Hot Rods how do you bend a chrome shifter?

I need to move my precious shift lever over about three inches. I have a rosebud and a 50ton press with radius dies. No problem.

Does anybody know a way to save the chrome? If I'm not successful I'll just clear coat the mess and have it rechromed over the winter. I remember my Dad used to smoke with acetylene before heat and bend. I can't remember how successful he was.

Any thoughts?

 

It may bend fine OR you may get cracks in the chrome, only one way to know

 

If you heat it I would think it will blue the chrome, think chrome headers. I would try bending cold, between 3 hardwood blocks, one on top and 2 spaced apart in your press.

 

Yeah, I forgot to add bend cold

 

Bend it at the bottom, bellow the boot, if possible. More info...what does a "precious" shifter look like, where and why does it need to move?

 

I bent mine when I missed 3rd…….

 

On a serious note I think the blue would polish back out?!? I never tried but take a spare bumper guard or something like that and heat it up and then try and to polish it out and see.

 

do not over heat, it will burn the chrome creating a rough surface.
get it just hot enough to bend
avoid sharp bends that can crack the chrome.
the blue will polish off easily

 

What kind of shifter? I cut and welded a 90 onto one for another project, all under the shift boot. This was a generic Hurst however, and had no meaning to me but the finished product

 

I'd try a cold bend first, nice and slow with blocks of wood on a press. Be sure you mark where and how much it has to bend, check the progress often, it doesn't take much to move the shift know 3" unless its a very short handle. If you have to heat it use your torch, the rosebud will be over kill, it won't need to be red to bend it. Bending below the boot would be a better chance of not having damaged chrome showing.

 

It is most likely just mild steel.

That being the case, clamp it in the vise below the boot line, and pull really hard.

 

What kind of shifter ? If its a Hurst with a bolt on lever , move the bolt- on tab on the shifter , short piece of 3/8" CRS welded in to fill the gap , that way you can use the lever as is .

 

I had to bend my Hurst handle to clear my bench seat. I locked it in my milling machine vise and bent it cold, slowly using a piece of black pipe. It did crinkle the chrome a bit, the boot hides it.

 

Every time I ever tried to bend one, the chrome cracked at the slightest hint of bending. So, bend it somewhere it won't show unless you want to rechrome it.

 

Many years ago I had to bend the lever on a new Hurst shifter forward, to clear the bench seat. I cut a notch in it near the bottom, bent it and welded it back together with a stick welder. Worked fine, and the boot covered the weld. But without seeing your situation, and where the bend needs to be, and what shape the shift lever is, I have no idea if this will help you.

 

SLOWLEY!!!!

 

All depends on the quality of the chrome. Copper-Nickle-Chrome offers more forgiveness then Nickle-Chrome. You can bend in a press but use a large radius object to push with to spread the load and a layer of leather so that the "DIE" does not press into the chrome and dent it

 

The shifter is a vintage B&M, (not a Hurst), that I sourced from charles vreeland on here. I had to make a few missing parts but it shifts better than any Hurst I've ever owned and is just kind of cool because it's just different. If it was a Hurst I'd just order an appropriate shift lever and be done with it. Probably either made by Hurst or a close copy.

I'm going to try to bend it cold and see what happens. I've never been successful either hot or cold in saving the chrome. I'm considering milling a wedge for the bottom where the lever bolts on to tilt it out and then just a tweek about 2/3rds of the way up to get the knob at the right place.

Pics for reference-

 

You've got some pretty good advice so far. But you're shy a little information. (Hey! You posted more while I was thinking thoughts and writing.)
Do you want to move the knob over 3" with a 'slope' between the bottom and the top? Or do you want two 90* sideways bends 3" apart which will shorten the shift lever 3" or more? ...........And those are assuming the boot and hole in the floor aren't going to move.
If you have clearance for a 3" spacer block, no shift levers will be harmed in the production of this task.

 

Looking at that second photo*+*+*+*
Moving the pivot pumpkin to the other side (inside) of that plate looks to be just about a perfect 3".
You would have to fabricate new rods and wet-noodle them through, if that's even possible.

 

bend it near the bottom, put a boot over it that covers the bend, and don't worry about it.

 

Shift Wizard, The pics are a little deceptive as there is no room to move the shifter body over. I have come to the conclusion the best move is to fold the shifter to the right about 20deg. just above the two bolts and then correct the angle right at the bend rearward to get the knob back vertical, if that makes sense. This will put the shifter at exactly where I want it and drop the knob about 1 1/8". Just perfect. If the chrome fails it will get replated at some point. The shift boot I have will cover the bottom nicely.

 

There really isn't any need to bend it back straight, is there? I guess you could, but the bend will probably turn ugly.

You'll have to decide if it being angled bothers you more than the damaged chrome.

 

If all you need is the shift knob over 4" then you should consider making up a wedge spacer to go between the shift arm, and shifter down at the bolts. It wont take much of a wedge to move the shift knob 4" at the top, and it wont require bending, heating, or damaging anything.
I've done this just using flat bar, and a grinder to rough it to shape, and then my belt sander to make sure it's flat. A piece of 3/8"x1" flat bar will easily get the knob moved over enough.

 

Can't you clamp the shifter in the vice and cold bend it with a really long pipe over the end?

 

Don't bend the shifter at all. Do a 'Z' out of 1/4 x 1" steel, it will center the shifter over the transmission. In the picture below I used 3/8" so I had to gusset the angle, if you use full 1/4" x 1" it will be plenty stout.

___ I
I

 

This is basically how I did it. I must have used 1/4 inch, because no gusset was required.

 

Now that's a great idea! Definitely worth plotting out.

Thanks much Cosmo49!

 

Unfortunately the offset lever idea isn't going to work so I tried bending the bottom cold. I put it in the press with a 1.50 radius die and it didn't last 1 second. That somebitch is tempered hard! I've tweeked all kinds of shifters and never broke one hot or cold. This shifter is very well made for sure. Weld it up at the angle I wanted and either live with the top or heat it to bend.