I am currently in the market to finally be looking for my shifter options on my 1970 impala 6.0/4l80e swap running off a terminator xmax harness. I have thought about keeping the column shifter but from what I've read it'd be a pain and risk slipping gears also I can't seem to find parts available for the 1970 year. So with that I think I'm going away from column and looking for suitable floor shifters. Some questions I have are...

1. Do I keep the factory NSS for the park and reverse lights? and if so what options are out there that utilizes this.

2. Not sure if itd be nice to manually go through all 4 gears or if i let the x max controll my shifting. Do I need to have a 4 gear shifter or go with an option that has D? Not really a strip car will be mostly street but the car is built for 800hp.

​​​​3.Also to keep in mind is i have factory bench seating so I'd need something to work with that

3. I feel really dumb when it comes to this and any other inputs on things im missing would be greatly appreciated.

 

I went through a nightmare with the Lokar electronic sport shifter. My advise? Do NOT go that way. My answers on the first two points

1. Most shifters have NSS. Just extend the wires down to the shifter. Same with reverse. However, not all shifters have reverse light outputs (just one of the issues I had with Lokar)
2. I think the idea of shifting through all the gears is nice, but in reality, I rarely actually used this function when I had the option.

 

Not sure how hard it is for you to find a center console and stock shifter but I used a company called shiftworks. They allowed me to keep my dual gate shifter and still be able to hit all the gears on my 4l80

 

I've used both Shiftworks and Lokar on a few LS swaps. Both worked well. Lokar wise I used the cable type shifter on my 98 Wrangler with a LS6/4L60E swap. The cable gives you more flexability to mount the shifter. I've got 14 years on it with no issuses. On my current project a 80 Camaro with a LS3/4L60E swap I'm using a Lokar with a rod that goes from the shifter to the trans shift arm. Neither has back up lights. I don't care if I don't have back up lights. Both have an NSS.
In regards to the Shiftworks parts it worked well. Back up light up lights worked. It was on a 71 C3 with a LS1/4L60E swap. The C3 had the NSS on the shifter.

 

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I know it’s an older post. Both 60/80e transmissions have nss and reverse light switches on the transmission. That’s what I did on my swap using Amc column shift. I have both functioning been driving it for 5yrs. Let me know if you have questions.










QUOTE=Impalablazergang;20489712]I am currently in the market to finally be looking for my shifter options on my 1970 impala 6.0/4l80e swap running off a terminator xmax harness. I have thought about keeping the column shifter but from what I've read it'd be a pain and risk slipping gears also I can't seem to find parts available for the 1970 year. So with that I think I'm going away from column and looking for suitable floor shifters. Some questions I have are...

1. Do I keep the factory NSS for the park and reverse lights? and if so what options are out there that utilizes this.

2. Not sure if itd be nice to manually go through all 4 gears or if i let the x max controll my shifting. Do I need to have a 4 gear shifter or go with an option that has D? Not really a strip car will be mostly street but the car is built for 800hp.

​​​​3.Also to keep in mind is i have factory bench seating so I'd need something to work with that

3. I feel really dumb when it comes to this and any other inputs on things im missing would be greatly appreciated.[/QUOTE]

 

[/QUOTE]

I used a cable shifter for an early 2000s trans am that originally was for a 4l60. It took some playing with, but it's been working flawlessly.

For cruising around I leave it in D. For the strip or enthusiastic driving, I leave it in "3"

 

The park neutral safety switch attached to both 60E and 80E trans has the backup and park neutral needs covered.