For those few folks out there putting a 5 spd in an
early car, and in need of the gearshift portion of the console
with the hole farther forward, here is what I did:
(this is a long story)
Took 1/16 stainless sheet and useing old console
as a pattern, cut sheet to exactly fit inside the lip
of the old console. This wears out several metal
jigsaw blades and also the better part of an
air cutoff tool wheel with whatever the kind of
stainless I happened to obtain. Use the old console
as a guide, transfer the shifter hole farther forward
and scribe it in. I measured side to side to get it
centered, and eyballed it in fore and aft with the
shifter in neutral, then cut out this hole. Next,
use the old console as a guide and drill the four
mounting holes and temporarily bolt the two
pieces together, checking for perfect fit. I used
a belt sander to smooth the edges. Next, used the
cut off tool to quickly cut out enough of the back
of the old console to expose the new shifter hole.
Thinking of roughing up the surface to paint some
approximate original gray color, I then had a
(brief) brain storm "hey this is stainless steel"
I chucked up some 80 grit in the reciprocating
body sander, and 5 minutes later had a real
nice brushed stainless steel surface, looks
great with the original chrome edges of the old
console. For a finishing touch, I epoxyd the
old 4 spd plaque to the console, looks like
it belongs there to the casual observer, except
its aft of the stick. he he, one more gear
in hideing. BTW, I have enough sheet to
do one more of these, will trade for a
useable vent wing knob or fair to good
condition DATSUN 1600 emblem. Might
even make the darn thing for several vent knobs.
This story is not ment in any way to take away
from our vendors and others who make perfect
repros of the 67.5 2L console, which is what
I really wanted, except for my natural
stingyness.
Best Regards,
Jim
Chesapeake Va
|