Making a gearstick.

[Route666]

I'm in the process of making a custom gearstick and some knobs - here's the idea:

I have some aluminium skulls (they're about 3-1/4" by 2-3/4" round) that I've lightened and am going to drill out as much as possible to lighten, and use a rubber cylinder to fill the cavity, drill the rubber and I'll be able to screw it onto any gearstick.

Anyways, the gearstick is the cool part - I'm going to make a plate to match the gearbox, where the stick bolts on, and weld to that a 10mm threaded rod. I am then going to draw up and laser cut some 10 and 12mm aluminium vertebrae with holes through them, thread them and screw them onto the threaded rod, with 2 - 3mm rubber "washers" between them. Then I'm going to bend it into the basic shape of the spine - like a subtle s.

Wouldn't that be an awesome thing to see in a car at a show or anywhere for that matter?

Are there any technical problems that I may have to battle? Like the head weight and stick strength?

 

[2nd Mustang]

Sounds like a cool idea. I once made my own shortened stick to help make the throw shorter, only problem was the shorter throw put a lot more stress on the stick so snapped it in half one day. I guess there's a reason the stick was made to a certain length.

 

[ratio411]

I used a 70 model toploader once. It came with the stock Hurst shifter, but the junkyard took the tranny out with a torch...
They cut most of the shifter off in doing so.
I used the Hurst bottom, but made a plate and bolted a 1.25" wrench to the shifter to use as a handle.
It was an eye catcher and got compliments everywhere I went.
I cut the open end side off and used the box end for a handle. It fit my palm perfectly.
It was a good looking wrench, but was marked "Japan" down on the side. I just used an off the shelf shift boot and fastened it up just over the letters. (a hose clamp tightened to the wrench at the height I wanted to boot to fall to)

Just a thought...

I also shortened the stock shifter on my T56 several inches and made a knob like you are considering, but I found that set screws, plastic threads, and bushings were all too flimsy to stay tight for long.
The best thing to do in this case is to tap your knob and handle to matching threads right in the metal to keep the knob tight.

Good luck
Dave

 

[Route666]

Cool thanks guys, I like the spanner idea, haha cool. I'm not too worried about the stick strength, every car I've driven has slid into gear without force so I see no need for much strength.

As for the knob, I'll try threading the skull, but I think it's going to be too heavy, and I'd like to try the rubber bung with a hole drilled, I'm sure it'd be pretty good, especially with 2 inches of engagement. Anyway, I have another skull in case I stuff the other up.

Anyways, rock on, I'm glad someone said something positive about this idea instead of a room full of blank stares and painful silence lol.