What does everybody do about a gear shift indicator for your floor shifter (Lokar or Gennie, or what have you) in your traditional rods? I'll eventually be putting a Gennie in my 'F100 (700R4) but I have no clue how to make a tastefully styled gear shift indicator for it. I would like to be able to bang it through the gears but I don't want to lose track of which gear I'm in and shift into Neutral or first at the wrong time. Not to mention if I'm in a lower gear and need to use reverse quickly, I'd have to sit there checking all gears until I find it. There are obviously some that are made by the above mentioned companies but it would sort of ruin the purpose of putting a floor shifter in if you have some ugly billet "PRND321" sitting on the hump next to you. I was thinking it would be cool and somewhat unnoticeable to take a bunch of multi-colored LEDs and wire them somehow so that 1 is red, 2 is orange, 3 is yellow and 4 is green, N is blue, R is light blue, P is purple, or something...just don't know how that could work. What does everyone do?
look thru the street rod catalogs, companies like Dakota Digital make electronic gear indicators, that connect to a switch mounted on the trans. You could also rig up something yourself if you're highly talented at building little electro-mechanical gizmos Most people shift by feel....I know I do. If you really want to bang thru the gears you should get a racing type shifter though, not a street rod shifter
Watsons' streetworks has them, but I don't see how they're any less 'street rodderish' than a billet PRNDLometer. And Squirrel has a point, you're hardly gonna be able to "bang it through the gears" with a gennie or a lokar.
I was told that the Gennie's have a positive click or are gated or something so you can't miss gears...I don't know...I've never used a racing shifter so I probably won't know the difference. All I've ever used is OEM stuff, and mostly column shifters. This should be better than that, from what I'm told, everyone loves their Gennie. We'll see. Maybe "bangin'" is the wrong word. It's not a manual valve body, and I just want to be able to hold it in gear longer than the ****** wants to, and downshift occasionally. I'm not taking it to Watkins Glen or anything. I was hoping to avoid that street roddy looking stuff. There might be a way to make Watson's stuff look alright, hide it under the dash, put it on a hinge...I don't know... If that's all there is then maybe I'll get used to it by feel. Thanks.
you can't avoid the street roddy look with the type of shifter you have in mind. Sorry, that's just a fact.
It's a rod coming out of the floor with a boot around the bottom...isn't that what every shifter since the advent of the floor shifter looked like? You're saying everything in this thread looks like a street rod? Let's agree to disagree. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=349325&highlight=gennie+shifters
Here's what I did for mine. I cut the lever off, under where the boot would cover, and welded on the Hurst lever left over from a GTO I had. I KNOW where P R N D L etc. is, so I just go by clicks...
Well ****...I KNOW where they are, too... However, every damn day I drive home in my work truck, boring GM 4.8L with 3.23 gears and 31.6" tires...because of that combo, most of my around town driving is in 3rd...I know this...I know I'm ALWAYS in third when I drive down my street, but my dumb *** ALWAYS turns around to back down the driveway, clicks it back twice, and sits stationary as the engine revs. And this one HAS and indicator! I guess I should have gotten a manual!
Are you kidding me? I think everything works better with 3 pedals; (3 on the tree is cooler than any automatic,) With all that being said- When you have to drive "****ed-up", AUTO is the way to go. And as far as "indication" goes, can't you just tell what gear you are in with an auto??? (P,N,R,D or P,R,N,D.....) I've had my Daily indication covered for years, and I've only scooted around in 2nd... like once for a block or two!
Just get the one with the LEDs, paint the panel part satin black, and put it on the bottom of the dash someplace.
I've been driving my '32 for over 8 years with a Gennie shifter. I can't recall ever looking to see what gear I was in. After a day or two you'll shift it like you've been doing it for years. As for "banging through the gears", just downshift to low as your coming up to a stop and nudge the shifter forward a notch for every shift.........simple. Frank
I count the notches in my Lokar. I wish I had a Genie for the lack of a lockot from D to N and back.....Shure would make it easier for hitting the flamethrowers in traffic. Just pull the leds out of the billit **** and drill them through a guage face.
Gennie Shifter makes both a dash mounted shift indicator and a floor mount , which is built into the shift boot. i have the dash mounted one in my `28 tudor....but i never really look at it http://www2.gennieshifter.com/access-eled.php
I just saw this from lokar and thought of this thread, if you were to carefully mask off the window for the LEDS, a little bit of self etch primer and some matte black paint, I think if it was black it would blend into the floor. you also have the possibility of taking something from an older car and using it over the indicator to make it look older also with the black paint. The indicators show symbols not lighted leds, which makes them look closer to a factory setup then a lot of them i've seen. It looks to be a well made product,just needs some work to look decent.
over here you can't get your car registered if you don't have a selector to show you what gear your in. I agree, you don't have to be a boston lawyer to remember the gears, but its either have a selector or no rego. I found this for my old mans coupe, about as close as you can come to a traditional looking gauge for a hot rod. Me, I prefer to row my own. http://www.cl***icinstruments.com/index.aspx?do***entID=ge****lectorgauges
http://www.cl***icinstruments.com/in...selectorgauges Now that's a great idea! Too bad it doesn't match my gauges.
The Jalopy Journal
