View single post by Jensenman
 Posted: 04-30-2009 09:08 pm
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Jensenman

 

Joined: 04-14-2005
Location: Columbia, South Carolina USA
Posts: 156
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It's possible. That short shift kit moves the pivot up from the stock position and should cut the 'throws' considerably. Only way to find out for sure is to park it on there and try it. :-D

The reason I went the way I did was to keep the shifter pivot centered in the original shift boot hole in the console (not to be confused with the floorpan opening). With the '515 mm' shift housing the shifter pivot would be about 1 3/4" forward of that opening. This would result in having to bend the shift stick at a weird angle for it to come out of the shifter opening and this could lead to the shifter hitting the edges of the console opening. I went through that several years ago on a Triumph Spitfire with a Datsun A15 motor and 5 speed which required the same kind of bend I am speaking of: the stick came straight up from the pivot roughly 1", bent to the rear at a sharp angle for about 1 3/4", then went straight up about 3" then had a 30 degree or so bend rearwards for another 3" or so to put the shifter in the drivers' hand. During shifter movement, the shifter stick moved up/down as well as front/rear and this led to having a rather sizeable hole for clearance. It wasn't a big deal in the Spitfire since it had no console but I didn't want to slice up the console in my J-H.

Not bending the shifter when using the 515mm housing would put the shifter far enough forward that it would hit the radio console. Again, this could be fixed by bending the shifter but we are back to that whole weird shift throw problem again.

I searched high and low for a 540mm housing with no luck. The Supra forum guys all say it's a rare beast, only on a couple of years. If you do find one, make sure you get the 'link' for it as well.