I was looking at automatic shifters such as the b&m and the hurst which one do you think is the best and which ones are the ones that actually fit our cars that use the same shifter plate and do they come with the new plate? pictures would be great if you all have them.

Thanks in advance everyone

 

I have looked into shifters too and I am getting a Hurst Dual Gate for Xmas. The B&M shifter have crappy cables that are too long and force you to use B&M brackets. The dual gate uses the stock cable. It comes with a new face plate, the B&M usually requires mods to yours ( lots if you have a Firebird ). I have also heard that the B&M shift ***** strip out very easily, and that the operation of the shifter can very clunky. It is easy to see which side I take but do a search on this site and you will see both sides of the story. Their are some people that are a happy with B&M products and many who are not.

 

Amen to that post, installing the cable is a PITA hardcore and anyways... the cables are poor quality. I had a hot date one day and the cable gave way 5 min after i picked her up crappy right?
50 dollars to purchase their new heavy duty cable
30 dollars for the tow
If i paid someone to install the cable it would have cost me a good 50 dollars
But the main thing was that it was embarrassing
Oh and yeah you have to take a heat gun and cut up your console if you've got a Pontiac

 

thanks guys, are you talking about the hurst V-matic shifter?? I don't see any dual gate shifters in the catalogs.
Thanks

 

thanks guys, are you talking about the hurst V-matic shifter?? I don't see any dual gate shifters in the catalogs.
Thanks

 

No, we're talkin' about the Hurst Dual Gate shifter that is custom fit to 3rd gen consoles. You can get it from Year One for about $230 bucks. I think it is worth every penny.

 

sorry for all the questions but could you explain to me a little about how that shifter works? is it like a ratchet shifter?

 

Hey questions are OK, thats what the boards are for. The shifter is very different from the B&M ratchet shifters you always see. The Hurst Dual Gate has two shift gates ( hence the name ), one gate is just like the one in your car, the other gate is just the four forward gears. The whole thing looks like an "h" on the shift plate. Leaving the shifter in the stock style gate lets everything work just like the factory shifter, but moving it over to the other gate allows you to shift gears. Its not really ratchet action, but you can't overshoot gears with it or go into reverse. It even has the legendary chrome HURST stick and black shift ****, looks very cool neatly tucked into the factory console.

 

hurst quarter stick

 

I have the B&M mega shifter for 3GF-bodies,well worth the $$ works good,the 5' cable will melt if it's touching the tranny but it worked fine. 3' are available. I've never seen the hurst 1/4 stick but I'm sure thats a great shifter too. install it yourself it's not that hard.
in response to rsragtop: the b&m does have a "clunky" feel to it seeming as if it has lots of play,but the actual part that moves the cable magically clicks the tranny precisely in to gear one at a time w/rev lock-out.....10 times better than you could ever hope to with a stock shifter. also it's only $150 for the kit....I sure would expect a hurst costing $100 more to be better,but I'd have to get tired of my B&M before I convert!

the handle will strip out,that's why they recomend a little axle grease or silicone lube on the threads to "prevent galling" then it will tighten to tight and turn crooked (espeacially with other people playing with it!!) that's when you rip off a small piece of a matchbook or little washers and drop them inside the handle to keep it from turning all the way to get it turned where you want it.

 

I was also looking into getting one of those dual gate shifters. What do they involve in the way of installation? are they real tuff to install or what?

 

That's why I used the stock cable on my Megashifter, works great. I love the shifter. The dual gate also looks good though, but I haven't used it, but it is a little more pricey.
I can post pics later.

 

Here's a pic in the attachment.

 

i have a B&M pro stick ...... i like it alot ....

 

I'm torn between B&M's megashifter and Hurst's Dual Gate. I really like the way that the B&M looks and I like that it stops at each gear.
I really don't know much about the Hurst shifter other than it's more expensive. If I pull the shifter over to the manual gate, pull it down into first and hit it will it go just to second? Or will it slide all the way up into 4th?