My $20 short shifter

[bobgagt]

Well some of you know I tried to get my B&M short throw shifter from my sunfire to fit the grand am. No luck. Well shortly after that the threads for my stock shift knob broke (one side of the thing did) so the shift knob wouldnt stay on.

I absolutely hated the curved bus shifter so something had to be done. While I know its not a true short throw shifter, I shortened the shaft and got a new knob for it, and I'm loving it. Things feel so much better now that its a straight shot instead of all those stupid bends. Tap was $6, stud was $1, shiftknob was $15 off ebay. Much better than stock imo.

So I cut off the stock shaft, then tapped a hole in what was left, then used a threaded stud and cranked that in there with the vise grips, then I threaded the new knob on (which lights up blue in the H pattern). So here are pics.


http://www.esbob.com/images/grandam/shifter/shift1.jpg

Add sawzall
http://www.esbob.com/images/grandam/shifter/shift2.jpg

Insert tap here
http://www.esbob.com/images/grandam/shifter/shift3.jpg

Thread knob on
http://www.esbob.com/images/grandam/shifter/shift4.jpg

And last a preview of my interior (NOT done yet)
http://www.esbob.com/images/grandam/shifter/shift5.jpg

[DontPassTheFence]

badass, thatis way less half-assed then what I did...
1 - take off stock knob
2 - hacksaw shifter
3 - sand/grind until flat
4 - screw the stock knob on as tight as i could with out breaking anything and hope it holds up. and so far, it is! and i love the H pattern, i wish mine had it!

[nice96gt]

Looks pimp Bob...How does it perform?

[bobgagt]

I'm gonna put my SAFC in before I drive it again, but sitting in the driveway pretending to drive it feels good lol...

[urweak]

...

[bobgagt]

Hey I got a thought, its called READ.

"While I know its not a true short throw shifter"

Thank you, I said that, you can now STFU.


edit: I was sick of hitting my hand on hvac controls, so I shortened it, not the throw, the shifter itself. Also, since were stating the obvious here, you spelled PIVOT wrong ;)

[rabidpanda69]

Originally posted by urweak
um, that isnt a true short throw shifter. You just hacked it up. What you need to do is lenghten the rod from where it pivets to where it connects to the shifter linkage.

I referr you to paragraph 2 in the original post....

[rabidpanda69]

Originally posted by bobgagt
Hey I got a thought, its called READ.

"While I know its not a true short throw shifter"

Thank you, I said that, you can now STFU.

:lol: I see your on top of things ;)

BTW nice work. looks good. Wish I had a M/T so I could chop my shifter :(

[jayhawk]

Originally posted by bobgagt
Hey I got a thought, its called READ.

"While I know its not a true short throw shifter"

Thank you, I said that, you can now STFU.


Just ignore him in the future, please. :nono:

[bobgagt]

Ok, I can do that. I just get sick of his posts when all he has to say is something negative, or I would have done it different, or blah blah thats not good... the snail's gonna get you.... YOURE SCARED!!!! LOL

[RussGAGT]

bOb, I liKe uR short THROW shifter, it is the sheeizey, can u mak me oen f9or my 4t60e? - I am ignignoc

[nice96gt]

still looks too long to be a short shifter :P :D

[DontPassTheFence]

wait, bob -- do you still have the white GT? its still in your sig, and i assume you do. If so, how does it feel to own 2 96-98 GAGTs? (i bet it kicks ass)

[Mike94SE]

No man, its cool. If it feels good, go ahead man. I'd do it.....if I knew stick...

[bobgagt]

No I'm just too lazy to change the sig. I had two GA's for about a day. Sold the white one to my buddy Russ. So he has two GA's. One AAS kitted coupe with 18's and my old sedan on 17's.

I'll take the sig down someday I just like how it looks and its a pain to make a new one... lol

[DontPassTheFence]

yea, i love how the sig looks, that white Gt was so sexy, but it wasnt turbo-ed!!

[urweak]

Originally posted by bobgagt
the snail's gonna get you.... YOURE SCARED!!!! LOL

[DontPassTheFence]

pfft, like you are gonna build your LD9, urweak. wtf is that about, huh?? how is your 16sec car? i bet you have built the hell out of it...
Jesus, why do you even post here if its just gonna troll and flame everyone... why dont you just go back to documenting Spy's turbo creation for us, since we wont ever hear turbo and urweak's car in the same sentence...

[bobgagt]

Well, I did buy it with a lot of mods. People have seen pics of when I got it, and now its a little different. But just for fun I'll give you a list of what was wrong with it when I got it:

-Turbo manifold was cracked in about 5 places
Proof that i personally removed the manifold:
www.esbob.com/turbomanifold
-Exhaust downpipe was leaking
-E-manage was installed incorrectly
-Electrical tape was behind the check engine light
-Oil pressure gauge was leaking on dash
-Oil feed line on turbo was leaking
-Wastegate on turbo was jammed open

So the stuff I then fixed:
-Removed all old gauges and installed new ones. This included a boost, oil pressure, fuel pressure, EGT, and a wideband gauge.
-Removed e-manage and wired in SAFC in its place
-Removed turbo manifold and took to friends shop where it was remade
-Adjusted wastegate so now it opens at 8psi
-Fixed exhaust leaks
-Changed oil feed lines
-Changed mech oil pressure gauge to electric
-Sold white 18's, put on my black 17's
-Removed almost all interior pieces because they were painted like crap. Re painted most of them
-Made my custom SHORT shifter
-Re-wired the alarm as it would randomly panic
-Changed the alternator
-Changed the IDI cover

I've probably driven the car about 300 miles since I've gotten it. It was by no means a turn key operation, when I got it it wasn't even boosting. So you can say I bought it and didnt build it, but the amount of time I've spent re-building this thing, I should get a little credit for it. Plus its not like I'm running my mouth saying I built it. I built my last Grand Am from scratch (yes and it was modified... check the cardomain page) and I think it turned out pretty damn good... so I think I'm 100% capable of building it myself, if thats what you want to pick at. Why do I even have to justify this lol... you bought yours and didnt build it either, oh right paying someone else $400 to do your exhaust is building it yourself oh or paying a dealer $700 to fix your A/C... :D

[The Artist]

owned

[DontPassTheFence]

damn i didnt know you had to do that much work. but for the low price you got it at, it was well worth it! very nice work, bob. You are the second true grand am owner i have seen this week (see also guy that spent 18hrs waxing his car)

:thumbup2:

[urweak]

Originally posted by bobgagt
you bought yours and didnt build it either, oh right paying someone else $400 to do your exhaust is building it yourself oh or paying a dealer $700 to fix your A/C... :D

I payed 200 for the pipe and work, and another 200 for the mufflers and shit. If i had a pipe bender and welder i would have done it myself. The 700 for the A/C was about 400-500 in parts, and the rest in labor, another thing i couldnt do myself, i cant charge the system or evac it.

[urweak]

Originally posted by DontPassTheFenc
pfft, like you are gonna build your LD9, urweak. wtf is that about, huh?? how is your 16sec car? i bet you have built the hell out of it...
Jesus, why do you even post here if its just gonna troll and flame everyone... why dont you just go back to documenting Spy's turbo creation for us, since we wont ever hear turbo and urweak's car in the same sentence...

get off his balls buddy, Your car is no faster then mine. So hows your 16 second car as well?

[RocketFast321]

<--- :D

Originally posted by urweak
you had the mighty 3100.

but mom is taking her car back, dang back the slow 2.4

[levey]

Back on track....I think the shifter looks great. Nice work.

[bobgagt]

Thanks... it feels nice too ;)

[Jigga9JayZ]

i would like to see someone swap in a j-body shifter assembely to get a real short throw in a GA

[bobgagt]

I tried it. I had the b/m in my sunfire. I took the whole assembly and switched it over, but first of all, the cables mount differently. In the grand am they are the same length, in the J one is longer (just where it mounts to the shifter assembly). Second of all, the bolt pattern of the shifter assembly will not line up (in the grand am). I took apart both shifters and had it in my GA but the only thing I couldn't do is get 5th or reverse. I wasted a day messing with that so this is my remedy for now. I'd love for a company to make us one. But theres only like 2 or 3 people that would buy it so theres no justification.

[urweak]

I was thinking if you could put just the blue peice from the kit that goes on the bottom of the shifter, take that and put it on the bottom of the nbody shifter. then put a spacer under the shifter inplace of that blue spacer. That might work. The real problem is that the pin that comes out of the side of the ball is to short on the B&M shifter so you cant get the car to go into 5th and R. Im sure it can be done, if i had a welder i would have tried cutting up both shifter sticks, and swaping the ball and pin part of the nbody stick over to the B&M stick.

[DontPassTheFence]

Originally posted by bobgagt
I tried it. I had the b/m in my sunfire. I took the whole assembly and switched it over, but first of all, the cables mount differently. In the grand am they are the same length, in the J one is longer (just where it mounts to the shifter assembly). Second of all, the bolt pattern of the shifter assembly will not line up (in the grand am). I took apart both shifters and had it in my GA but the only thing I couldn't do is get 5th or reverse. I wasted a day messing with that so this is my remedy for now. I'd love for a company to make us one. But theres only like 2 or 3 people that would buy it so theres no justification.
i know.. the 3 of us would buy one.. thats it. Damn! I cant believe the sunfire's is different. its the same engine mated to the same transmission... Stupid-assed GM!
Oh well, my hacksaw job will do for now :lol:

[urweak]

Here are some pictures of the B&M short shifter compared to the stock nbody one, for anyone who hasnt seen them.

Notice how the ball, pin, and cap are smaller on the B&M shifter then on the nbody one.

[urweak]

And heres the spacer plate that doesnt line up to all four holes.

[DontPassTheFence]

well son of a bitch. That could be made to work, but the amount of work/time/energy it would take is barely worth it in the end. That, and the welds would have to be pretty good in quality, so it all doesnt break into pieces when you shift it hard (I know im a bit too rough with my shifter as it is)
So, you would redrill the holes, try to weld onto the pin in order to make it long enough, and use the stock cap I assume, then hope it all works together?

Also, it seems I have misjudged you a bit, urweak, you do know what the hell you are talking about... Then again I am a prick that is prone to quickly label people.

And, my 16 sec car is great :lol:
But, 16.0 seconds is enough to beat Hondas... and that's all that really matters, eh?

[Jigga9JayZ]

aaaahhhhh urweak, you are making new friends....lol




bob, talk to b&m, i'll buy one too...thats 4....haha

[bobgagt]

lol ok... I will.

Yeah urweak hit it right on the head. If the ball on the jbody b/m was the same size as the grand am ball it would work... if were gonna get a company to make them though we'll have to send out a stock assembly... and those are very hard to find (at least around here).

I'll e-mail them today.

[DontPassTheFence]

i can check the junkyards in and around phx. ill do that today after work!

[urweak]

The shifter pictured is one i bought from Karo (owner of www.carcustoms.net ), as i spoke with him and asked him if B&M would make a nbody version, he told me that the cavalier shifter wasnt even selling that well, and he really didnt see B&M making one for the nbody. But its worth a shot.

[bobgagt]

Yeah... who knows... one COULD make a short throw out of the stock one but it would take some work and some damn good welding... you dont want it to snap during a shift or something lol...

I could have the place that did my manifold probably do something for us.... hmm... I'll talk to him tomorrow...

[RussGAGT]

I think that between my dad and I, we could make something durable that would work...we have fabbed way more difficult things. I just need the j-bod short shifter and a stock n-bod assembly and I could make it work.

[DontPassTheFence]

I like how this thread went from a simple hacksaw job, to the always important flaming, back to the shifter, to flaming again, apologies, then getting someone to make us a shifter, then everyone wanting to make their own. This has to be the best thread the Twin Cam section has ever seen.

[bobgagt]

LOL.. definetely an interesting one.

[Mike94SE]

Someone erased my post! DAMNIT!!!

AGAIN: I noticed that you ran straights on your old 3100. AGAIN: How did it perform?

NOTICE THE LACK OF FLAMING!!11ONE1ONE!

[bobgagt]

lol...

I had no mufflers, just straight pipes on there for a while didnt notice much performance wise cuz stock cat and res and piping were still there. Sounded good though. I replaced it with a magnaflow cat, 2.5" piping to a flowmaster 80... noticed a gain there and the sound was awesome.

[DontPassTheFence]

lol he got owned

[urweak]

http://www.bmracing.com/index.php?id=contact

[DontPassTheFence]

what do we do with that? all call them and tell them we want short shifters ? :lol:

.
I wonder if that wouldwork

[Mike94SE]

You know I did forsee it... and they silenced me... SILENCED ME!!!ONEONE!11

[bobgagt]

LOLOLOLOLOLOL OMGWTFLolol1!L1LL!LLOL!L1111one!!!!!11!


im rick james bitch

[DontPassTheFence]

:roflmfao: !!!!!111!1!!!oneoneoneoenelevenoneoneonelevenonehu ndredandeleven

[Mike94SE]

Originally posted by bobgagt
LOLOLOLOLOLOL OMGWTFLolol1!L1LL!LLOL!L1111one!!!!!11!


im rick james bitch

Pffffft...... I'M WAYNE BRADY BITCH!!!!

Can't believe he quit, though...

To hijack; did anyone notice it took three sledge hammer swings to break a N64 on Mencina?

Nintendo always makes a durable system, but no good games...

[jayhawk]

Keep it on topic, please. :nono:

[DontPassTheFence]

OhhhHHhh smacked down by the man again. :lol:

[Mike94SE]

AAUUGH!:axechase: