As many of you know it is impossible to find manual trans console plates for 91-92 Firebirds. I recently converted my 91 Trans Am over to a 5 speed, I got the complete swap from a car I found in the junkyard. Everything was in good condition except for the console plate. However my automatic plate was in perfect condition, so I decided to get chesty and cut it up. Here is what I did.

Here is what I started with.



Here are the comparisons between the two.


The top left hole was very similarly located on both plates, so I started here with mounting the metal boot plate. Then I drilled an extra hole in the boot plate and was able to use both top holes on the automatic plate.

 

The automatic trans plate had no provision for the rear holes so I found these in my dad's junk drawer LOL. they are rubber collars with brass inserts that I cut down. There are multiple other items that could be used here, you just need something to support the back of the boot plate that you can put a screw into.


Here I have placed the rear boot plate supports placed properly. As you can see there is room for them.


Once I figured out how I was going to mount the boot plate, I got to work cutting the hole. The gray part where the shift indicator is needs to be cut out. The factory has outlined this and it is easy to cut it out. I used a 3" air grinder to nibble it away. Then I test fit it in the car and found that I needed to cut the hole farther forward because the shifter hit the front of the plate in 3rd gear. I cut "2 squares" in to get enough clearance. Firebirds have a square matrix pattern on them that make it easy to cut straight lines. Here is the hole roughed out.


Once the hole was roughed out and had room for the shifter, I used a straight file to clean up my cuts. Then I used the file to radius the edges like the factory did. After that I used 220 grit sandpaper to sand the edges smooth, then wet sanded with 1500 grit and the areas I cut were almost as shiny and smooth as the factory edge was.

Once the sanding was done I glued the rear boot plate supports on.

 

Here is the shift plate installed. It will suffice until I find a correct 5 speed shift plate for a 91-92 car. Only a sharp thirdgen lover will be able to tell its not factory. And in the absence of a good 5 speed plate, I think this does a nice job.

 

kewl!

aren't the shifter plate the same for all 85-92 birds?

I was luck enough to find a pretty mint shifter plate for my car, no power mirrors too! i think i paid 75 bux, but well worth it.

 

those rubber "collars" with brass threads in them are called well nuts, makes it easier to find for others wanting to use them

 

Looks awesome, i want to do this for my Camaro, just have to find the time