Bend the gear shifter?

[johnbuckley]

Bent one cold with a couple of wrenches- It was RHD car and the lever wanted to be where my leg wanted to be - one of them had to be adjusted!

[larrys40]

fiddlebits,

A couple of years ago I modified one on a coupe I sold to a very tall fellow. He had so much leg that he couldn't use 1st. I took a new repro shift lever and redrilled the pin hole for the slot in the shift tower.. I used another shift tower for a mock up... and dislodged the bell and redrilled the shift lever hole. No need to weld up the old hole, just cross drill at your selected placement. It placed the gear lever far over to the right but it did the trick for him in getting leg clearance. There's only so much in a coupe!

I thought at the time that it was way better than bending, didn't mess up any chrome.. and did the job professionally and without stress to any components. If you want to go back no big deal..just install your old shift lever or whole tower.

Best of luck!
Larry Shepard

[Tom Wesenberg]

I must be missing something, but can't see where redrilling the shift ball pin would change the left and right movement for the lever. The slots in the shift forks for the 1/2" ball should still limit the left/right movement.

Never mind, I just got it. You rotate the lever CCW and drill the new hole.

[larrys40]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

I must be missing something, but can't see where redrilling the shift ball pin would change the left and right movement for the lever. The slots in the shift forks for the 1/2" ball should still limit the left/right movement.

Never mind, I just got it. You rotate the lever CCW and drill the new hole.

Tom,
Yes, I should have said rotate CCW to desired angle. It is amazing what that did for him. Still was OK for passenger as well. Yes, your right hand shifts out to the right more.. but it's just a little getting use to and then all is good.
Larry