•TECH FEELIN' SHIFTY

FEELIN' SHIFTYrr-GATE SHIFTER.

The SOUnd Of a V-8 at the top end of the R's is like music to our greasemonkey ears. If there's a set of fat pipes and performance mufflers in the mix,it's even better. The best way we know to hear that sweet sound of horsepow-er is to mash the gas and manually shift the transmission. If you have amanual tranny or a floor-shift automatic muscle car, this is pretty convenientto do. For the folks that have the gear select hanging off the column it gets abit more difficult to do. While that location is convenient for normal driving,when it comes time for race mode it basically sucks.

One thing all of the factory au-tomatic cars have in common is theability to easily miss or skip a shift.The factory shifters usually do nothave positive gates for each gear, soit's pretty easy to go from Low andjust slip right past Second into Third.To cure the miss shift issues and make ithe motor sing by taking control of the jtrans, we will be installing TCI's afford- iable Fast-Gate shifter assembly.

The car we are installing it in hasa different problem altogether. Oursubject Camaro was an originalfour-speed car that was convertedto a TH400 at some point in its life.Whoever did the conversion used anaftermarket shifter that bolts to thetailshaft of the transmission and came jthough the original four-speed holein the tunnel—with a little sheetmetal

hacking, that is. The issue with thisis the stick hit the dash when the carwas in Park so the arm was heatedand bent making it functional, but itlooked horrible. While it may haveworked OK when it was installed sometime in the early '80s, now it was justplain worn out and sloppy.

We didn't want to empty our bankaccount for the shifter, so we decidedto pick up TCI's Fast-Gate shifter as-sembly that retails for just $140.63.It is universal in design, so it fits theGM TH200, TH250, TH350, TH400,200-4R, 700-R4, 4L60E, 4L70E, and4L80E transmissions. It also includesa durable injection-molded cover, a5-foot shift cable, 1.900-inch-diametershifter ball (T-handles are also avail-able), neutral safety and reverse lightswitches, and all required hardware for

installation. It's compliant with NHRAand IHRA safety regulations thanks tothe reverse lockout mechanism. Withthe help of a buddy, we had the oldshifter out and the TCI unit installedin an afternoon, so it shouldn't be anissue to get it in your car over theweekend.

Here's the Fast-Gate shifter from TCIAutomotive. In the box you will findthe shifter assembly, a black cover,a bunch of brackets and levers, twomicro switches, and a 5-foot shiftcable. TCI offers optional shiftercables in 2, 3, 4, 8,10,12, and 14-foot lengths. It's a universal designso it works with just about every GMthree- and four-speed automatictransmission, even the late-model4Ls.

Here is the funky shifter in theCamaro. The manual trans stick hasbeen heated and bent around, whichhas damaged the chrome finish, and20 years of service has worn it out.It bolts to the back of the trans andhas a rod that goes down to thegear selector. We removed it andtossed it in the trash. The only thingthat will make our install easierthan yours will be the reverse lightand neutral safety wiring. Since ourcar had an aftermarket shifter, thatwiring is already in place.

056.'SUPER CHEVY/APRIL 2012

•TECH FEELIN' SHIFTY

Step one toinstall the newunit is to find theproper position.With the helpof our friend AMMahmoudi, whowill be turningthe wrenchesfor this story,we placedthe assemblyon the tunnel

and moved it until he could cycle all the gears withoutstretching (or basically till it felt right).

! We had a nutsert| tool on hand,I so we used it to

hold the shifterin place. TCIdoes providewashers andnuts, but usingnutserts willmake servicingthe shifter orremoving it forthe carpet install

BB much, much1 easier.

Oncewe werehappywith theplacement,we markedit and thendrilled thefour holes.

With the mainbody of the shiftermounted with theprovided spacers,we measured 3-3/4inches in frontof the forwardbolt. Per TCI'sinstructions, this iswhere they wantthe 1-inch hole forthe cable to exit.We used a holesawto make our newhole.

With thetopside stuffdone for now,AN raised thecar on the liftso he couldremove the oldselector leverand replace itwith the newone. The shiftercomes with afew different

levers, so make sure to read the instructions and use thecorrect one for your application.

The cable bracketmounts to the trans viatwo of the pan bolts.The bracket must beinstalled with twospacers between thepan and the bracket.(If your transmissionis equipped with acast aluminum pan,

these spacers should be omitted; however, the cablebracket will have to be modified.) He used the 5/16-18x 1-inch bolts supplied in the kit. Don't get all machowhen tightening these bolts, as 12-13 Ib-ft is all it takes.Overtightening can damage the pan gasket.

Then Ali routedthe shifter cablefrom the shifterdown to thebracket on thetrans. The cableshould routeover the top ofthe case andthen under thetailshaft in asweeping curve.Make sure toavoid sharp

bends and route the cable away from exhaust parts. Afterslipping the cable into the bracket, he centered it in itsadjustment and installed the locknuts. Then he threadedon the swivel to the end of the cable.

Next heclimbed upinto the carand put theshifter intoLow. Thisimage alsoshows you afew things.You can seethe 1-inchhole wedrilled, howthe cablehooks up to

the shifter, and the two micro switches that will operateour neutral safety and reverse lights.

058/SUPER CHEVY /APRIL 2012

Now back under, the selector on the trans was moved allthe way back (Low) and the cable adjusted till the swivelslips easily into the center hole.

Then the cable adjustment locknuts were tightened. Anyother small adjustment will be made at the swivel.

The shifter wasput back intoPark, and Alichecked to seeif the swivelwould comeout of the holeeasily, which itdid. This confirmswe are adjustedproperly. If theswivel pops outand you can't getit back in, thenyou will need

to adjust the swivel on the cable till it does and then putit back in Low and confirm it will come out easily in thatposition. You may have to go back and forth multipletimes till you find the sweet spot, but ours was right onthe first go so Ali installed the cotter pin.

We test-fittedthe cover,which didn'tsit all the waydown on theshifter becauseit was justbarely hittingthe floor at thefront. After alittle trimmingit fit nicely sohe reinstalledthe reverse

lock-out handle that is held on by the little spring clip(arrow). This is kind of a pain to do, but we found a set ofneedle-nose pliers helped get in there.

SOURCE

TCI Automotive888/776-9824www.tciauto.com

We cycled the shifter a few times to confirm it was allgood. Then the wiring was hooked up to the switcheson the shifter and the reverse lock-out T-handle wasremoved so we could install the cover.

With it all buttoned up, Ali and myself took the car outon a test drive. The shifter felt nice and smooth as Idropped the car into Low gear. I stabbed the gas andaway we went. Right about 6,500 I bumped the shifterforward, with a resounding chirp from the back tires Iwas in Second. Since I was on a city street that was as faras I was going to take the run. What's nice is you can't gofrom Low to Third without lifting the T-handle so thereis no chance of skipping a shift. The shifter feels brawny,works great, is a great buy for the price, and since it willwork with so many three- and four-speed transmissionswe won't have to replace it if we convert to an overdrive.

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