Hey Folks,

I have an 82 Firebird that I had LS Swapped earlier this year. Now I'm trying to prepare it for a 4L60/80 so I tried swapping the shifter to an 84 700R4 shifter and it didn't even get close to fitting. I'm really trying to keep this car as stock looking as humanly possible, but it seems like 82 is a unicorn year. I'm happy make some slight modifications, but I'm not a fabricator. If anyone has swapped an 82 specifically, lmk. I'd love to learn. If you have any questions or need/want more specifics, let me know.

I'm in Nashville, if anyone can recommend a shop that won't completely bend me over on labor, that would be awesome.

Rich

 

The 82 3 speed shifter should unbolt from the tunnel and the 83-84 one should bolt in. The detents are different. You may need an adjustable cable for the newer trans. The 82 cars only have one position the cross member bolts into. The 83 and up cars have an extranet of holes so the crossmember can be moved back. My 82 I had to add holes. It depends on the trans and crossmember. Also, your Speedo will be an issue. You'll need a converter box to manage the mechanical signal the Speedo needs.

 

So the bracket on top of the trans tunnel where the shifter bolts in is totally different, and won't accept an 84 shifter at all. Is there someone that could modify the shifter I have?

I already have the crossmember issue sorted, one of the few things I have worked out lol.

 

Can you post a pics. Im pretty sure the tunnels are the same on all the auto cars.

 

I didn't think to take a picture because I was so frustrated. Inevitably I'll have to do it again, so I'll take pics then. To try to describe it, the shifter protrudes down in the center of the mounting plate....well the 82 shifter has a smaller protrusion than the 84 shifter, so it doesn't fit in the relief of the tunnel.

 

I had no idea the '82 shifter mounted differently from the '83-'84.
You might be able to use the '82 shifter with the '83-'84 cable, and the later shifter bezel that has the Overdrive position.
My '83 was base model and did not originally have the 700R-4. I simply swapped the bezel to the "Overdrive" style, and use a shifter cable (and bracket) from a '84 Z-28...

 

I have a 700R4 in my '82 Recaro T/A. You need a shifter from a 1983 car with the 700R4. The shifter design
is the same between '82-83, only the detent bar that is riveted in is different between 3spd and 4spd auto
transmissions. It will even accept the '82 style shift ****.

As you found out the '84-'92 shifter assembly was re-engineered and causes a lot of fitment issues on '82-'83 cars.

 

I thought the 83-84 700 part was the same. Guess I'm wrong. What about drilling the rivets and swapping the detent plate out. Keeping the 82 shifter would be cool.

 

The detent plate isn't even close to being interchangeable between '82-'83 and '84-'92. The shifter assembly was extensively re-engineered in 1984.

 

Again, can't speak for '82, but my '83 shifter works with the Overdrive shifter bezel, and '84 cable & bracket...

 

Is it just the base or is there a difference w how the shifter lock mechanism/cables interface? I know the 82-83 steering column is different as well.

 

People here are saying the detent is different (which I believe), but I'm not sure that applies to the '83..

 

Probably the simplest way of dealing with it, in 202(almost)6, is to cut the tunnel out of a later car, weld it into your 82; and use a later shifter. That's actually fairly eeeeeeeeeezzzzy, based on how the car was built in the first place. Seems ALOT less problematic overall than trying to modify the shifter somehow, which in addition to the risk of that not working and destroying the shifter, is about as COMPLETELY non-future-proof of a thing as anything you could possibly do.

 

I should have posted on here before I bought the shifter lol. Those pictures very clearly show my problem. So now I need to try and find a shifter from an 83. Awesome .