Engine and Transmission Tech

I am part way thought the V8 & T5 swap on my 1978 MGB. ! am looking for suggestions on where to buy / make or modify Shift lever for 1985 Camaro T5. I want to keep the stock look of a 1978 MGB.

I’m working on the same problem.

The factory original camaro/firebird T5 shifters come up on eBay from time to time, but they must be modified to account for the original angled installation in the Camaro/Firebird. Easy enough if you can grind and weld, but the shift feel of them was never good, even when new. If you’re looking to match the original MGB shifter location exactly, you’ll need to put a compound “gooseneck” in the shift lever to move it about an inch rearward and an inch to the left, give or take.

Look for a Pro5.0 shifter or Hurst shifter, they’re about $180 new, or $100-ish used. They are precision milled, with positive stops at the extremes of each gate that supposedly give a much crisper, better feeling gear shift, and protecting the internal shift forks from excessive wear. They both make a version for GM T5s, and they have a short vertical stub to receive whatever shift lever you want. B&M shifters are another option, but they have an integrated shift lever that may not come through the trans tunnel where you want it to. On Hurst and Pro5.0 shifters, you can bend and drill out a stock MGB shift lever to match the two mounting holes on the shifter stub.

You likely won’t find a decent used aftermarket GM shifter for sale anytime soon, I’ve been watching eBay for a month and haven’t seen anything I want. Another option is the cheap Chinese clones of the high-end aftermarket shifters They’re about $40. I don’t know about the feel or durability of them, but the price is nice.

I’m told the mounting plate of the aftermarket shifters for foxbody Ford Mustangs can be re-drilled to suit a GM T5. The rear holes line up just right, then redrill the front holes. You can find mustang shifters on eBay all the time. That’s probably your cheapest/best/quickest option.

If you’re not into fabricating and prefer a bolt-in option, there’s QuickStik (QwikStick?) that makes the same style of precision-machined shifter and sells different shift lever stubs with a wide range of offsets to suit many applications. They run about $300.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/2018 04:00PM by RDMG.

Quote:

The factory original camaro/firebird T5 shifters come up on eBay from time to time, but they must be modified to account for the original angled installation in the Camaro/Firebird. Easy enough if you can grind and weld, but the shift feel of them was never good, even when new.

For what it's worth, I actually did use an OEM Camaro shifter - I got it new, back in the day - and I simply cut it off one inch above the vibration damper. Made my own knob... sort of a quill style attachment instead of threading on. There's a snapshot on my gallery page. The length and peculiar rightward angle of the lever have never bothered me, but I agree that it's not slick shifting- the good news is that it's finally starting to loosen up now that I've worn it in. Another 50,000 miles and I'll probably really like it.

I made the one I use from a modified Miata shift rod.
Like Curtis wrote I cut the damper off and bent to fit.

D&D sells one or at least I purchased one 18 years ago.

Hmm, I took a stock shifter out of an S10 pickup with a T5 and removed the long top part of the arm. This left a short S that needed only to have a shifter knob installed. I made mine with a B&M T handle. Perfect height installed in the GT without any other mods required. Mid 80s Camaro trans with S10 tail housing.




Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2018 01:50PM by GTplus.