New Shifter! (broadband needed to view)

[J Clark]

Just finished fitting a 'Hurst Competition Plus' shifter and Pistol grip Stick along with new shift rods to my rebuilt 833 trans.
Note that the shifter has longer levers and adjustable positive stops, this has the effect of 'speeding up' the shift action, thereby reducing the throw of the Pistol stick. (i.e shorter shifts)

Well chuffed

Animation should appear below:
<img SRC="http://www.vaxso.co.uk/gearshift.gif">

P.S. Simon... you might want to check if you have one of these shifters before you go chopping down or changing your stick!

Cheers

JC

[Anonymous]

thanks J but against all better judgement and advice im sticking with my old shifter i will however have it recond but other than that i love the shifter as is

[Anonymous]

Just finished fitting a 'Hurst Competition Plus' shifter and Pistol grip Stick along with new shift rods to my rebuilt 833 trans.
Note that the shifter has longer levers and adjustable positive stops, this has the effect of 'speeding up' the shift action, thereby reducing the throw of the Pistol stick. (i.e shorter shifts)

Well chuffed

P.S. Simon... you might want to check if you have one of these shifters before you go chopping down or changing your stick!

Cheers

JC

Cool. I hope it all works well in the car.

[J Clark]

Here's a pic showing the difference in the length of the levers. The new shifter's levers are 1" longer vs. the standard unit. The Competition Plus shifter was fitted to 1970 B body's when optioned with a Pistol Grip stick.

<img SRC="http://www.vaxso.co.uk/shiftfingers.jpg">

[Anonymous]

It seems quite a few manufacturers went Hurst in 1970. Ford swapped over as well. Pontiac had been doing it for years.

I need a new one for the Cobra. Where did you get yours from ? And was it a complete kit; shifter, rods, bushes, pins, etc ?

Much longer rods for the Ford box as the shifter sits further back on the extension housing. Interesting to see the MoPar set up. Good pic.

[J Clark]

Sandy

I have been dealing with these guys for all my 833 parts, they specialise only in MoPar 4spd transmissions. A family company, I cannot recommend them highly enough! Great service, most prices seem fair!

http://www.brewersperformance.com
<img SRC="http://www.brewersperformance.com/Images/BPHeader2.jpg">

[Anonymous]

Good website and the prices look good too. About in the same range as the Ford shifter kits .... unless you factor in the pistol grip shifter. Is that extra, or part of the kit ? And what about a reversing light switch ?

Add those on to Ford's kit, and reversing switch is $75 and a Hurst T-handle is $85

I spent quite a lot of time fiddling with the shifter stops on mine, and I know that Chris Leslie spent a lot of time working on his. He especially had trouble with the clutch fork on his 440 R/T.

I would love to see photos of it in the car with the Z-bar set-up ?



Toploader with Hurst shifter but Ford rods.



The stock Ford shifter.

[J Clark]

Sandy

Great pictures, interesting to see a Hurst on another application, those rods are long. I think their kits come with a standard shifter stick of some kind. The reversing switch screws into the back of the gearbox and is triggered by the reversing fork inside the gearbox, so this is a separate item here:
http://www.brewersperformance.com/products.asp?id=84

My understanding of the shifter stops is they prevent you from damaging the rods, levers and mechanism by accidentally forcing the stick to go further than is necessary. A situation that arises due to the quick Competition Plus shifter. I've only provisionally set mine but they seem to be about right. It must be far easier setting these up out of the car. (mines on the dinning room floor!!!)

As for photos of my trans installed, that will have to wait.....

What sort of problems was Chris having with his clutch fork?

JC

[Ivor]

No top loader in yours then Sandy?

[Anonymous]

Call me Mr Top Loader times two.

I have a RUG-D2 in the Falcon:- 28 spline, small input, wide ratio

And a RUG-AJ in the Cobra:- 31 spline, large input/output, close ratio

The Cobra Top Loader needs a rebuild and I want to swap to a wide ratio gearset and cluster, but parts costs a bit beyond at the moment.

Not driven the Falcon enough/at all/any distance to know whether it works well.

[Anonymous]

The Falcon uses the Ford shifter set up, but, obviously, it is on the wrong side, so they stuck a plate on the top and offset the gear lever. This actually centres the gear lever on the centre line of the car and allows for a short lever, and, now that I have rebuilt it with new shims, bushes, detent springs, reverse lock out (both of these an exercise in patience to get all in the right place while refitting the main pin), it feels pretty good ... at least at rest in the garage.

[Anonymous]

Hi JC,

Chris had awful trouble with his fork. I think it was because the pivot point was in the wrong place so the fingers were not in the right place. I am sure he said that there was a bad batch.

Here is a wee bit about adjusting the stops. Obvious really.

[J Clark]

Sandy

There are a number of different pivots, a number of different forks and several different clutch housings for the 833. So I would imagine that you can very quickly end up with misalignment of the fingers etc. if the wrong parts are used together.
I actually have an interesting arrangement that was working before I pulled everything apart. I hope to continue with this setup with modifications when it all goes back together. More of this later! (much later!!!)

I can see now how the reversing switch is located on the Ford shifter, but how is it mounted when a Hurst shifter is used?

Thanks for all the info, this has really turned into an interesting thread.

P.S. I hope you had permission to use the kitchen sink for washing car parts!


JC

[Anonymous]

Hi JC,

This is an interesting site. Pete Serio replied to emails I sent as well. Kind of fascinating from a historical point of view.

http://www.precisionpontiac.com/gallery.htm

Here is the reverse switch on the factory Ford Hurst shifter(note the rubber boot over the shifter)


Here is a side view of the factory Ford Hurst with the long rods


And the aftermarket Hurst shifter with much shorter rods
(see attached image below))

I have the aftermarket Competition Plus on the car with the short rods, but, em, now that I think about it, I have no idea where the reversing switch is ...

[J Clark]

That last pic of the aftermarket Hurst looks a lot more like the MoPar style setup. This has all got me thinking now, a friend of mine has a Sunbeam Tiger. Ford small block with Top Loader, I wonder what sort of shifter he has...