Thought you guys might enjoy this kinda play-by-play of how I made my own shifter. Anyone who knows me can tell you exactly how cheap I am, and I like to do everything myself. So when I saw the price of a shifter stick hovering over $100 and then there's the chance it might not even be the right bend, I decided to just make my own. I'm a machinist, so in my spare time, during long-run parts, I drew up a shifter that was 1" taller and 3" farther back than the original '89 Mustang shifter I got with my trans. I wanted it to look like a Hurst stick from the '60's yet be a one-off, so I also put the "GT350" on both sides in the same font as the side stripes on the car.
Once I sent that program out to the CNC machine, I scrounged up a scrap ( it was a small scrap of cast-off plate I squirreled away for just such a job) of old aluminum plate and cut it into two parts, one for the shifter and one for the fixture plate.
A quick drill on the plate for some fixture holes and then in went the fixturing plate which needs to be drilled and tapped both for the first side as well as the mirror image for the second side.
Now that both plates are pre-drilled, I bolted them together and let-'er eat.
after the first tool is done, at least it looks like a shifter, but still needs some finessing on the edges to look finished, so out comes the radius mill for a quick pass
Here's the semi-finished part after it's been radiused and engraved.
The tab on the end is now clipped off at the bandsaw and the end threaded for the shifter knob. Then a little time on the buffing wheel will make it really look right.
Once I sent that program out to the CNC machine, I scrounged up a scrap ( it was a small scrap of cast-off plate I squirreled away for just such a job) of old aluminum plate and cut it into two parts, one for the shifter and one for the fixture plate.
A quick drill on the plate for some fixture holes and then in went the fixturing plate which needs to be drilled and tapped both for the first side as well as the mirror image for the second side.
Now that both plates are pre-drilled, I bolted them together and let-'er eat.
after the first tool is done, at least it looks like a shifter, but still needs some finessing on the edges to look finished, so out comes the radius mill for a quick pass
Here's the semi-finished part after it's been radiused and engraved.
The tab on the end is now clipped off at the bandsaw and the end threaded for the shifter knob. Then a little time on the buffing wheel will make it really look right.
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