I need shifter ideas

My Challenge car will have a GM TH350 transmission in it. Have any of you guys used a junkyard shifter in your builds that can be easily mounted and connected to typical RWD transmissions? My favourite pick-n-pull sells shifter and cable for $25 and I haven't found anything cheaper elsewhere so adapting something OEM seems like the most Challenge friendly solution.

Depending on where the transmission is in relation to your seating position, it may be possible to simply fasten a rod or a piece of flat stock to the shift arm on the side of the transmission, so that it sticks up through a hole in the floor.

Ah E36 M3, I came in here to give you a great idea, I however HIGHLY doubt it would work with an automatic. 

I was fiddling around with a rod idea this afternoon, but kinda feel like I should have a conventional shifter just to make it easier to drive. I won't be the only driver using the car after the Challenge...

@Mndsm......throw the idea out there, especially if it's cheap.

It's an idea I've been holding onto since the illustrious and erstwhile Ben started talking about it- 

a replacement hip joint. The ball socket on the end makes for good grip, and a lot of times they're titanium, so that's pretty cool. bit hard to find sometimes though. 

My guess is the pick and pull cable shifter is probably your safest bet. The last th350 I had was hooked up to a stock '86 Firebird shifter.

In reply to Mndsm :

Checked Craigslist and FB Marketplace for hips, but none currently for sale. I'll ask around my "Over 60" hockey league on Sunday, several of the guys have new ones. 

I would just grab any TH350 floor shifter, however they're not abundant.  Plenty of TH200 and 200-4r which could be adapted.

It isn't too tough to adapt.  The lever/bellcrank ratio between the metrics and the non-metrics is different.  Using a metric shifter on a TH350 will result in really short throws... short enough that it will be hard to get the detent you want.  Fab up a bigger bellcrank for the trans and use one out of a Camaro with a THM200 or 200-4r

DeadSkunk (Warren) said:

In reply to Mndsm :

Checked Craigslist and FB Marketplace for hips, but none currently for sale. I'll ask around my "Over 60" hockey league on Sunday, several of the guys have new ones. 

I have found eBay to be the best. 

In reply to Curtis :

Thanks  Curtis. I should be able to find a Camaro or Firebird in the junkyard. 

Mndsm said:

It's an idea I've been holding onto since the illustrious and erstwhile Ben started talking about it- 

 

a replacement hip joint. The ball socket on the end makes for good grip, and a lot of times they're titanium, so that's pretty cool. bit hard to find sometimes though. 

A friend of mine is an OR x-ray tech and he has one hip joint as the shifter in his Jeep and another as a back up. I think one was dropped so no longer sterile and people don't like ding and dent sales on their replacement hips.  I think the other was used and replaced with a new one. 

A couple of bucks worth of 12 gauge, two coil springs from something somewhere, shift cable from a van, hooked up to a 4L80E in my 67 Camaro.  I'm going to do a wooden knife type grip to finish the handle.

Hows the fab skills?

Streetwiseguy said:

A couple of bucks worth of 12 gauge, two coil springs from something somewhere, shift cable from a van, hooked up to a 4L80E in my 67 Camaro.  I'm going to do a wooden knife type grip to finish the handle.

Hows the fab skills?

 

That's pretty impressive. I had been thinking about cooking up some sort of DIY floor shifter for my Dart, as things like Lokar are a bit pricey.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

Did you make the curved part with the detents ,too?

In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :

Yep.  Die grinder and a sharpie marker.  Not super good for a race shifter.  The detents are there, but they are certainly not very aggressive- a careless swing of the arm could knock it down to low gear fairly easily.

I built a long stick from flat stock. Used a rod from bottom end of the stick to the bellcrank on the trans. Bolthed the stick to a piece of angle iron that bolted to the floor.

We broke the trans before getting to try it, but it worked sitting there, and was about 2 bucks in materials.

In reply to Mndsm :

That hip joint and the threaded rod that once held my arm together would be epic. Mine still has the bone filling up the threads!

If I figure out what I want for a linkage, I do have some beer taps that I got for free from a local golf course. A Bell's Brewery Oberon tap would be a neat shifter. It looks a bit like a hip joint.