I'm in the process of installing a Megashifter in my GTA. The cable is routed smoothly with no kinks or extreme bends.

The shifter works great while disconnected from the trans. I can also shift the trans manually using the lever, while under the car. However, as soon as I connect the cable, the shifter won't budge. It's stuck tight in Park.

One thing I noticed is the that the supplied cable bracket for the transmission puts the cable a tad too low. This causes a bit of an angle at the end of the cable when you slip the swivel into the lever.

I dug out an old B&M Starshifter I used to run in a '69 El Camino, and used that bracket instead. It's a better design and requires no spacers. I've even bent it slightly to get a pretty clean line between the end of the cable and the lever. No stressed angle on the cable anymore.

Still, the shifter WILL NOT shift out of Park. I don't get it. I'm stuck for a reason as to why it won't shift.

Looking for tips from people who have used this shifter. I might be overlooking something.

My current options:
Option 1: I'm considering routing the cable a little different. Rather than looping it strictly on top of the transmission, I would run it over the top (toward the passenger side) and then down and around, coming underneath the tail shaft and into the cable bracket. This is how B&M instructs it be done on GM G-body cars.

Option 2: Try the 3 foot Super Duty cable that I have.

Option 3: I might even try my old Starshifter cable. It's a little beefier than the new Megashifter cable, but not as beefy as the Super Duty cable.

 

yeah i have one. uummm you never said that you hooked the bracket up with the supplied spacers for the trans pan bolts (there are 2) that drops the supplied bracket down about 1/4 to 1/2 inch. then i looped it around on top and into the car. never had to many issues...if shifter is working fine not hooked up then it is just getting bound up somewhere...either where i said or cable itself is bent at a joint area. i suggest trying it manually at trans...if ok. then you know its in cable. then hook up cable and put visegrips on the end in car and pull to see if it is moving ok...if not then theres a issue in cable..
hope this helps

 

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I did try the supplied bracket and spacers first. The fact that it drops the cable almost 1/2" lower than the shift lever on the trans, was what I didn't like about it.

It caused the end of the cable to tilt up at an angle. This could cause it to bind.

The Starshifter bracket isn't flat like the Megashifter bracket. It's in a "V" shape. This lets it bolt to the trans without the need for spacers and the "V" design allows it to clear the lip on the trans pan, while putting the cable more in line with the shift lever.

The swivel moves nice and smooth in and out of the hole on the shift lever. With the Megashifter bracket, it was binding a little.

Using either bracket though, the shifter won't move out of Park. It's gotta be something with the cable. I'll recheck the supplied cable, and if need be I'll try one of my other cables.

 

yeah...you def have a issue with your cable i think bud. because i used the supplied bracket to the trans and the bracket that holds it on to the trans pan with spacers....my cable is completely straight....level with trans. i just hooked it up to the pan bracket and adjusted the cable end until it was at the bracket hole on transs....pushed into position and put a cotter pin in. nothing i bent or bent upwards....so yours must be bent or you are doing something wrong...hope you figure it out

 

I'm also running an aftermarket deep transmission pan, so the rolled lip of the pan might be bigger than the factory pan. That would make the Megashifter bracket sit lower than it should.

This is where the Starshifter bracket came in handy. I'll have to pull out the factory trans pan and compare the two.

FWIW, the B&M instructions also mentions that if you're using an aftermarket aluminum pan, that the bracket needs to be modified.

 

well, i am glad we figured out the issue....so the problem is the pan and its not letting the cable be lined up right...hope your star bracket helps you pull it off...let me know how /or what you found

 

OK, last night I checked the cable. I disconnected it from both the transmission and the shifter.

Sitting inside the car, I was able to slide the cable back and forth with just my fingers. So, the cable doesn't appear to be the problem. This should narrow it down to the transmission lever.

Question for you, which hole did you connect the cable to on the trans. lever? The directions say to use the front hole labeled "F".


However, I contacted a friend who used to work for B&M and he thinks it should go in the center hole labeled "C". He says "F" stands for Ford, "C" is for Chevy, and "R" is for Chrysler.

That makes more sense to me. If the cable is in the wrong hole, it won't operate the lever correctly and could be causing the bind I'm having.


Also, going back to my B&M Starshifter, the GM lever bracket that came with it has a single hole that lines up in what would be the same as the "C" position on the Megashifter bracket.

I'm starting to think B&M has a typo in their instructions.

 

you just rang a bell in my head....i remember having a issue like this also...i did this install years ago...yeah i blieve i did have in wrong hole at first and then put it in "c". i will check it out tonight for you and let you know which one i did do....

 

im not sure if what you are describing is the same problem i had, but the kink at the end of the cable is normal. it does bend up to attach to the bracket that attaches to the transmission.
also, the impossible to get out of park problem... thats also normal.
it gets better with time and lithium grease. also time helps. and work out more. and then wait more.


honestly, the megashifter is a pile of steaming crap.
i hate mine in most every circumstance.
although the addition of a plain plastic ball **** in place of the aluminum hunk of metal makes it a lot better, its still a pain in the *** after a while of using it.

fyi i got my plastic ball **** from McMaster Carr. they are an industrial supplier of manufacturing parts. i was walking through the plant at work and saw a machine with a ball **** and it hit me.

the megashifter uses a 1/2-20 thread.
the ball i got is 1-15/16" diameter with a brass threaded insert.
i love it
best part was that the **** cost like $2.50 and shipping was around $5.00 and it was delivered the next day.



sorry for getting off course.
in short though, there is most likely nothing wrong with the cable routing

 

I've read several posts where others have this same complaint. One guy even said he has to use two hands to get his out of Park. And he's a bodybuilder.

I think it all has to do with the typo in the directions. Everyone is connecting the cable to the "F" hole. To the average person, F = Front, C = Center, and R = Rear.

In B&M speak, it's actually F = Ford, C = Chevy, R = Chrysler. Don't ask me why they use R. You'd think it would be M for Mopar.

The directions simply say use the "front" hole. The Megashifter used to have a lever bracket that only had two holes. So front made sense then. The updated version now has 3 holes.

To make it worse, the tech. diagram shows the cable in the "F" hole. Guess the illustrator got it wrong, too and no one at B&M caught it.


As far as the handle, I'm going with the white B&M plastic ****. I used this set-up with my Starshifter in the past. The "T" handle is too much of a pain.

 

Bret, I remeber something about the "Hurst-dual gate shifters" having a little side lever thingy that if it rotated in the wrong direction the shifter would not come out of park. It is something to do with a second cable mount tab on the right sid eif I recall. I wonder if your B&M has this also.

Just food for thought and something to check for.

 

Hey Dean,
The Hurst Dual Gate used all the factory cables. There are two that attach to the factory shifter. One is the cable for the transmission and the other is the Park/Lock cable.

The Park/Lock cable does just that, lock the shifter in Park when the key is removed from the ignition.

B&M bypasses that cable. They have you wire-tie it in the Park position and leave it loose inside the console. This allows the steering wheel lock to still work (even if the car is in gear), but has no effect on the transmission.

 

got a pic or part number of the white ****...i would like to see this setup my self

 

Here you go:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/BMM-46110/

 

thanks..i will check it out...i think the shifter will look better with this **** anyhow...do you know the tread on the rachetshifter? thanks again

 

It is a better look. I think a Hurst **** might fit, too.

Here's the specs from the B&M site:
Fits 1/2-20, 3/8-24, 3/8-16 and 5/16-18 threads. For most B&M shifters & others w/SAE threads.

1/2-20 should be the thread size of the shifter.

 

If you have the 3ft cable use it.

 

At the end of the day, I probably will switch to the 3ft. cable. But first, I want to try connecting the 5 ft. cable to the "C" hole on the shift lever and see how smooth it works.

All these posts I've seen from people saying "you have to break it in" just sound crazy. We're not talking about a pair of shoes. For this type of part, it either works right from the get-go, or something is out of adjustment, connected wrong, etc.

To quote my friend that worked at B&M — "the shifter should be easy to engage and disengage from gears, it shouldn't 'break in'."

If you've ever installed garage door opener on a swing-up style door, you'll know what I mean. You have to adjust the door springs right or the opener will struggle trying to open and close it. It's all about getting the leverage in the right place. It's the same with this shifter.

I'm going to work on it on Sunday and I'll post my results.

 

The part that puzzles me is I thought you have been saying it is "stuck" in park like it does not move at all.

Does it move and is just very stiff? or is it stuck.

If its stuck, thats why I mentioned the second cable attachment but you say the B&M unit does not have this at all. The dual gate shifter does and when that attachment lever on the shifter is out of alignment the shifter will not move out of park.

Now with that said- bare with me- I know you state there is absolutely no lever attachment for that steering lockout on the shifter itself AND yoiu say that when the trans is not hooked on the trans side of the cable the shifter shifts OK. Once hooked to the trans though it is "stuck" in park?
Is somehoiw something binding when tention is applied to the cable and kinking the shift lever or maybe something else on the attachment you are overlooking? Or is it simply the trans itself is very stiff in the linkage. You should be able to spin that trans linkage shift bolt (it has flat sides) with a wrench fairly easily under the car to shift the trans by hand manually to see if the trans is actually shifting ok without any cable or linkage attached to it.

If the ttrans is not "stuck" and the lever is just really hard to move then I would absolutely agree its all about leverage of the cable attachment point and shifter throw. Sounds like a bad design flaw if thats the case- but I find tht very hard to believe they would produce a massive # of those and have this very troubling issue where it takes two hands to operate.

Obvious next question- did the one you just have in there work fine and was it the factory shifter? If I recall you also had one of George's gate plates on you factory unit like Lon and I had. If the factory one works fine then I would suggest measuring the pivot throw leverage of the factory shifter and match that to the measurement of the B&M shifter to see if the upper is shorter and the lower is longer in leverage making this that much harder to operate. Now if this is the case, maybe some re-engineering of the shifter to cable atachment is in order if the ability exists= try and redrill a new hole on the underneath lever close to the pivot point and get a taller shifter lever like what I did on my old dual gate shifter where I put an extended pistol grip on it for more leverage and easy operation.

 

Hey Dean,
The trans isn't stuck. It will shift easily from under the car by moving the lever. The factory shifter (with George's shift gate installed) worked very smooth.

It isn't a design flaw with the Megashifter. It's a typo in the directions. The directions simply say "attach the cable using the front hole." That's all it says – "front hole."

Now, on the back page, there's a diagram showing the cable connection and it shows the cable connected to the hole marked "F" on the B&M shift lever. There's also a "C" hole and an "R" hole.

Picture a "T" flipped upside down. The shift pin on the trans sits at the tip of the vertical bar of the T. The F hole is on the far left of the horizontal cross bar. The C hole is in the center and the R hole is on the far right of the cross bar.

When the trans is in Park, the "F" hole is in the highest position. George Lara thinks this puts the cable where it can't get the correct leverage. Rather than pulling with the center line of the lever, it's trying to pull thru the center line.

That would make it stick or be very hard to shift.

Here's a link where the directions can be downloaded:
http://www.bmracing.com/PRODUCTS/Per...irdwithconsole

Keep in mind, in the diagram the lever is not shown in the Park position. It's shown closer to being in OD or 3rd gear. In Park, the hole is clocked father forward and up – it actually stops above the transmission pan gasket. The "C" hole is in the correction position.

B&M needs to revise their instructions and/or their coding system. George assures me that he and the old timers at B&M always use F = Ford, C = Chevy and R = Chrysler. So, the instrustions are actually telling people to connect the cable to the Ford hole on a GM car. Oooops.

B&M makes their stuff these days to be one-size-fits-all as much as possible. The means a single bracket designed to fit multiple makes and models with multiple cable connections. Get that connection wrong and it won't work quite right.

 

But yours won't work in the C hole either?

 

Haven't tried connecting it to the "C" hole yet. Gonna do that tonight or on Sunday. I'll post my results after I try it.

I didn't hear back from George until about mid-week, so the whole F vs. C discussion is recent.

If George is correct, then my shifter should work smoothly once it's connected properly. I'll also spread the word because several people have complained about theirs being difficult to shift.

The directions CLEARLY say NOT to force anything. If it doesn't shift smoothly, then something needs to be adjusted. Forcing it could break something.

Still, there's a lot of people forcing theirs into gear and chalking it up to needing a "break-in period".

 

Everyone knows a new shifter should be harder to use than an old worn out one.

 

Update:
OK, I'm working on the car today. Tried connecting the cable to the "C" hole. No go. Still too tight. This was with the 5ft. cable.

Next, as some people on TGO recommended, I switched to the 3ft Super Duty cable. It will now shift out of Park. However, using the "C" hole, there's no way the cable can pull the lever into 1st gear. The angle won't allow it.

So, the "F" hole is CORRECT. George is mistaken.

However, it's not too smooth shifting out of Park. In fact, it pretty much just jumps straight to OD. Then you can shift up to Neutral or Reverse.

Once in OD it ratchets up and down thru the gears pretty nicely.

For now, I'll live with it. Going to move on and do all the wiring connections so I can drive the car.

 

You are pretty close, think I would visit B&M in person.

Sounds like its still binding in park and when it lets loose thinks it wants to be in OD.

 

It's more about the effort it takes to shift from Park. You have to pull fairly hard, and once it starts moving you can't always stop it in Reverse. I've got the entire center console removed so I can see how everything is working.

Took the car for drive and it worked pretty good. The ratchet action works nice and adds some fun.

One extra thing I got out of this install is that I discovered how shot my center console is. The glove box lid is completely wasted.

A Google search found a company that lists a repop console and lid, but there's no pictures to confirm that it's a match.
http://www.thepartsplaceinc.com/ocat...&YearList=1988

 

I would just like to find some glue that would hold the top lip of the sides in.
I've tried contact cement, and a couple of others and nothing holds.

 

Been there, done that. Contact cement will work a for a while, but gives up over time.

eBay has some center consoles listed, but they don't look any better that what ours already look like.

 

I've contacted Hawk's 3rd Gen parts to ask what glue they use when refurbishing the center consoles they sell.

I also picked up a new console lid from them. The ones on eBay are junk, so I popped for the NOS one while Hawk's still has them in stock. Not cheap, but it's the best option. This should refurb. my console so I can put it back in the car.

From there, it's on to upgrading the battery cables and installing my 140amp alternator, the new steering wheel, and Don has my header set-up ready.

The parts are piling up.