I am going to quote myself for a reason that should seem clear in a moment:
Quote:
Originally Posted by unruhjonny
Congratulations on a great looking (and sounding) car!!
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I like spartan interior (no console), with what appears to be the correct non-console shifter arm, and correct black ball shifter handle!!
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Then you recently wrote this elsewhere:
Quote:
Originally Posted by jhein
Like what I've read about 70 TAs having the short, straight shifter when ordered without the center console. I read that they were spec'd for the short shifter but supply problems caused them to use whatever they had as the cars came down the line. The car I just got has the short shifter. Is that correct? Maybe. I don't know jack compared to all of you guys. But, I do like the shifter.
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It's not a short shifter.
But I need to pause for a moment;
I never know if I should call it a handle, or an arm, or a stick, but for the sake of clarity, I will in the following bit call it a stick, and what I am describing is the chrome plated part that is inserted in the the Hurst shifter mechanism, and has the handle attached to it.
Ok, back on course now;
The shorter factory shifter stick was first used on 1979 model year cars, otherwise the factory used shifter sticks designated by the car and the options;
In the case of 1970 Firebirds:
1) cars with consoles were supposed to receive shifter stick #7244;
This same shifter stick was used on ALL 1972-1978 Firebirds with a Muncie transmission.
2) cars without a console were supposed to receive shifter stick #7945;
This is a straighter stick, that may create the appearance of a shorter shifter.
3) some Firebirds without a console were apparently built with the Camaro shifter stick #7433;
Again, this wasn't a shorter stick per say, but was a more straight unit.
4) the 1979-1981 shifter stick for all four speed Firebirds was #0800;
Some sources say that no 1980 manual transmission Firebirds were made, but those writers forgot about RPO Z49 cars which were destined to Canada, and had some different drivetrains available to them.
In this image, left to right are:
0800, 7945, 7244
I can now see that the 0800 is set a little bit higher in relation to the other two, but hopefully you can see that the 7945 & 7244 put the shifter ball/handle at about the same height off the floor, while the 0800 does indeed move is down closer to the floor.
I believe that my brother has a 7433 in his four speed swapped 1973 Formula, and he quite likes it.
I hope this helps to clarify this for you.