[73LeMans]

This always having been a column shifted car, mounting a good looking shifter on the floor always presented a challenge when it came to reach. I originally put the ProStick directly on the tunnel but when harnessed in, I could never manipulate the reverse lockout. Time to make it a fix! (I heard an old Italian F1 mechanic say that once... Once.)

Starting with an educated guess in rise, I made a cardboard template, borrowed a brake and bent this up.





Instead of bolts through the tunnel this time, which if ever loosened were next impossible to tighten, I put thread-serts in the floor. Man I love thread-serts. But, make sure you don't drill too big of a hole, and make sure when you do drill, its on a flat plane and the drill is straight. Otherwise, youll have to weld the thread-sert in place. Stupid thread-serts.

Next time I think Id rather weld a mount off the floorboard brace and bolt the shifter to that. But thats next time. Back to the parallelogram.


Mmmm.....ooooh, ahhh. Dimple dies. So cool. And a little bit of shiny paint. And one more for Jenny and the wimp.



I didn't want the shifter mount to look brand new. Under any of the Rustoleum black I typically spray, I lay down Rustoleum's Rusty Metal Primer as what else? A primer. This was no exception and would prove a good contrast for my experiment in patinanessness.



The reality is I likely used the wrong gauge steel for this piece. At the very least, it needed some cross bracing. it was pretty flimsy. I was hoping the dimple took care of that, and while slightly better, not rock solid like a mount needs to be. At the very least, the simple fix below added back some strength. We'll see what a season of driving does to it all.




Finished product with the satin clear....minus one pin, plus one finger. (Fear not, that cable takes a better path now!)



I mocked up the seat and love where the shifter sits now. So comfortable and easy to operate.