68 4 speed shifter location

[jess13]

I have a 68 I am going to change over to a stick.  After thinking about I am not where the shifter ends up at compaired to seats and driver location.  I always had B Body's before ( sorry no affense)  and one think I always liked was a big tall long shifter.    Even though the short shifters are soppost to be faster I did better with a 70 style pistol grip setup in 69 runner.    The A body's I guess never had a tall shifter setup on a pistol grip.   I am real tall and run with my seat back quit aways.


Anyone ever run something differtent than the factory A body shifter setups.  I am wandering if a complete B body setup might work out for me, I know the foor whole will have to be diff location for that but can it be done.  What ever I run its got to be able to be set on kill.


What About the E body pistol grip on top of a A body setup,  anyone ever done this?


Any idea's,pics or different type setups any of you guys ever run I would love to see or have them described.   I also use to like the V-gate setups but iit dont look like they offer them for A body.   I will be running buckets seats,  but i still like them tall shifters.   This is going to be  a street/strip setup that is heavy on the strip part.



Jess

[Jim_Lusk]

Of all the shifters I have used my favorite is the factory Hurst late 68/69 console handle. The knob is really in a great place. Here's a pic.



A b-body transmission and shifter will probably require funky bends to clear the dash.

[68 HEMI GTS]

i have a V-gate in my car, you have to do a number on the floor to fit it in, its the same V-gate shifter as an E-body just the rods are different. the factory a body location is great, if you went to a B-body set up you would really be reaching for the shifter, and the E body location will push it into the seat. i'll try to snap a few pictures later and post them but i don't know if they'll do you alot of good because i don't have the seats in right now so it'll be hard to get a seat/shifter reference.

[BigSlim]

Jess,
Here's some pics. Hope they halp a bit. Was going to change my 67 Cuda over to a 4 speed. Welded in the hump.
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j166/BigSlim990/Cuda/cudaetc045.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j166/BigSlim990/Cuda/DSC00509.jpg

[kudah440]

For the 69 bcuda, I took the pistolgrip shifter from a 69 Bee and modified to suit my taste.  Im 6'2" (dont know if that relative to your height) but I cut mine about 4 inches shorter, and had to shift it back...i dunno, at least 20 degrees to get it centered (in testing i hit your knuckles on the dash). next time it comes out Im going to weld some more so theres no reach to it.

[rpmrich]

b body trans with a b/e tail  shaft with an adaptor to move the shifter forward. hell leaving it back farther would be easy/ just need longer shifter rods.

[jess13]

Thanks for all the pics guys,  I forgot where I posted this and just now found it.    .    RPMrich, that looks about right to (if left back instead of the plate to move forward.   I really like the V-Gate setups and its what I prefer to run,  but a E-body pistol setup back at the rear I think would work also.


Do they even sale the V-Gate setups anymore?  I have A-B-E trannys so I guess when I get to it I can mount my buckets in and do a little measuring & testing to find what works for me.  I am 6"2 so I can probably get by with mounting the shift at the rear possition,  just have to make sure before buying I dont want to have to buy two sets of rods because I found out it want work.  I never did like a curved shifter at all,  maybe very little like the E-body pistol nothing any more than that.


RPMrich,  would you be able to give me some measurments  ( like floorboard to top of shifter,  and shifter pivit piont to some other piont forward so I could get a idea where it would be in my car)?   Maybe some more pics after you get the set back in and then with you in it.  That dont look to bad with the striaght stick,  I might be able to deal with that.  Be nice to see you,the seat, and the shifter in the forward & back possitions.   I would just love to have a V-gate setup again, I would feel like I was 20 years younger.    If I could get this stick setup in where I like it I beleive I would enjoy this car much better than running this auto.  


Jess

[68 HEMI GTS]

he's those pictures i promised, this is an A-body set up but the shifter itself is the same as an E-body i have both setups but to run the E-body location the seat would have to be modified as well as the floor tunel

IMG]http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg156/nevin7l/HPIM0322.jpg[/IMG]

[68 HEMI GTS]

[jess13]

Thanks very much for the pics.  What mods would the seat need,  you talking about its mounting possition?   Yea the floor will need work for sure,  I think that comes with using a V-gate to begin with much less running a diff location.   BTW,  that location looks about right to me.  I guess its going to take a bit of expeirmenting and work but I believe running a V-gate is what I will do.  I have thought & thought about this and I am going stick no matter what it takes,   and in my mind there is no better shifter out there than a V-gate so why try to work around anything else.  I have everything I need to go stick including a floor hump & the correct steering column.  The only thing I need is the shifter now, and the will to park the car long enough to work through all this (I drive it daily).



Jess

[68 HEMI GTS]

yea i was determined to run the v gate also, i think you could run a e-body trans but you would have to make a bracket to move the shifter forward, and probably put it closer to the A-body location. from what i could tell on my car without actually cutting the floor to try it ( the shifter in the E-body location) will be into the side of the drivers seat. i have factory buckets im running and i had the seat all the way back and there is not all that much room for the V-gate in the A-body location. now if you were to run a racing seat or something you might be able to get away with it. you will probably have to extend your floor tunnel some. i've seen these shifters on e-bay once in a while, i don't think they vary too much, just the rods and the mounting brackets change, so im sure you could make that stuff if you really wanted.