G day guys Im working to a budget on my Roadster and got a shock at the cost of a Lokar trad type shifter (AUS$400). So I went out and got a Tbar shifter mech from the wreckers. Only thing is it looks like a cheesy chrome shifter off a 1980's Ford. Has anyone adapted one to look like a old style shifter a la LOkar etc? the release ****on is on the side but if I could relocate it somehow to the top, I could change the handle to a spherical shape - it could even look like a mod A handbrake lever. Any help appreciated cos this TBar is wrong on so many levels Steve
Not sure about the Ford design but the mid 70's Oldsmobile T handles with the ****on in the end, the buton was a rod with a 45º bevel on the end that just put wedged pressure against a verticle rod in the shifter tube pushing it down the same way the Locar one does. So, IF it's like that, you maybe could put a knob with a top ****on on it instead of the T handle.
There is an article in one of the old "Rodder's Digest" mags about modifing the Mustang T shifter. Basically you remove the T and add an extension to the shifter out of stainless tube the length you want. Make a rod that fits inside the tube. Cut a slot in it to attach the release cable to the rod, then tap the other end of the rod to fit the shifter ball you want to use. Pull up on the ball to change gears instead of hitting the ****on on the "T". I've made one for my "A" Coupe and it works fine. Think I have about $20.00 in it.
I have the same delima, I have a B&M Z-Gate shifter that I found on Ebay.. I think that this bottle opener will make a nice replacement shift knob... http://www.go-kat-go.com/tiboop.html
I was reading through my old Rodders Digest magazines and found the issue in question: Vol 9 No 5, March/April 1990. Cover pic below for easier ebay/swap meet searching.
The man who started Gennie Shifter built the first one and wrote an article about it in Street Rodder back in the 70's. Basically, he took a top plate and shifter from a top loader truck trans, cut off all that had nothing to do with the shifter moving back and forth, then made up cable attachments front and rear (two cables). He then made up strap to attach to the auto trans, and ran the cables to either side of the shift arm. No detents as such, and no safety switches, but it looked just like an original floor shift, mostly because it WAS a floor shifter, just modified to operate an automatic. Seems to me that this would be a better way to go: modify something that already looks like what you want to operate differently, rather than modify something that operates correctly but needs to look different. And, no, I don't recall which year or month, sorry. Cosmo
As a small fwiw, the mid-60's Mustang automatic floor shifter was used in many a hot rod and left as-is. I'm not sure if these shifters had a detent plate, but if they did and you used one of them on an automatic other than the original Mustang automatic, you'd probably want to make up or at the least alter (if it was a do-able deal) the detent plate. I've seen instances where the old favorite, the GM column was used on a C4 or C6 with the original factory shifter on the column and the column detents didn't match the trans detents. It did create some problems.
My mate made one in a couple of hours from the same kind of shifter (XE or XF) It was only a prototype but he just bent up a tube to the length and shape he wanted, welded 3 or 4 nuts on the outside as a guide and ran a bit of 1/4 rod up the front as the release. Top the release rod with whatever you like... a little ring, Tee or maybe br*** knuckles. Choice of shift knobs too. Just do it
i picked up a junkyard t handle shifter & removed he t, i welded a extention tube on it that was a little smaller in diameter & ground it down so it looked like it was tapered.Then i got the inside liner form a mig welder hose & cut it so it stuck out the top alittle( a choke cable would also work) then i made a knob out of a granade & drilled a hole thru the top of it & cut the threads off a SS 1/4 -20 bolt & used that to press the cable which in turn released the detents!!Viola traditional shifter!!
The Jalopy Journal
