Can I put a B&M mega shifter in my 85 TransAm? I heard there is a lot of fabbing to pull it off because it's not a camaro.

 

Sure is! Try a search for B&M Megashifter. This should come up with many different thread on this topic. Oh and welcome to the boards!

 

If you dont mind cutting the stock console a little bit, it actually fits pretty nice.

 

yes u can. They make them for 82-92 3rd gens. And trust me there a pain in the *** to install with the cable and everythin. My brother and dad did it on his 92 z. I really honestly dont like em. But whatever floats your boat man , goodluck. And yeah you do have cut the stock console which kinda sucks. Cuz if you want to change back to stock someday, then you have to find a shifter plate for your car.

 

Mine is mounted in my 88 Formula with a 97+ console. took a lot of time to get it to sit in there right and not pop the shift plate up.

 

haha zepher, smoke lately?

Thanks for the info, I'm not going to install a mega shifter in my car anyways, I was just curious. I wll probably remove my center console, cover up the hump w/ carpet and install a B&M pro comp shifter I think it was called.

thanks guys.

Oh and zepher, I really like your primered TA, my TA is primered also lol.

 

The T/A isn't primered, it's just rattle canned with regular paint so that it'd be one color.

I use the floorboard of the Formula as a trash can and clean it out once in awhile.

 

well then my car is rattle canned also lol. I do the same with my pass. floorboard, thats why I thought it was funny.

 

Hey Zepher I actually like what you did. THats pretty sweet man

 

That is pretty cool, I've been debating removing the center console or getting a 4th gen center console, the 4 gen console weights less than the stocker so I might go that route.

the shifter I wanted to use is only made for 2-3 speeds And I don't plan on going TH-350 until I blow my 700R4, so what other shifters can I use aside form the Mega shifter????

 

I installed a B&M Hammer shifter and never cut my console plate so I could always switch back to stock. You reuse the factory leather shift boot and cut 1 1/2 inches off the top of the boot and sew elastic around the inside opening at the top of the boot where you cut the 1 1/2 off. That way it expands to allow the bigger shifter arm to slide thru but retracts around the arm so it looks professional when done. I'm just have trouble figuering out what wires go to which switch on the shifter for my backup lights and NSS. I got the shifter without instructions and have no idea on how to wire it up. But even without instructions, the install was fairly easy.

By the way the Hammer shifter is a lot better than the Megashifter. It's built a lot better,more solid,not as cheep and flimsy as the megashifter.

 

I think you should go with the Hurst Ratchet shifter, do u know that Hurst is better than B&M? that why they're more expensive than B&M's.....

 

So by your reasoning Jeff ,more expensive is better? Then I guess B&M is actually better than Hurst because my shifter is more expensive than any ratchet shifter Hurst makes,excludeing a professional raceing shifter.

Actually I've had good/bad from both B&M and Hurst.
The megashifter is a big POS but so is the Hurst V-Matic. It's really personal taste. Buy the best you can afford but don't go buy a high doller shifter for a street car unless you want the bling,bling appeal.Most aftermarket shifters will work in our cars, you just can't be afraid to do a little modding to make it work.
Plus the TA's that came with the leather shift boot are the easiest to make one work in. So don't feel you have to settle with B&M's and Hurst console models.

 

Here's my B&M megashifter installed on my 86 with 700R4. This was a non-f-body specific model that I modified to work without cutting the stock console. I have since cut the shifter height down by two and a half inches to make it look MUCH better. No pics are up yet of the cut down version though...

http://www.bnmotorsports.com/Bm1.jpg
http://www.bnmotorsports.com/Bm2.jpg
http://www.bnmotorsports.com/Bm3.jpg
http://www.bnmotorsports.com/Bm4.jpg
http://www.bnmotorsports.com/Bm5.jpg

 

This is how I did mine when I had the auto in the car

 

2nd

 

3rd

 

4th

 

I really appeciate all of the input guys.


Tony, I like your design the best, but how exactly was it done? and that's mega shifter right? I honestly do not like the mega shifter because of it's hugeness and tacky plastic case but your design gets rid of all the tackyness and turns it back into a shifter.

 

IM installing mine now and yes its a bitch i rather swap out my engine then do this buton the stock shifter theres 2 cables the trans cable that gets replaced and the other one does the other one get hooked up? and does anyone have the part number for the radioshack 25 or 30 amp relay that you need i got the 5 amp one or what ever they tell you to get?

 

Yup it's a B&M Mega Shifter.

Once you take your shift plate out you'll see what to do. It's been years since I had that in so I can't remember much but I do know it fits no problem, you'll just have to mount the shifter a little over from what the instructions say. I think I was only able to bolt it down in three spots but it still worked fine, I just wish I had some pic's of it in the car because it looked pretty bad ***, I liked it a lot!

 

Hey Zepher...

Did it take any modifications to make that megashifter work with the 4th gen manual console? I was reading up on the swap along time ago and everyone said it would not worth with a 4th gen console...looks like you proved them wrong. I want to know because I want a 4th gen console bad and I have a megashifter....

 

Has anyone been able to use a ratchet shifter using a factory looking boot? I really want to keep the factory appearance as much as possible. Really don't care much for modifying the appearance (would love to have a ratchet shifter that is identical in appearance, to the factory shifter), I just get tired of skipping gears while shifting.

 

this is mine, fits really well actually and it was very easy to do. I know I have the picture of how I cut it somewhere on my computer, let me take a look.

 

My 88 BM

 

Since this thread is revived.
Does the sheetmetal need to cut/modified to install the megashifter?
Can the OE shifter be re-installed as designed?
What about the wiring to the OE shifter?

 

 

Thanks, So just a plastics mod basically?