2008.08.30 - UPDATE! - LABOR DAY WEEKEND...
I know I promised to show flare holes this time, so here they are.
I'm not quite ready to punch and flare holes yet on the actual project, and I realized that I don't have a way to cleanly cut holes larger than 1". This photo shows 3/4" and 1" holes, which were cut with a Uni-Bit. They came out really nice so I know that I'll be having fun with flared holes when the time comes. In the meantime, I need to get select and buy a high-quality set of hole saws (or punches). I'd heard good things about the Jancy brand of sheetmetal holesaws (about $180/set) and also heard Greenlee punches might be a good choice.
Back to today's topic....shifters, seating and console clearances.
The Atlas box provides two different types of shifter cages for the 4-speed. They are different heights and the location of the pivot. I wanted all three shifters to be at the same height and I wanted them to all share the same pivot centerline, so it took a while to build a bracket and spacers to accomplish what I wanted. I was even able to get the shifter-to-shifter spacing symmetrical. The only remaning issue is that the planetary shifter is about 1/2" taller than the other two, so I'll need to cut that down.
Almost immediately after getting the plate built, it became clear that I needed to know how far forward it would need to be mounted to clear the center console. So my attention shifted (no pun intended) to getting the console modified and into it's correct position.
Here's a shot of the stock console.
Obviously, it's going to be WAY too tall now that the center tunnel is taller. I marked two horizontal lines representing cuts that could be made to lower it. I tried the first one, but it still seemed too tall, so I ended up cutting to the upper line pictured.
Here's the effect once installed back into the truck and a factory seat.
That looks just about perfect when compared to some "stock" photographs I found online. The shifters were placed so that they won't hit the console when pulled back into "Hi" range.
With that out of the way, I had to come up with a strong mount for the shifter cage. I ended up building a template off the same TH400 bolt pattern that I am also using for the mid-plate adapter.
The through-hole is to allow the cable from the planetary box to pass between the two shifter cages. That gives me the lateral placement of the shifters that I wanted.
This piece has not been made out of 3/16" mild steel and is bolted in place. All I need to do now is spot weld the upper shifter plate to it to establish it's final postion....then brace it up.
I know I promised to show flare holes this time, so here they are.
I'm not quite ready to punch and flare holes yet on the actual project, and I realized that I don't have a way to cleanly cut holes larger than 1". This photo shows 3/4" and 1" holes, which were cut with a Uni-Bit. They came out really nice so I know that I'll be having fun with flared holes when the time comes. In the meantime, I need to get select and buy a high-quality set of hole saws (or punches). I'd heard good things about the Jancy brand of sheetmetal holesaws (about $180/set) and also heard Greenlee punches might be a good choice.
Back to today's topic....shifters, seating and console clearances.
The Atlas box provides two different types of shifter cages for the 4-speed. They are different heights and the location of the pivot. I wanted all three shifters to be at the same height and I wanted them to all share the same pivot centerline, so it took a while to build a bracket and spacers to accomplish what I wanted. I was even able to get the shifter-to-shifter spacing symmetrical. The only remaning issue is that the planetary shifter is about 1/2" taller than the other two, so I'll need to cut that down.
Almost immediately after getting the plate built, it became clear that I needed to know how far forward it would need to be mounted to clear the center console. So my attention shifted (no pun intended) to getting the console modified and into it's correct position.
Here's a shot of the stock console.
Obviously, it's going to be WAY too tall now that the center tunnel is taller. I marked two horizontal lines representing cuts that could be made to lower it. I tried the first one, but it still seemed too tall, so I ended up cutting to the upper line pictured.
Here's the effect once installed back into the truck and a factory seat.
That looks just about perfect when compared to some "stock" photographs I found online. The shifters were placed so that they won't hit the console when pulled back into "Hi" range.
With that out of the way, I had to come up with a strong mount for the shifter cage. I ended up building a template off the same TH400 bolt pattern that I am also using for the mid-plate adapter.
The through-hole is to allow the cable from the planetary box to pass between the two shifter cages. That gives me the lateral placement of the shifters that I wanted.
This piece has not been made out of 3/16" mild steel and is bolted in place. All I need to do now is spot weld the upper shifter plate to it to establish it's final postion....then brace it up.
Last edited:
It will be a cool bit of trivia to know once you figure out the answer.
