The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Relocating shifter handles

A recent thread in this forum morphed into a discussion of the shifter handle relocation kit formerly offered by the now-defunct Patrick's operation. Does the stovebolt community think there would be sufficient interest in fabricating something like this, not only for the Saginaw transmission but also possibly the T-5? As I understand it, the device relocated the shifter handle forward, and centered it over the case to resemble the SM-420 shift handle. I'd consider designing something similar and making my design work available to the community at large if there is sufficient support for such a project.
Jerry

Relocation kits are readily available for the T-5 and it’s clones. I didn’t see any for Saginaw but didn’t spend a lot of time looking.

I know what has been discussed here about Patrick's business closing. But his website is still up. http://www.patricksantiquecars.com/ There may be useful/ helpful info there concerning the shifter he sold... or not.

Patrick's situation had been discussed pretty fully a couple of months ago and it sounded final: https://tinyurl.com/y79b78l2
Maybe not and maybe something better happened since those notices were posted on their door. We can hope so.

Jerry, the shifter Patrick sold was a Hurst Competition Plus which as I recall had been modified but not modified much. The shift lever bolted on to the shifter with two bolts (very common style) and mimicked the old 4 speed modified Z lever that would have come stock.

A useful modification to the T5 transmission might be to adapt the electronic speedo output to a manual output with different gear ratio capabilities. I'm not talking about one of the "electronic to mechanical" converters. That topic has already been whipped to death on this forum and several others. From what I've read, none of those adapters work well enough to spend $100 on much less the $300 or more they want. And I know some will rush up to say "a GPS speedo is the way to go" but I've not seen a single GPS speedo out there with an analog odometer and different people have told me they prefer their speedometer to look more like the original. Alternatively converting a GPS speedometer to one which used an analog odometer would be useful.

I have a collection of T5 shifter relocation/modifications pictures. I will post them on my website for your review. These are not my ideas. Just pictures I’ve come across.

I will post on this thread again with my thoughts on the matter. I own an Astro van offset shifter which has a rather nice design IMO. I will also share that info.
Stay tuned.

T&F Shifters makes Shifters for the Saginaw 4-speeds...puts the shifter in the original 4-speed location. I have one in my 1956 3100.

Do a Google search to get there info.

Mike B

As of 2018, not making T&F shifters anymore.

Sorry to hear that ☹️

Mike B

As promised - here are different shifters for T5 and Tremec transmissions.
These are NOT my ideas, just some things I found interesting.

The S10 shifter position is ideal for a bench seat truck. However, the cable speedo version of the S10 tail housing is super rare.
The much easier to find Camaro T5 tail housing can accept a cable speedo by simply using a TH350 driven gear housing. The problem is that the shifter location only works well with bucket seats. It's too far back for a bench seat.

Fabricating a linkage that moves the shift handle in front of the bench seat is the answer. Take a look at these pictures. LINK HERE

I like the idea shown in the FIRST PICTURE. It may not hold up.

If I get some time, I'd like to fabricate a FRONT OFFSET shifter using the same design ideas used in the ASTRO & SAFARI VAN offset shifter

Jay

The linkage I was thinking of developing for the Saginaw would resemble the first photo, only it would be made of MUCH heavier materials. That one wouldn't survive more than a few energetic shifts. It could be adapted to a T-5 also.
Jerry

Hotrod,

I would be interested in a shifter relocation kit for the Saginaw 4 speed. I've searched far and wide and do not see another source for those of us wanting to run a Saginaw four speed.

As you know, this is a little more complicated than just using two bolts to mount the Hurst shifter. You need two custom brackets, one to mount the shifter and one to center the shift lever. Then you need 3 adjustable and bent shift linkages to work with the shifter at its new location.

You would think that some enterprising Stovebolter would be reaching out to Patrick and find a way to keep his intellectual capital in play. With that not happening, reinvent the wheel and I'm your first customer.

I was thinking of using an OEM shifter position and linkage, and designing a parallelogram type linkage to center the shift handle and move it forward to approximate the position and appearance of a SM-420. That would probably require some floor pan modifications, also.
Jerry

I used a Hurst on my 54 until I put in a T5.

For discussion. What if a person wants to make a clone (not for sale) of a Patrick's shifter?
1.) Welding
2.) Bracket making
3.) Creating a drawing with dimensions
4.) Making your own shift rods or modifying existing ones (bending and heat treating)
5.) Making a shift stick with the correct bend to clear bench seat without knuckles hitting dash
I would expect there would be a lot of trial-n-error to get it right.

[img]https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/ubb/download/Number/10315/filename/01.jpg[/img]

I know this is an old thread but I was searching shifters and found this. I know this is developed around using a Saginaw but does anyone know of a shifter relocation for a Muncie M21 or M22 ?