Lokar Shifter Installation - Cool Shift

Once the shifter position was determined and the assembly bolted down, the length of the threaded rod (arrow) that connects the shift gear lever to the transmission lever could be determined, as per Lokar's instructions. This is supplied over-length, with two rod ends. All that's required now is to check all gears select as intended, and wire the neutral safety switch.

By turning the lever around it could be mounted as far back on the main plate as possible and still allow room to move the seat forward, even in First gear as shown. The gear plate can also be rotated in the "banana" holes (arrow), and was rotated to allow the lever to be as far back as possible. This arrangement looks a little weird when the shifter is in Park though, with the lever bending forward.

While the Lokar shift knob with its push button and shift pattern is a nice piece, it doesn't really fit the theme of the Chevy. However, Lokar has developed a shift knob adapter that allows the use of most aftermarket knobs with a 3/8-16 or 3/8-24 thread, or indeed anything that you can tap with these threads. It does lengthen the shifter by a couple of inches though. Once the jam nut and knob were removed, this new jam nut and inner sleeve were installed on the lever. Note the cable protruding from the top that allows gears to be selected. The slots in the sleeve (arrow) allow the outer adaptor to slide up and down to operate the cable.

By way of illustration that anything can be used as a shift knob with the adapter kit, here's one of Dennis McPhail's shift knobs in place of the eight ball. I have a large aluminum Easter Island head that I may modify for use in the future, as with careful machining I'll be able to hide most of the hex-shaped adapter inside the knob. We'll see ...

The outer adaptor was installed as per the instructions, with the two setscrews located in the slots on the inner sleeve. Shown is an eight ball knob selected from Lokar's range, along with its threaded adapter.

I ordered a shifter boot kit from Lokar too, which is supplied with this stainless trim ring, which I used as a pattern to scribe and cut the hole in the trans cover. My trans is pretty close to the tunnel, and the neutral safety switch contacts are somewhat close to the sheetmetal. I'll probably fabricate a small tapered raised section and re-install the trim ring and boot an inch or so higher for clearance.

With the shifter sorted it was time to move to other trans-related components. The dipstick was sourced from Lokar, though I fabricated a deeper mounting bracket than that supplied. A small plate with two round carriage bolts welded to it made light work of mounting it through the toeboard from inside the car.

With the new knob installed, instead of using a push button on the knob, the whole knob is now pushed downward to select gears.

This was the neatest place to mount the top end of the dipstick, next to where the fuel lines protrude on the lower right side of the firewall. The deeper bracket was required to clear the sheetmetal lip.