Ok, this may be the first time this has been discussed here.
I have a leather shift from a '95 Camaro Z-28. It's about the same size and shape of a baseball, and it looks awesome in the car. I'll attach a picture of it.
The thing is that it's too large for my shifter. I think the Camaro shift has a thread size of 16mm x 1.5, so it just sits loose on the shifter. I tried working some plastic aquarium tubing over the threads, then cranking down the over it. That worked for about three days, then it worked itself loose. :wtf:
I've been brainstorming on how I can get this thing to stay solid on there, but I'm out of ideas. I hate having a loose shift .
I wouldn't be so intent on this if it didn't look awesome inside the car.
I had one thought tonight... What if I poured some JB Weld in there, then drilled out the center and tapped it for the right threads? :welder:
I wonder if you could get a Heli coil that has the inside threads that match the shifter but outside threads that match the ball?
How 'bout taking the shifter out of the car, putting some JB weld inside the ball (and on the shifter threads), and putting the shifter into the ball (but leaving it upside down so the JB weld doesn't run out) until it hardens? You could even put some saran wrap or pipe teflon on the threads of the shifter so it wouldn't glue itself to the JB Weld threads, that way you could remove it if you ever wanted...
I was gonna suggest the helicoil too. That would allow you to remove it when you want, too, down the road.
j.b weld and rethread
helicoil all the way, had a B&M shifter years ago on a car and it had a helicoil in it to fit the car it was on.
Scott
I say use the JB weld or something like it. The best way I know of to keep it from sticking to the threads would be to coat it with silcone oil/lube. That is if you use the JB weld stuff to form it to the threads. Not drilling and retapping the .
They used to make thread adapters for the hurst T handles that would just screw into the shift .
Thanks for the replies, folks. I had thought about cutting the thread sizes on the inside and outside of a piece of pipe, but I thought it would be way too inaccurate. I guess that's what the helicoil does...
Where could I find a helicoil for these specific thread sizes?
well my thought is to go to a machine shop to make a insert for that camaro shift ... possibly drill out the a lil bit to make room for the insert that has the same threads as the shifter handle... would have to secure the insert in the by use of glue or some sort.. im gonna do the same thing with an aluminum shift i made for a ranger(splined) im gonna get a little insert made and have a set screw in it.
Do it so you can remaove it if you ever need to.You may damage the leather somehow and it would be nice to be able to replace it.
Since no one else said it....
Coug-maro!
Lol.
It makes the car go faster. It is, after all, from a Z-28.
Finding a helicoil might be tough and jb weld is for rednex. If possible find a weatherhead bushing and use thread locker, I've done this before and it turned out great theres even a hex on the top of the bushing, which would be on the bottom of the shift , to tighten it down. I ground the hex down quite a bit for appearence sake, also by grinding it down you can get the to face the exact direction you want it to when fully tightened. Not that that would matter on a ball type .
Uh huh huh.
You said "".
Huh huh.
I found something that will work its called duramix its made by 3M and works great for exactly this kind of thing.
I agree with that too, it's simply, and the fastest way...
Oops...
Here's what happened:
While looking for a helicoil, I found some nylon bushings that can be driven into a shift , then tapped for threads.
I had one that was a good fit, but I needed to drill out the Camaro shift to make it perfect.
I ended up drilling straight through it and ruining the . I was careless.
Instead, I found a on an Escort at the boneyard for $2. I had to drill it and tap new threads, but it turned out great!
I'll post pics later.
its funny this thread is still going on and i just so happened to notice it today. Yesterday i resolved this same issue on a friends suv.
the had a thread reducer
the shifter itself had a hole dead center of it.
i got a bolt that screwed into the shifter "T" handle to confirm thread pattern
i cut the bolt head off
i ground down the unthreaded end of the bolt to a diameter that fit in the shifter hole
inserted modified stud into shifter hole and layed out my welding drop cloth (damp towels ect will do)
i wire welded the stud to the shifter and screwed the on.
the whole thing took about 15 min from start to finish.
Im sure your problem is the exact opposite of this illustration but i just thought id bring it up. Ill bet your setup has a threaded stud fab'd off the end of the shifter. If thats the case,, i wonder if you could have a nut welded to the bottom of your baseball with the thread pattern matching the shifter itself. that would solve your issue.
Oh well. Maybe I'll find another Camaro Z-28 shift at the boneyard.
For now, here's the Escort shift . It almost looks stock, if you ask me.
Is that the one you got at pick n pull?
Yeah.
I had to drill this one out and tap new threads, but at least I didn't ruin it in the process. Roffle.