The 71-4 Bench B Body shifter is the most user friendly of all the Pistol Grips...I've got one in my 73 RR. But, there is one small quirk with it. When installed in it's original application, that shifter is mounted to a dog bone shaped adapter that raises it up approx. 3 inches and back approx. 3 inches. It also does one other thing...tilts it back several degrees. Without that adapter, shifting into 1st or 3rd means pushing forward and down. When it's oriented correctly, those positions are more or less straight level. If you were to raise the shifter a bit, and tilt it back a hair, you'd REALLY love it!
I want to see a picture of that bracket if anyone has it.
That bracket would literally put the shifter body up, in the car and against the seat in an A body. You don't want the bracket, you just want the tilt that the bracket provides.
I can't vision how that works in my A-body? The linkage?
I tracked my shifter on the fedex website and it got one mile
away Friday@6pm and the fedex hub is closed til Monday! !!!!!
rotest::banghead:#-o
That bracket is for the B body cars ONLY. It will NOT work on an A body. It's for the B body bench seat cars, and uses the forward pad on a B/E body dual shifter pad transmission. The bucket seat B/E bodies used the rear shifter location. On an A body 833 that bracket would stick up through the floor!
The 71b body pistol grip works with both bench seat and bucket seat a body cars. You can use an E body console pistol grip in a bucket seat A body if the 71b non console grip is too high for you, but I found the E body pistol grip too short for my tastes even with buckets.
Yes, I understand that bracket is ONLY for B Bodies, and I'm not saying anyone should try to use it on an A. What I tried to point out, is that in addition to raising and moving the shifter rearward, that bracket ALSO tilts it back, so that the shifter is completely upright when in neutral. If you install the 71-4 Bench shifter without that bracket, it is tilted forward, as seen in all the pics people have posted on this thread.
To use that shifter in an A body, and have it oriented as it should be, one would have to fabricate some sort of adapter that would tilt it back about 20 degrees.
The way I see it happening is the original aluminum bracket that bolts to the transmission will have to come off and a new one will have to be made that is clocked a little different than the original. Should be an easy job, just a little time and effort involved.
A simple aluminum bracket that raises the shifter about 2 inches, and tilts it back to the upright when in neutral position would be very simple to fabricate. I've driven cars with this shifter...both stock B Body and in an A body the way it's shown in the pics in this thread, and the difference is night and day. It's totally worth whatever it takes to position the shifter to be oriented as intended.
Hey 360 scanp, I got stuck behind this old bag of dirt in a scamp today he was making a right hand corner and good lord it took him a 2 minutes to eeeaaaaazzzzzzz that thing around the corner!! LOL! what a stock original 2-door classic that was. I rarely see any old people in dusters anymore I catch a few in scamps and swingers here in town in Portland Oregon.
I used a 71-74 B-body bench seat shifter in my 66 but is a perfect fit for all a-bodies wether it has a bench or bucket seats, I even used the shifter boot from my old Hurst shifter that has a round handle.
I am gonna add the same shifter, show me you modified "boot".
I love the look of these but I also like short throws...I don't think you'd want to raise the shifter 2". First, I'm pretty sure it would hit the tunnel if you raised it that much. Then you'd need to fabricate new shift linkage, as the stock 4-speed shift rods wouldn't work. And the 71 B body bench handle already sits pretty high in the cabin on an A-body. Raising it two inches would mean you'd have to reach up to shift it. You'd have to go with the E-body handle if you raised the shifter any, unless you wanted your pistol grip to be as high as the steering wheel.
If the angle really bothers you that much, the easiest way to take care of it would be to weld a small pie shaped wedge into the shift handle right above were it mounts into the shifter. The "fix" would stay covered by the shift boot, and if you kept the upper part of the handle cool with a wet rag while welding you wouldn't even need to rechrome the handle.
But seriously, the angle isn't that significant. And as far as "oriented as intended", that handle, or any pistol grip handle for that matter, was never intended to be in an A-body so I don't see how it matters. I personally think the handle works very well just as it is. I actually like the angle of how it sits, and it shifts well.
Same handle in a '71 Roadrunner
Stock E-body handle. More angle than any of them, and that's factory.
But what shifter is this ? B or e body bucket shifter ? Or a body bench ? What year ? I like it but looks way shorter than I've seen in other a bodies pHeres mine
But what shifter is this ? B or e body bucket shifter ? Or a body bench ? What year ? I like it but looks way shorter than I've seen in other a bodies p