Now that the seats are installed, I can
finish the shifter installation. What I did to find the right spot for
the shifter was to sit in the seat and place the shifter in my hand till
I had the right location. I had to build-up about three inches under the
base of the shifter to make the height right for me using various items
laying around. After determining the right height, I then cut some 1/8" X 2" mild steel material
to make a base out of. The bent piece will go up too and over the transmission
hump.
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This will give you a better idea of
what I was making. I tack welded the pieces together to make sure that
it was going to work and then I put the heat to it. The four 1/4"
holes in the top will hold the shifter and the two 5/16" holes in
the bottom part will bolt through the floor. The reason I don't have any
mounting holes towards the front is because the transmission is very
close to the floor so getting a bolt in at that location would be very
hard.
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Once I had the base finished, I needed
to install the neutral safety switch to the shifter. The neutral safety switch bolts to
a small bracket and then the bracket bolts to the shifter housing. When
the switch is open (in any of the gears) it doesn't make contact and
won't let the motor start but when it's in the "Park" or
"Neutral" position (red arrows), it will close the switch and
the engine starts. This switch wouldn't be a big deal to me but you have
to have it to pass NHRA tech if you want to race so it's getting
installed. I found out that the switch doesn't have a very big window of
adjustment which meant it had to be "just right" or it
wouldn't work. I used my Ohm meter to tell me when the switch was either
open or closed to adjust it.
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I'm getting ready to cut a hole for the shifter cable so I marked a few spots on the floor and
then went under the car to find a good spot. I used a one inch hole saw
to cut the hole and angled it slightly to the passenger side. I then
used my Dremel to do some final sizing. If you
notice the shifter isn't in the center of the car it's because the shifter
knob is not in the center of the shifter. I installed the shifter
3/4" off center to place the knob in the center of the car. I'll
be making a console to cover the shifter later on.
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