shifter help

nzsimon · July 19, 2008, 01:46:56 AM

Can someone tell me the prcedure for fabricating the hook up from a shifter to the transmission

The shifter is a heavily modded Lokar floor mount swapped over to make the arm on the right and the trans is out of a lexus

I am scraching my head as to which end to start at do I leave the original lever on the trans and fab a lever at the shifter end to suit and if so how?
Or do I make a lever at the shifter end and fab the lever at the trans end to suit

As I have manualised the auto I only need the shifter for PRND

I am having trouble getting my head around the variables

Finally bolted the body down for the last time today not a job I want to do again in a hurry I chased the job round the garage all day everytime I put a shim where I thought it needed it I was wrong

wayne petty · July 19, 2008, 02:05:08 AM

measure the amount of movement at the shifter rod../ cable...

park _ reverse-- neutral ___ drive
0 24mm 50mm 80mm these numbers are random...

then using a protractor or a piece of metal attached to the shift shaft lever...

mark the angles and draw lines out from the center for each position P,R,N,oD,D,2,L... \|/

then you can see how far out the lever needs to be too get the correct ratio of shifter to shift shaft lever... by measuring the distance from the shifter detents above to the distance between the diverging angles...

i have had to do this a bunch on fords. where the trans was swapped.. and it would not go into low or park... one or the other .. but not at the same ajustment...... this gave me the correct length center to shift rod center... so i could go through the piles of various shift shafts available for fords...

which transmission are you using... out of which lexus.../ toyota...

nzsimon · July 19, 2008, 02:11:37 AM

The trans is a A340e out of a 91 crown royal saloon ( sc400 lexus )same as the engine it is in my 32 roadster there is lots of stuff on this site about the build

It has taken way longer than expected as the Lotus sport 350 keeps burning all my money

Thanks for that I will have a play with some cardboard the fact it is under the car and flat on your back working upsidedown does something odd to all your logic circuits in your brain be so much easier if it was right side up on the bench

wayne petty · July 19, 2008, 02:19:23 AM

this link just so rodders will know what it looks like.....

http://www1.autozone.com/images/cds/gif/large/0900823d80161d3b.gif

edit.inser t. i just picked up one of these just for hard to measure things...

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=96509

oh... and if you still have the shift shaft lever on the trans... measure the hole for the rod from a fixed position.for PRNoDD2L. and the center to center legnth... then you can draw it out on the bench... to see which way you need to go...

this should save you some time under the car...

nzsimon · July 19, 2008, 02:22:20 AM

Except my bellhousing is polished and the trans is gloss black with lots of purple pearl in it

nzsimon · July 19, 2008, 08:57:46 PM

heres what I have to work with I would prefer to mod the shifter end

but it may be that I can't make it do what I want after all this work because the detents in the shifter could be wrong ?

chimp koose · July 19, 2008, 09:05:51 PM

nzsimon, I modified a 3speed auto. shifter to a 2speed powerglide. I think the easiest way is to hook up the shifter and see where it stops for each gear. Then make your own shifter detent plate.That is what I did and it seems to work just fine.

wayne petty · July 19, 2008, 09:07:17 PM

same thing applys... except you will probably need to make a longer arm for the shift shaft on the tranny... it thats what it takes to make it work...

when you started ... you were talking about a cable.... i think with that much throw you are going to need a rod...

by the way.... if the shifter rod is at an angle... you can put offset bends in it to clear things... it does not have to be straight...

Mac · July 19, 2008, 09:44:20 PM

Quote from: "nzsimon"heres what I have to work with I would prefer to mod the shifter end

but it may be that I can't make it do what I want after all this work because the detents in the shifter could be wrong ?

Maybe I don't understand all that's involved Simon but it seems that if your shifter movement is a given, dictated by the detents, you may have to, worse case, fab a new (longer / shorter) arm on the trans as well to get the proper ratio movement. Seems you should be able to measure arm to arm distance with shifter in P and trans in P then measure again with shifter and trans in the next position (R?) to see if motion is equal or how it needs to be altered. Ideally you'll be able to do it with just shifter arm lengthen or shorten. It could get more complicated if the incrimental movement in either the shifter or trans are not equal. In other words if the motion from P to R is not the same as R to N on either lever.

enjenjo · July 19, 2008, 10:28:39 PM

Here is how to do it. I make a pointer that will fit on a rod attached to the shifter that can be adjusted so it will stay in one spot. Fasten an oversized arm to the trans lever shaft. Put the shifter, and trans arm both in park, and scribe a line on the trans arm. Put the shifter and trans both in low gear, and scribe another line on the trans arm. Where the two lines cross it the point where the hole has to be drilled. Then trim away everything that is not needed on the arm. Works every time.

enjenjo · July 21, 2008, 04:19:06 PM

Here is a picture of the scriber I use.

GPster · July 21, 2008, 05:42:58 PM

Google "Kugel Components" or shiftworks.com. They make a shift arm fro the transmission that allows you to work it with various steering column shiftersno matter what arc and reach the column arm has. The transmission arm has a slot that you lock theshifting rod's folcrum into so that the rod's travel give you the correct arc of the transmission's arm. They showed enough on their site to explain how it works. GPster

UGLY OLDS · July 21, 2008, 08:33:09 PM

Quote
Quote from: GPsterGoogle "Kugel Components" or shiftworks.com. They make a shift arm fro the transmission that allows you to work it with various steering column shiftersno matter what arc and reach the column arm has.

I used this kit on the "Ugly Olds" ...Works GREAT...And if I can figure it out . :? ...Anybody can.....

By the way...They make a "long rod" kit & a "short rod" kit...Buy the "long rod " kit..The short rod kit is REALLY hard to cut longer.. Don't ask me how I know that... :? :oops:

Bob......