Attaching shifter directly to Getrag 260

[MrNvgtr]

I was at Barnes & Noble tonight reading a book on building a hotrod, which has a lot of good general info related to our swaps. Anyway, one of my soon-to-be issues with my S50/G260 swap into my 2002 is that the tail end of the tranny is directly under the shifter hole. In the section of the book I was reading on transmissions it explained how you could bolt the shifter directly to the tranny. These were trannies for Ford, Chevy, or MOPAR powerplants, so I'm sure they're made very differently, but it really peaked my interest when I read that. Can we attach the shifter directly to the tranny, most likely using some domestic shifter setup? It would solve that problem perfectly because of how far back my tranny sits. The only other alternative I've thought about was making the shift arm and linkage extremely short, but I don't have a linkage here I could experiment with. Thanks.

Michael

[MrNvgtr]

Ok. Question restated. Is there a way to eliminate the shift linkage altogether and essentially have a custom shifter and attachment plate bolt directly to the transmission?

I've seen this setup with American muscle cars, but I don't know anything about that stuff. I joined a hotrod forum and posed the same question over there. Still waiting to find out something. I might take a drive over to a shop today to see if anyone knows the answer.

Michael

[86325e]

I know on Fbodys and corvettes and on my GTO the transmission is made like that. There is a hole in the housing with a shifter cup inside, the bottom of the shifter gets placed into that cup and the shifter assembly mounted to the housing. Im not sure if thats what you're looking for or not.

The early E30's had a sheet metal style shifter. It was bolted to the transmission. It had a shift linkage though.

If money is no object I'm sure you could custom adapt a transmission like those above. Another option if you're worried about shift linkages you could just put in an automatic too.

BTW in the E30 the tail end of the transmission is just about underneath the shifter hole too.

[MrNvgtr]

Yeah, that's what I was talking about. So I guess to totally immitate that would be impossible because it sounds like those trannies have all the linkages internal and just the shifter and nylon cup on top.

Hmmmm, now I need a photo of the rear of an E30 transmission with the linkage attached. It sounds like I'll be able to work it out somehow if what you said at the very end was true.

I just spoke to a guy at what is formerly the SoCal Speedshop here in the Springs and he said his Pantera (Detomaso) had a similar horizontal attachment for a rod like the G260 does and he said all he had to do was essentially bend the shifter horizontally at the bottom to fit the horizontal hole and brace it and it shifted through the gears just like that. I'm going to go out to the garage right now to see if that's how to shift through the gears. I'm also going to call Tremec to see if they can make a custom setup like that. I'd rather have them do it than fabricate something that's loosy goosy.

Michael

I know on Fbodys and corvettes and on my GTO the transmission is made like that. There is a hole in the housing with a shifter cup inside, the bottom of the shifter gets placed into that cup and the shifter assembly mounted to the housing. Im not sure if thats what you're looking for or not.

The early E30's had a sheet metal style shifter. It was bolted to the transmission. It had a shift linkage though.

If money is no object I'm sure you could custom adapt a transmission like those above. Another option if you're worried about shift linkages you could just put in an automatic too.

BTW in the E30 the tail end of the transmission is just about underneath the shifter hole too.

[Addissimo]

I dont see why you couldnt just cut them like in the next pic and reassemble.

[MrNvgtr]

I'd like to see a pic of the early style one that you mentioned had a shorter linkage. Anyway, that linkage is less complex than I thought. I think it could work. I need to cut it so short that the shifter arm would consist of the end that connects with the tranny, the cup, and the piece on the rearward side to bolt into something. While I'm at it I could put that 10 degree bend in it too. Anyone got one to sell? Off to the classifieds section.

Michael