nice), but shift effort is fairly high. I am going to make a new tab for the shifter end of the bar to drop it down about an inch and see how that does. 2 Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted December 9, 2022 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2022 Shift lever and pushrod painted... 2 Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted December 10, 2022 Report Share Posted December 10, 2022 Is that wrinkle paint? Regardless that setup is pretty great. I've never thought of reusing/abusing an aftermarket short shifter like that. 1 Quote Link to comment
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