Skip to main content

Floor Shifter Install

I have to be honest about this part of the project.  It sucked!!  Nothing went as expected and it has been taking forever to get to done.  Dan chose a B&M ratchet shifter over the stock column shifter.  It was agreed upon that it would be installed and at the time, it looked easy enough.... I was wrong!!

To start with, the shifter came with an installation kit for a late 80's Camaro.  I drilled a couple holes, installed the brackets and mounted the shifter.  Unfortunately the cable ended up going right through the front bracket used to mount the console.  I got around the issue by creatively cutting sheet metal and removing some of the bracket.  The cable was then routed under the car and attached to the transmission.  Everything was great until I tried to mount the console after cutting out the cup holders...

The shifter handle was not high enough to clear the console.  In fact, there was no way it would ever work using a stock console in its current form.  It had to get raised and tilted slightly forward to account for the slope of the transmission tunnel and height of the console.  I purchased some 1 inch square tubing and built a new base.  It gave the assembly additional strength as well as raised it high enough to give proper clearance.  A bad side affect of raising it was that the shift cable now had to move forward so more cutting and clearancing was needed.

Here is the semi-final product installed in the car.


Mounting the shifter was just the first hurdle.  I also needed to lock the column so the car would remain in park.  If it wasn't in park, it wouldn't allow the car to start.  After thinking it over, I decided on a clever way of solving my problem.  I had removed gear selection switch from under the dash because I needed access to the wiring.  I fabricated a "stop" using a hose clamp and a bolt which I then secured to the column.  This was a very cheap and reversible method and it worked great!

 



Last part of the install was the electrical.  I needed to tap into the interior lights to light up the gear selector.  Fortunately this wasn't difficult because all the wiring I needed was at the stereo connector.  The next set of wires was for the reverse lights.  The shifter had a switch pre-installed which made this also easy.  I just had to run the wires and tap into plug under the dash.

That left me with 1 switch to control 2 signals.  The first set of signal wires were for the ECM.  It needed to know when it was in drive verses park/neutral.  The second set was to stop the starter from operating if the car was not in park or neutral.  I had to call on the expertise of folks smarter than me to do it right.  It ended up being not too bad but I did have to wire in a couple relays as well as run several new wires.




The console build will be part of another blog.  This one has gone on long enough!!!!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Overhead Console Install

One of the "asks" was to install and wire in an overhead console.  I believe it was from an Astro Van and nothing about it fit the Impala.  I was quite surprised how long the install took but the finished product is really all that matters in the end. I first disassembled the console so I could paint it as well as figure out how to best install the darn thing. With the headliner out, I can form the base to conform to the Impala headliner.  I decided to use thin aluminum sheets and rivet them to the sides to fill the gaps. I then covered the base with material that matched the headliner. Painting everything the same matte black color as the rest of the car so it matches. Lastly the final assembly.  I as really happy with how it turned out thus far. I really hate cutting up a perfectly good headliner but this mod requires it.  Most people cut huge holes and also drill into the cross brace and use screws/hardware that can damage the roof if not careful.  I
Post a Comment
Read more

Center Console

The center console needed to get modified so it would work with the new B&M shifter.  If we had a '96 console, things would have been much easier.  Unfortunately they are very expensive so the '95 console was used.  The two cup holders were situated exactly where the shifter needed to be so out comes the power tools. After the console area was cut, I purchased a piece of ABS plastic and formed it using a heat gun to match the contours.  It then got cut to make room for the modified shifter bezel. The panel was then glued to the console using ABS adhesive.  Because the colors didn't quite match, the console was washed and prepared for some SEM plastic paint. I am really happy with the end result.  Not sure if I'd want to do it again because as simple as it seems, I had 12+ hours into the console.
1 comment
Read more

Speaker Box Build

When we initially went over the terms of the project, I stated that I did not want to do a full custom stereo installation.  As time progressed, I had spent so much time working on it, I didn't want to do a half-ass job finishing the trunk.  We went back and forth on ideas but in the end, I decided to just finish the car so Dan could enjoy it rather than get it back and continue to work on it. The first task was to build the speaker boxes that would house two Infinity Perfect 12 inch subs.  He wanted a good punch but not a booming sound.  After looking over the specs, that meant a sealed box of 1 cubic foot for each sub.  The trunk floor is not flat in a B-body so templates had to be built to accommodate the odd shape.  I decided to built 2 separate boxes - one for each side of the trunk. Here is the outline of the speaker box faces.  I had just barely enough room to mount a 12 inch subwoofer into the panel.  My goal was to be able to mount the amps and crossovers between the b
Post a Comment
Read more