I have asked this Q once before, and got the answer no thirdgens had a symbol showing if you were in D,3,2 or 1.

Mine is like that, teh shifter plate is just lighted, but you don't really know if your in OD or 3, unless you shift to neutral and back again, amd count the numbers of shifts you move it.

Now, on this board, I recently saw a picture of a shifterplate that indeed had a small windowd for a bulb or whatever to move together with the stick and actually show what gear it's in. Too bad I didnt save the pic or have a link to it, but now atleast I have seen it and some of you guys should be able to confirm this excists.

Cause, I'd really like to have this in my car, some way to know for sure what gear your in. So, need to find what year, or model has this, and what part numbers or just what's needed to mount this.

Any help is appreciated,

 

I kinda remember my 89 camaro displayed what gear you were in and also remember trans am's like 90's showing something but on the T/A I could be wrong

 

I think i know what you are asking. My 91 has an orange slider that lets me know what gear i'm in. It's also semi clear so i can see it when the lights are on. Does that answer your question?

 

Actually after some searching I found the post I had previously seen. this is the pic;

And this is the thread;https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/hist...late-what.html

Although the question remains, what's needed to mount this in a pre -90 bird?

It seems this part alone isnt enough for mounting it, going by the comments for the old other thread saying one needs the "entire" shiftplate. Now what's needed in addition to this? And btw, if anyone have anything like this, I'm buying

 

I am pretty sure that they all had something like that. I think the sun just fades them out or they rub off. My camaro had one that only had partial orange left, should be available anywhere.

 

NO, as far as I have found out by now, ONLY 90-92 birds atleast, have an actual indicator, 82-90 only have light there. There's no fading going on, there's simply no parts in there to show what gear your in.

Initially when I got my car, I set out to fix this, pulled the console apart etc, and was surpriced to see there wasn anything that had fallen off, it simply wasnt made to show what gear your in.

But, given some models have this, I want it.

Actually this is showing it too, although I was trying to find a "standard" shift plate without it now, I found this instead Lol..;

 

Yeah my 90 bird didn't have it by my friend's 91 bird does. So I think it's safe to say that only 91+ birds have it.

 

Alright, here is the picture of what I currently have, although the picture is not my car, so disregard the smashed up interior.


----------

 

OK, here I outlined the differences from a cutout of the two different models, so we're clear on what the differences are. Now, only thing needed is to find out what years or models had what, and if it's at all availieble new or NOS. If not used... but that always takes forever to find unfortunatly.

Is the console top one piece, or could the gray part covering the shifter plate be mounted separatly?

 

my 88 t/a had the top one but then i put in a b&m mega shifter so i cut it out then i put in a camaro console so thats that you can rule out 88

 

even though that wasn't your car...do you know what the keypad on the console lid was being used for...did he convert the console into a safe...a tricky kill switch...car phone...rocket engager?


I have a spare of both versions of this shift plate. From what I remember, you would have to replace the entire top plate as there was no way to pop the indicator out seperately. I will check this out tomorrow to verify. I forget what year the car was that I got the indicated one out of...but I really do think they were available only in the 91-92 birds.

 

No, I dont know what the keypad is used for, but I'm guessing some cd shifter perhaps. Looks somewhat like an Alpine logo there.just found that pic randomly on ebay, but could not find back to the car.

Ok, well thats great of you if you could see if that piece is possible to detach or not.

 

My 87 has no indicator either, and I hate that. I've thought of swapping to a 4th gen console, and see if those have one.

 

The keypad is an old school 80s alarm. A friends 87 iroc theyve had since new has that. Works like a home alarm where you punch in a code. As far as the shift goes i remember having an 85 z28 that had an indicator.
Matt

 

You sure? I had a numeric starter disabler similar, years ago, but it was just digits. That one says ALPINE on it, and appears to have radio control buttons. Did ALPINE ever make a car alarm/starter disable device?

 

Thats the same one thats in my friends car as an alarm. Says alpine on it and everything. It was dealer installed.
matt

 

Stephen

My 97 camaro with a automatic displays what gear it's in.

 

ya but getting a 4th gen counsel in a 3rd gen is a pain and looks weird unless you change everything.

 

I believe my '90 RS had a indicator in it... I missed it for a few minutes when I put in the Hurst Dual Gate II. But it was short lived, I LOVE the Hurst shifter.

 

I got a shift plate like that (That shows what gear you are in) out of an 86 Firebird S/E, and used it in my Formula when I still had the stock console.

Of course this was in 1998, so It could have been swapped by the previous owner.

 

the two variations side by side... Notice that the older shift boot is made out of a different material than the newer shift boot. The older shift boot sags down into the console plate and is generally a softer leather-like material (I usually place my cell phone in the pocket this creates) and the newer style puffs out and is generally a harder leather-like material with larger scales. There are some pictures further up in this thread that really do a good job showing the difference.


This shows the difference between the two shift indicator windows. Notice that the newer style has a very thin right border to allow for the addition of the selector holes. They also had to shrink the gear lettering in order to fit everything in.


Showing the difference from below. The newer style is on the left. This does a good job to show why the newer style had a different shift boot...it had no where to sag into. GM probably made them stiff and puffy because the soft one would look pretty flat against the top of the newer guts. Also, it is important to notice that the mounting screws are in completely different locations between the two consoles.


Close up of the newer guts. Even though it is pretty simple, it seems like quite a lot of hassle to go through for something most people wouldn't even notice.


Here's where is gets interesting...With the guts removed its becoming pretty clear that even though these console tops appear the same from the outside, they are a completely different design. The older design (top) has extra material on the back end of the shifter hole. This also aids in the "pocket" the boot creates.


Same point...different angle. The newer design is almost completely flat.


Showing the gap when trying to place the newer guts in the older console top. Not only do the bolt holes not line up, but there is a huge gap. The bolt acceptors and the edge around the shifter hole would have to be completely ground off for this thing to fit flush. Then you'd still have to figure out a way to mount it...glue maybe?


Different angle showing why you can't have this gap.


The boots and indicators.


The newer indicator plate next to the older style. Note the the newer plate is longer. You would have to trim the newer plate. However, you'd have to be very careful where you trimmed it because too much or not enough off would give you an incorrect shifter position reading.

 

The newer plate is also wider..


You might also run into a problem because the newer style plate is about twice as thick as the older style.


If you are thinking that you might be able to just get the indicator plate only and mock up a pointing system of your own, you still might run into this problem. The older indicator window is narrower than the newer style, so about half of each indicator hole is covered up.


So all in all...could it be done...maybe. It would be difficult, frustrating, and time consuming. You'd be better off just swapping the entire top console.

 

I thought it was just me. I think this issue is only specific to firebird. All my camaros had the gear selector indicator (in auto). 1982, 1985, 1988, and 1983. But my 87 formula doesnt have one. I thought i just burned out the light and was being lazy about replacing it, but i guess it actually doesnt have one.

Good to know!

Thanks for the thorough pix 4mul8r.

 

Yeah...clicking back and forth from N to OD and D was annoying. Especially since all the 700R4's that Ive had were goofy when in OD. So I was in D alot.

I was always coming up with ideas for adding some sort of indicator. LEDs with alittle trigger or some sort of sliding resistor etc etc.

Never started anything though, because I installed a 4th gen manual console...and then finally switched to 6spd. So I never really made it to the fab phase.

J.

 

so the moral of the story is buy a camaro?

 

depends what you want, looks or functionality.

 

or just buy the console

 

My 84z with the 700r4 don`t have a indicator but i was thinking about maybe rigging something up to block the light under the gears d,1,2 etc. so if you were in drive the plate would look like p,r,n,(d), ,1,2 i was thinking i could cut a slot in that plastic part with the light in it and put a blocker of some sort in there on a stick mounted to the shifter itself and on the end of the stick have the blocker on a spring-loaded collapsible rod type thing so it would stay flat to the plate and not let any light in also there would be some felt or something around the blocker so it would slide easy, i never went through with it because it seems like alot of foolin around for such a small pleasure.

 

For some reason I didnt get the links to your post in my email, so had to go look for it, so sorry for the timely response.

But yeah, thanks, this sure was a thorough rundown of it all. You rock 4mul8r!!

As for the conclusion, getting the whole console would be the thing to do, just that as far as I know, they arent in stock anymore, and seems there's alot more ratty ones coming up for sale than decent ones.

And yes, I always also had the D-OD-Neutral boogie going on, to find out what gear I was in, and one time I even managed to jam it in reverse. Thats when I started this post. Granted, I was holding the button on the gear selector slightly in, which i shoudlnt have done, but an actual indicator would have solved this. Good thing I was barely rolling.

Now maybe this would be something for the fabrication guys? I've seen on some other cars, they had a dual lamp arrangement, one white for backgroundlighting, mounted anywehere in the vincinity of that plate, and one redcolored bulb, mounted on a metal arm on the gear selector, positioned so, that the bulb was directly under the symbol, ie. D-OD-P or whatever.

To make such a thing, since its empty under there, if one cut off the white backplate, I guess that could be done. And probably easier then locating a good condition consoletop with indicator aswell.

Well, unless you could assemble this one and sell it to me that is.

 

uh oh. If your car or atleast your shifter is factory, that should NOT happen.

You dont have to press the button to shift from every gear. You only have to press it to go from:
1) P to R
2) OD to D
3) or P to D (actually you only have to hold it from P to R, but you dont realize this, if youre going in one smooth motion)
4) going from P to anything lower than D. (same reason as above).


You have, or should have, a reverse lockout. Basically a safety feature, to make sure you dont ram it into reverse while cruising on the highway or something.

However, you can go from the following, to the subsequent without pressing the button.

1) R to P
2) R to N
3) R to OD
4) D to OD
5) D to 2
6) D to 1 (or 2 to 1)
7) Up from 1, 2, or D, and back down except from OD to D. (including neutral).


Basially, your car is set up, so you only need to press the button, when something un-necessary (sometimes dangerous) is about to be selected.

So when doing the "boogie" try to shift without pressing the button, if it doesnt let you, think about what you are doing, make sure its safe.

 

Yes, sure, it has worked like you describe for years, still do. It's just that I was going into the lower gears, 3-2-1, and forgot to let it go, holded it in slightly. So my own fault of course.

But, if I could have seen when it was in OD, I wouldnt have had to first find neutral, and then 1 click back in the first place.

 

My 84 Camaro did not come with a gear selection indicator, you had to guess which one you were in.

I eventually replaced it with a 91/92 style.

 

Hmm, maybe it wasnt firebird specific. I know my 83 has it, but it also has a 355 and a TH350 trans, so im sure the console could easily be not original. My berlinetta definately had one, but it was not lit (85). And so did the RS 88.