jimmythegrip

I am currently in the proccess of doing an LS/T56 swap in my 79 Z28. I have a T56 out of an 03 Viper that has been converted to mount to an LS motor. The tail shaft was not converted and has the stronger Viper tail shaft. One of the problems I ran into was the shifter location. The Shifter is mounted to the tail shaft location and the motor is mounted as far back as possible. This still put the shifter almost to the dash. I have always hated the long offset shifters and looked into a different solution. I know this has been posted here before, but I thought I would share my experience. I made a remote shifter linkage, moving the shifter back about 10". My first concern with the remote shifter was the side to side gear changes. I wasn't sure how easy this would be due to the mechanics of the remote shifters. I have to say after completing the install this is not an issue at all. The shifter works great. Some of the videos I saw on youtube seemed a bit sloppy. Many of the shifters I was looking at had the pivot bar only bolted on one side of the shifter. Sandwiching the shifter inside a fork on the pivot bar solved this problem. All of the parts were found at a local Lowes. The ball joint on the remote end of the shifter is a lawn mower part Lowes had in stock. The actual shift lever still has to be cut and threaded to accept my ****. Please ignore my poor welding (I'm pretty new to welding).

Here is a video of the shifter in action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f3PV...ature=youtu.be

jmd

iTrader: (4)

I like to an extent, that you have the option to adjust the ratio by adjusting the attachment height at the fore or aft levers.

Personally, in a 2nd, gen I'd be hard pressed not to do the F/GTO tailhousing swap though.

973800CamaroRS

iTrader: (3)

If I'm not mistaken you can still use a gto shifter linkage, which would locate it back about 6 inches.

I have a second gen with a t56 also ! Let me know if you have any q's

jimmythegrip

This is the first I have seen the GTO shifter linkage. I like it and it does basically the same thing (probably much better). I wold still need to come back about 4" though. The shifter mount on the Viper tailhousing is further forward than the LS version of the T56. I would swap the tailhousing, but I like having the stronger tail shaft and I do not want to spend the money on converting it. Thanks for the help.

This forum has been essential to making this swap! I can't wait to get this on the road. I should have it street ready before spring and not driving it is going to be difficult!

jimmythegrip

I am going to chop the steel rod off just above the transfer bar and weld on a bracket that will accept a bolt on shift lever.

jimmythegrip

I do have a question though. The shifter that I used is from Core-Shifters and it does not have stops built into the shifter. Their website says that all modern tranmissions have internal stops and it is unnecessary to have them built into the shifter. I know there are internal stops, but I do not know how strong they are. Will I do damage to the trans during hard shifting without having stops built into the shifter?

user_guest3214

I took a GTO shifter, removed the 2 pieces that run from the handle to the actual shifter, cut the shifter in half, and made a new linkage out of aluminum. I mounted the shifter handle portion. I drilled the handle and the shifter mechanism for a 3/8" bolt instead of that little thing they use.

Mine is backwards from yours. The shifter in my car sits behind the seat, so I had to move the shifter forward.

jimmythegrip

nevermind, do you have a picture of this?

user_guest3214

I can try to get you one. Everything is put back together and put away for winter. Let me see if I can pull the carpeting away enough to snap a picture. I have an extra GTO shifter that is broke in 2 pieces if you can use it. It would work great for what you are trying to do.

jimmythegrip

PM sent.

jimmythegrip

Ok, I took the original design and modified it a bit. It works great! Here are some photos.