Quote:
Originally Posted by eschaider
Glen,
Your shifter location is determined by your transmission’s tailshaft cross-member mounting point. The distance to the shifter locations from the tail shaft mount is the same for TKO and TKX transmissions. It may not be (most likely is not) the same as a top loader.
The rearmost shifter location on a TKO (or TKX) approximates the transmission tunnel entry point for a top loader, but, and this is important, it does not duplicate it. It only approximates it. The upshot is your shifter location position top loader to a Tremec (TKO or TKX) will be different than your original top loader and very likely require modifying your tunnel.
The center shifter location will provide you a shifter position near the front edge of the driver's seat and approximate a 289 car’s shifter location, but again not duplicating it. The center location will use a simple vertical shifter with no bend. If this is what you want, both Hanlon and Forte offer the necessary hardware to position the shifter in the center position.
The center position makes for a more natural shifting experience but does not look period incorrect. For that matter, some of the awkwardly bent shifters for use in the rear position do not either! In the for what it is worth bucket Kirkham has used the center-positioned straight shifter configuration option for customers since the billet car they built for Larry Ellison of Oracle fame and possibly earlier. I believe you need to ask for it. I don’t think it is the default shifter position. Predictably Kirkham’s center shifter is a Kirkham-originated design. They may or may not offer it for sale, I simply don’t know.
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Ed, mine is a 289, and the centre position just does not work on my car. Why my application is different from other 289 cars, including another Pace 289 (BJ's car) and ERA 289s, I am at a loss to work out. The scattershield- as mentioned - is a QT; the tailshaft fits as it should; everything else matches where it should, but the centre location just does not work. Solution is of course to use the forward-most position of the three available, and all will be well.
However, I'm one of those sometimes irritating people who want to know "what's different" and why?" when the location and look should be the same as BJ's identical car, and all of the ERA 289 cars.
Cheers!
Glen