spring gated shifter: How to

[Ron Roberts]

I know this will sound pretty Okie, (For you people across the pond Oklahoma is one of our states which I guess is considered the heart land of making things out of nothing) Anyway I always wanted a spring loaded shifter so here is what I did. I took a piece of 1/8" X 5/8" X2" flat bar (actually it was an angle bracket from a hardware store that I cut in half at the bend). It had a hole in either end. I twisted it 90* so one hole faces North/south and the other East/west. Then I removed the long bolt that runs through the shift rod coupler and inserted the piece of metal I made up on the passenger side of the coupler, and put the bolt back in place again. Now there is a tab of metal sticking up about an inch up past the shift coupler (No the cover will not go back on.) I then used this tab to attatch an expansion spring to one of the cable tubes that run along the drivers side of the coupler. Walah! The shift rod stays pulled over in the 3rd/4th position. I wrapped the spring in some bituthane (neoprene waterproofing membrane) to dampen the sound. Without the sound proofing if you push the shift leverup from 2nd into nuetral the spring will make a clang or boing or whatever. Hey, it works! but I don't think it warrents a tech article

Ron