The last post with this subject line was from 2003.
I have a Hurst Dual Gate and it's a reasonably reliable shifter for the drag strip. I can't say that I've missed an upshift when at the track however it tends to get a little clunky when driving on the street. I'll often be in OD and want to pull back into 3rd and the selection can be less than precise. It may be that my shifter is need of a re-build or maybe that's just the way it is.
That said, I'd like to get a shifter with a full ratchet function.
Who is running what and what kind of transmission do you have?

 

th400=hurst pistol grip 1/4 stick, awesome piece
powerglide=b&m pro stick, not as nice as the 1/4 stick
th350=hurst non pistol grip 1/4 stick, nice piece, better than pro stick, not as nice as pistol grip
700r4/4l60e=stock shifter with b&m gate (can't find that gate anymore though)

you couldn't give me a megashifter...every single one i messed with was a total piece of crap.

hurst pro-billet in the t56....best mod ever

 

I also run a hurst pistol grip quarter stick for my th350, absolutely love it. As Matt said, awesome piece.

 

2 votes for the 1/4 stick pistol grip. I'll have to look into that one.

 

If I had to do it all over again.....

 

Hmmm...Just checked out the Hurst website. It appears there's no 1/4 stick for a 700R4? That's a drag. (No pun intended)

 

yeah, i keep thinking the b&m pro stick has a 4speed gate option though.

 

My pro stick came with a 3 speed forward pattern gate. I like it but know it could be better. Have to try a hurst 1/4 eventually.

Megashifter, had one new, worked great, another that was new but installed, it works but is a little funny.

 

I much rather a gate shifter over a rachet shifter.

 

X2, mine went to **** within a year and i never did get it adjusted right no matter what i did. You either had park and no first or first and no park. It started missing shifts and i think may have been the cause of my transmission burning up.

My turbo action cheetah is awesome however but its not a ratchet. Its a silky smooth gate shifter. Slides thru the gear spots with one finger type effort

 

I used to have a b&m pro stick with a 4l60e years ago...so i know you can get them for a 4 speed.

Oh...and i love my cheetah shifter hands down!!

 

Everyone I know that has a cheetah I know refuses to use anything else.

 

This is true, once you use one you will understand why.


The B&M mega-shifter made for 82-92 F-bodies is garbage! It ALWAYS felt stiff, and no quality control. My gear indicator cable failed in less than a year.

When I bought it there were no options for shifters if you had a 700R4, so I kept this junk for 14 years ! I am sure by now there are but


I switched to a 400 trans last year so it gave me great pleasure to finally get rid of that crappy shifter.

The Turbo Action Cheetah shifter blows it away !

 

It's a little irritating that I'm finding that none of these recommended shifters work with a 700R4.
I may have to rework the Dual Gate and learn to live with it.

 

supposed the winters performance shifter is one of the baddest ones on the market, and is a similar design to the turbo action cheetah. part number 177-1 is the 700r4/4l60e unit. the only reason i know about these is cause part number 187-1 is for the 4l80e (which apparently has a different detent throw than the other 4spds)

 

Now that's interesting.

 

2 thumbs up for the B&M Pro-Ratchet other than the ball handle. I just can't get used to that.

 

Maverick Performance (division of Winter's)

http://www.maverickperformance.com/

Automatic Transmission components

They have what you need, pretty cool.

 

Not surprised, the 4L80E is based on the Turbo 400 design.

The 700R4/4L60 is unique unto itself.

 

If you want to ratchet, that is going to limit your choices in shifters. Here is what I wound up doing-

I bought a used B&M Pro Stick for $35 on ebay:


Stock shifter:


Stock shifter, removed shifter from baseplate:


Mounted Pro Stick on stock shift plate:


Modified Stock shifter console plate:


Finished Product (I have a brand new white shift **** I just haven't put on yet):

 

The B&M Megashifter is piece of junk....no doubt. Here's a thread where I did a center console swap and used a B&M Pro Ratchet for use on a 700R4. I'm sure you could still do it with the factory console. Absolutely Love it.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tran...e-ratchet.html

 

Nicely done.

 

Also nicely done.

 

I keep missing first to second shift on the 700r4 I need a shifter.

 

Thanks man!

 

no, you need tires.

 

Cheetah Shifter with a 400 trans

 

I've had a MegaShifter (truck version) in the '57 for over 10 years. Other than the boot disintegrating, I haven't had any trouble with it.

I purchased a used Console MegaShifter from a TGO member. That was a big mistake. He had buggered it up, misrepresented its condition - basically I was ripped off. I bought a new one and the only issue I had with it was the shifter **** threads stripped off the upper lever after a couple of years. I used the upper lever from the used shifter and it hasn't been an issue since.

The console model is stiff operating, I'm thinking because the cable is excessively long. I have a shorter one that should route like the stock shifter cable, just haven't taken the time to install it yet. Interestingly, the shifter in the '57 doesn't have that stiffness, even though it has a long cable and winds around the tranny like the console model does. The difference appears to be the lack of tunnel space in 3rd gens compared to the shoebox. Well, the truck model also has a longer upper lever, but the difference doesn't seem to be leverage.

 

Lol. Ok.

 

[quote=five7kid;5622246]
The console model is stiff operating, I'm thinking because the cable is excessively long. . Interestingly, the shifter in the '57 doesn't have that stiffness, even though it has a long cable and winds around the tranny like the console model does. The difference appears to be the lack of tunnel space in 3rd gens compared to the shoebox. quote]

My Dual Gate functioned perfectly for several seasons then for no apparent reason it became almost unusable due to some stiffness. I inspected the cable and routing (yes round and round the trans tunnel with not a whole lot of room) and saw it had melted a little on the headers and figured that was the issue. Replacing the cable led me to discover that at some point the cable mount on the transmission had become bent and was forcing the cable into a very tight angle particularly in the low gear range. I repaired the bent cable mount and all has been well.
The shifter's getting a little tired though and this is why I started this information thread.

 

Megashifters are hit or miss. I've had mine for about 10 years and I beat the hell out of it with no problems. Only had to adjust it once about a month after putting it in, just because I wanted to mostly. But others can't get more than a month before switching. Only other problem I had was with the nuetral safety switch going out.

Here's another option: http://precisionperformance.com/

 

First pic is rear exit cable, second is front exit. Looks like you could make it fit the stock console, maybe.

 

Those are different. I can't say I've heard of them.

 

I had the console Megashifter for 10+ years. It ran the th400m,th350, and a glide. What I liked about it was that it could adapt to any valvebody forward or reverse. After one year with the glide it finally was to loose to operate. I thought it was a great investment and liked that it kept a finished look inside the car, whereas most shifters disrupt the appearance of many interiors.

 

I have to say that the non-console shifter retrofits look pretty good.
Thinking out loud, the pistol grip 1/4 stick mounted in the console would appeal to me. No 700R4 option though. I tend to cruise with one hand on the shifter and the other on the wheel. That's obvious for racing. It looks like a pistol grip would feel natural.

 

The B&M Magnum Grip can be converted to a four speed auto with the different gate plate. Looks close to a pistol grip.

The link should have the shifter gates below the shifter.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/bm...on-gate-plates

 

Looks like the 1/4 stick (style-wise anyway).
Now, I'm guessing this a gated shifter? While I origianally started this thread looking for a ratchet shifter, it's more that I'm looking for a functional shifter than anything else. The Dual-Gate that I have has become hit and miss over the years.

 

That leads to this question.
The reason I was looking for a ratcher style shifter in the first place was the ability to shift up and down with ease.
My Dual Gate was pretty good at the upshift but downshifting wasn't the smoothest.
The 1/4 stick I assume is ratchet up and down. Push forward to gear up and pull back to gear down or doesn't it work that way?
The gates I think I have figured out and I can't see them as being as smooth on the downshift.
Have I got that figured out?

 

I hate ratchet shifters for street use (but my car is manual valve body, so I need to pull it all the way to 1st at every stop sign).

Here's my quarter stick thread. I found that angling it forward would give me the lowest installed height. You can still find 700r4 quarter sticks in the classifieds or ebay occasionally.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/inte...pro-stick.html

 

Quarter stick shifting:

Park to first, Pull trigger, then release as soon as it clears the park detent and pull it all the way back to 1st.

From first, when racing. No trigger, slam it forward to 2. Trigger, forward to 3. No trigger into 4th.

Downshifting on the road. 3rd doesnt have a detent be careful or you'll get a lower gear. If you want 2nd, pull the trigger, if you want 1st, don't pull the trigger.

Going from 1st to park is a PITA. But I really don't wanna hit reverse or park at the wrong time, so its ok. You have to pull the trigger half way to clear the detents at 3rd and N (which is kinda tricky to get it done quick) and then once in neutral, hit the reverse lockout lever, pull the trigger again and into park.

 

That's the big one for me. It seems I'm always pulling back from overdrive into thrid.



As it is with the Dual Gate. Or even D or OD to park. Very clunky however it's never an emergency.

 

i had a tci outlaw (basically a pistol grip 1/4 stick) for awhile with a fwd pattern th400. i went through 3rd gear several times and into neutral. i changed it out for a cheetah and reverse pattern th400. like it much better.

 

ya iv had mine in the car when it was almost a year old.
works just fine. glass smooth. noprobs ..at all.

wish I could get a set of Hurst Lighting Rods..for my tranny. now that's A cool looking shifter!!
so im going to go with a set made by this guy. going to be made to fit in the console

 

That's wild! Not a shift to be missed that's for sure.
So much for the sleeper look in your interior!

 

Kilduff makes some cool shifters. Pretty heavy duty as well.

 

ya. he'll cut them down to 12" tall. and make them to fit.

don't know if ill go with the black ball grips..or use a set of the Hurst pistol grips. will have to see what they look like in the car

 

Haven't heard of them. I'll have to look them up.

 

Be sure to post up some pics. Or a video.

 

I came across this shifter from the CPG Nation newletter. This is exactly the kind of shifter action I'm looking for.
The video link is of a new Mustang.
The link to the TCI website is for the generic model (non console) shifter.
Some of the posts here have shown various shifters of the generic variety fitted into the factory console. I wonder if this model could be adapted the same way?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOuAU...tu.be&AID=3236

http://www.tciauto.com/tc/streetfigh...v-patternhtml/

 

Anybody use B&M's Quicksilver?
I was in a hotrod (41 ******, very cool) the other day and it had a Quicksilver. I can't say much for style however I really liked the ratchet action. I haven't seen one for a 3rd gen console however this ****** had one that was custom fitted (obviously) and didn't look out of place. Might be able to do the same.