Will GM 200r4 work with factory floor shift location?
OK...in the pic you can see the torque shaft and you can also see an arrow pointing to the torque shaft. On the Cuda trans tunnel directly to the left of the torque shaft (close to where the arrow is pointing) there is a bulge or semi flat area. If you look inside the car this area is in front of the gear shift handle and around the area where your ankle/calf/knee rests when you're accelerating. In fact if you stick your hand under the console and reach up and forward you can feel the torque shaft. The bulge or semi-flat area is just below the shaft that you feel under the console. If you peel away the carpet it's obvious. I noticed that in the pics that "Mopar to ya" posted there was no bulge in that area so I can only assume that the bulge was put there to make clearance for the shifter linkage on cars with consoles??
Anyway this semi-flat area is where I might mount the rod end to support the torque shaft under the car. This is the only major problem I see. You have to find a good solid place to attach the pivot point. Of course if your car is disassembled it makes it much easier once you know where exactly the 200R4 will actually rest.
In the second pic you can kinda see the bulge, it's just below the torque shaft rubber boot. It's easier to see in real life. I can't see an easy way to attach the pivot point to the trans. The only possible place is on that machined ear that sticks out of the driver's side trans area (200R4) but I'm afraid that it might break off with the back and forth torque applied when your're shifting. With no place on the trans you have to look for a place on the body. The upper trans cross member is close by but it will be mostly cut away to install the 200R4. You might be able to mount something to the driver's side cross member bolt but the one closest to the torque shaft will not be there once the 200R4 is installed.
So I'm looking at putting a 1/8" or 3/16" plate on both sides of the semi-flat area just below the torque shaft boot and install a 1/2" rod end with the rod end shaft and nut protruding inside the car. Once you get the correct distance to keep the torque shaft vertical you can cut off any excess rod end threaded shaft so that all you'll have inside the car is a basically the thickness of the jam nut. I already ordered a 1/2" rod end from Jegs . If you use this method get a rod end that have as much travel as possible (angle of rotation). The one I ordered has 20 degrees of rotation. This is important because there no way you'll be able to mount the rod end perpendicular to the torque shaft unless you hammer and beat the trans tunnel until it has a nice flat vertical surface. I don't want to do that so I'll just buy the rod end with 20 degrees of rotation. Since the torque shaft must be vertical the rod end spherical ball should be able to rotate enough so it doesn't bind. The nut portion of the rod end will be easily hidden by the carpet and no one will know it's there. That's the plan so far. For anyone who has there car already disassembled it's a simple matter of putting the toque shaft in and getting it vertical (in both directions) then you can easily locate the pivot point and mounting surface just under the torque shaft boot. It you go too low you'll run out of torque shaft and you'll have no place to weld on the arm.
Now some one out there might say that because of motor torque and motor movement during acceleration the torque shaft pivot was deliberately mounted to the trans so that there is no binding??? It might be true but since you have two pivot points on the LOWER shifting rod (one at the trans shift lever and another at the torque shaft) I don't see how it could bind. I think Mopar put the pivot point on the trans for ease of assembly. Besides the majority of motor movement occurs closest to the front and is less and less as you approach the rear of the drive train.
I'm wore out from writing...back to work.
Treblig in Tex