The Official John Lee Jr Thread

[Sharps40]

Shifter adapter prototyping time. So, picked up 3 feet of 5/8" round bar....will bend it up later for a shifter handle.....and try to taper it in the drill press for addition of a knob...but....

If you look at the photos of the shifter on the T5, the Chevy shifter is a 3/4" dia round bar....for shifters are half round and the handles bolt on. Most folks cut off the Chevy shifters and weld their custom shifter on. I don't wanna weld it...I might want to change shifters like GoodWife changes shoes....so...options.

I could cut off the excess chevy shifter, grind one side flat and drill it to accept any of the ford style shifter bars. I might still do that but for now, I want to try something perhaps a bit easier....a nice tapered round adapter that slides on and cross bolts to the T5 stub I'll be leaving behind after cutting off the excess.

So, 5/8" thin wall steel tube slips over the 5/8 rod I bought...so far so good, one end can be mounted with minimal work...but its thin wall. 3/4 inch steel gas/water pipe is a bit over 3/4" ID and as it turns out, perfect.

So...first, get the other end of the thin wall sized up so it'll accept the 3/4" diameter stub of the T5 chevy shifter. Grease, Smasher Wacker and a variety of sockets to slowly expand one end of the thinwall pipe....sorta tapered opening.



Lemmie tell ya, this ain't an easy job...but I got plenty of thin wall to practice with.

One end of the thin wall roughly tapered to accept the 3/4" shaft and the other end left alone to accept the 5/8" shaft...now I grease up the OD of the thin wall and drive it into the gaspipe and get after the inside with the sockets again to improve the shape of the thin wall and its taper.....the gas pipe acts as a hollow anvil.



I split the gas pipe a bit, shape on the installed thin wall sleeve, slit the pipe some more, shape the thin wall installed in the pipe and finally slit the gaspipe thru and drive the sleeve out, the gas pipe retains the taper. "I meant to do that." Lucky me.



The sleeve installed in the gas pipe....the shifter in the top of the sleeve...ready to cross drill and bolt. If it all fits the T5 shifter when rough assembled, I'll set up the lower half of the adapter for two cross bolts to attach to the shifter. From there I can bend and shape my shifter shaft, install the ball and if really industrious, get out my arc welder and some hangers and weld the adapter to the shifter shaft. (Or get my boy to Mig it for a couple Tacos from Tacos El Primo)

[Sharps40]

Nice easy Sunday messin around the house and with John Lee. Mowed the yard and mulched in all the leaves.

Then, gave John Lee a good cleanin and another shot of TurtleCrap Ice.....he's getting spotted and dull under the Ice so I reckon its gonna be rub out time again soon. But, that's the price of a single coat paint system that's 19+ years old.

Looks good though....enough shine for me...



Then, preppin the underside for a Winter T5 install. Didn't mess with another shifter adapter design today...but got one in mind. Instead, took a look at the e-brake cross member and figured might as well get it ready for removal since it'll be in the way when I go to set in the new T5 from below.

Ground off and drilled out the rivets, one at a time since this is a daily driver truck and replaced the rivets with bolts, nuts and washers. Its easier to grind and drill than to try to pop the rivits out after grinding....there's enough boing in the crossmember to make tappin the rivet shaft and head out a slow painful process...so after doin that on the first one, I ground and drilled vice grind and SmashWack.

But, lookin it over from the drivers side...as needed I can put a small knotch in the crossmember and drop it just a bit over 1". Still clearing the exhaust pipe.



On the passenger side....nothing in the way so as needed I can drop the member here more than an inch. That would put the crossmember on a slant but its no show truck and its not dropped either. If one inch left and one inch right will clear it though, that's what I'll prefer to do.



But, for now, an hours work done on the crossmember for savin time later. I'm going to try to keep on the lil things like this so when the time comes, the trans swap can be mostly that, a trans swap, not a complete redesign of the chassis.

[Old Bleu]

Rich, I think that Goddwife might need to think about coming home early. :-O

I hope to install my T5 the week after next, and need to get the rivets out of my crossmember and install bolts too. Are you saying that you ground the head off the rivet on the underside of the frame and then drilled up through the rivet? That is what I had in mind to do. I'm not sure what you mean by vice grind. I figured I would remove one rivet at a time and replace it with a nut and bolt to keep everything in place. Did you have to get to the top side of the rivet on the inside of the frame? I'm hoping it can all be done from the bottom side of the frame, but that is probably wishful thinking. :-)

[Sharps40]

Originally Posted by Old Bleu

Rich, I think that Goddwife might need to think about coming home early. :-O

I hope to install my T5 the week after next, and need to get the rivets out of my crossmember and install bolts too. Are you saying that you ground the head off the rivet on the underside of the frame and then drilled up through the rivet? That is what I had in mind to do. I'm not sure what you mean by vice grind. I figured I would remove one rivet at a time and replace it with a nut and bolt to keep everything in place. Did you have to get to the top side of the rivet on the inside of the frame? I'm hoping it can all be done from the bottom side of the frame, but that is probably wishful thinking. :-)

Perzactly (one at a time)...grind off from the underside....when I punched it from the underside the crossmember popped up and then it was hell chiselin the head off from the top side of the frame and too much bouncy flex in the cross memberto drive the rivet up and out from the bottom.

So, grind off the head under the frame/ground side, drill thru the rivet with 25/64 bit from the underside.....easier than using the SmasherWacker in tight spaces.

(Vice = Instead of or Verses.....)

[Sharps40]

Oh yeah, put in an Eflay bid for an NC 1965 license plate....so far I'm at $10.49 for what looks like a clean and relatively rust free original plate.

If I win it, it go's on the truck and the current plate languishes under the seat!

[Old Bleu]

Thanks, I got ya. Good luck on the plate. I got my '64 plate on ebay for around $15 as I recall. It's not pristine, but then neither is my truck! I get a lot of comments on the old tag, people really get a kick out of seeing it!

[Sharps40]

Make sure you post up a buttwad of photos of that install. We need a really good stickie for S10 T5, Camaro T5 and Astro Van T5....what I saw up in the FAC is pretty involved for my pea brains...not enough pictures, too many letters and punctuation marks.

[Sharps40]

Shifter, one each, floor type for a 1965 C10 truck....not cheep on fleebay or elsewhere...so, under $20 and lets duplicate the shape provided by Lugnutz and adapt it to my Astro T5 for John Lee.

5/8" dia steel rod mounted in the drill press and ready to spin up....500ish rpm here and wobble free running against the hole in the table top.



Mark a cut line for the top section that I'll taper in later....



Bottom cut line, about 6 or more inches down, bend will be here.....leaving my top a bit long for trimming later.



Spin the press up to 1100 rpm and grind the steel with the fiber wheel....a 1/2 shank up top and a smooth taper to the lower mark where I'll make the bend.



The taper roughed in with the grinder....



Smoothing at 1100 rpm with a series of files.....finalizing the shape and just a bit of hour glass at the bend so its easier to bend////more likely to retain/keep the bend just in that spot, not up or down the shaft in a big C shape....bending it cold....



Smoothing out the bulk of the file marks at 1100 rpm with good old 100g aluminum oxide paper.....



And now, I separate the main shifter from the stub in the chuck...no need for rpm, just finish the cut with the hack saw, it'll be flat enough.....

[Sharps40]

Flip the assembly around in the chuck, check the runout and spin it up to 1100 rpm again. Polish up the remainder of the shaft with 100g paper.



Simple hand tools and a drill press and a tapered ball end for the chevy shifter....this ain't rocket science, just careful work in a Bring Whatcha Got Garage....





Starting the bend...I have no vice, no torch and no helper....but I have a drill press with a sturdy iron deck.....



The bend stays in the hour glass, no C-shape above or below the hourglass...perfect....checking against Lugnutz drawing.....much more bend needed.....



Sometimes it pays to have a lil extra fatness, after a couple more bends and trys,,,,right on the money.....



I want to leave the shifter long for now, but not quite this long.....lets shorten it....



I picked my spot, chucked it up for 200ish rpm and roughed in the cut with the grinding wheel....stop down the RPM and finish it with a hacksaw....

[Sharps40]

When yer spinnin that bent end, low rpm is the word and keep yer shins back outta the way....its an ouchie in the making....



Pretty good, I should have at least 3 or 4 more inches on this shifter leg than I need but we'll start out long on the adapter and trim it back from there after the trans is in solid against the bell housing.



Getting busy with a good quality 1/2" die and some axle grease.....I put about 2" of thread on the end of the shaft...why 1/2" dia? That's what dia thread my Aussie Red Back Shifter Ball takes......



We'll get a prettier jam nut and collar for the top later but, its lookin like it'll work out on the top end.....



And a rough idea what it'll look like installed on a to-be-shortened Chevy S-shaped shifter spud......

[Lugnutz65]

[TJ's Chevy]

Originally Posted by Lugnutz65

That is so funny!!!! Great job Lugnutz65!!!

[Sharps40]

Originally Posted by Lugnutz65

Ha, love it! And the Barbarosa is upset cause that's his sack hangin there by deer as my muzzleloading season lunch bag.....

The Buck and the Corsican are happy their sacks were too small to hold a sammich!

[Sharps40]

Well, that's it....US Government Shutdown. I am free to drive my truck all day and go hunting. Happy joy. Bastards in DC....

[shok]

You a Government worker?

All of this has me sooooo confused.

[Sharps40]

While Cornholios in DC make no progress on the budget, I'm at home on a workday tinkerin on my truck. Would like to be makin mo money but by direction I'm outta there and home makin shifters.

Time to adapt the S shaped S10 shifter to a straighter stick that'll work with a 1965 bench seat.....

Made a mark where the cut goes, just above the S where the stick will point forward away from the bench seat.....



Work thru with the jig saw and a good blade, that's tuff steel in that shifter....



After a little fitting of the inner and outer sleeves, the both drop on about where I want them,,,,2" of shifter spud in the sleeve and leaving 2" of sleeve to drop the shifter handle into later.



Final fitting of the inner sleeve I made up earlier, it took some shaping of the S10 spud but its a light drive on fit.



After some clean up and deburring all over, the tapered outer sleeve made up earlier looks much better,.....its also a light drive fit over the inner sleeve.....



Jigging up with a gunsmithing scope drill jig to drill 4 pilot holes (two for s10 spud + 2 for shifter handle) in the outer sleeve. Jig gets em on center in and out.....no angled holes thru the shifters leaving thin spots in the shafts.



Once I'm satisfied with the four pilot holes in the outer sleeve (practice/experiment on the $2 piece) I put the outer sleeve on the inner sleeve on the shifter spud, jig it up and thru drill all four pilot holes.....



After each pilot hole pierces the back I change out bits and thru drill the hole for the Grade 8 bolts and nuts that will clamp the assembly together later.....

[Sharps40]

A bit of final clean up and shaping of the S10 spud.....



A quick look on the bench.....



Not drilling the shifter handle now...when the T5 is in place I'll adjust height, base bend and the angle of the ball left or right before drilling and finalizing the set up. For now I have a 20" tall shifter with plenty of leeway for angle, rotation, height, etc. Should require only a touch of adjustment and some paint to finish it up.



With the mock up on the trans, chevy dust boot still works, it'll stay in place under the interior boot.....this is the shifter on a level transmission in Reverse Gear.



Here the level trans, shifter in first gear....the short shift kit is lovely, I'd estimate total throw from Reverse to first at 6" or less! The throw from first to second to third/fourth/fifth is wonderfully close together!



Time to go make a shifter knob jam nut....I'm unemployed till Bungholio and his staff get a budget so, makin nuts is the way I'm goin instead of buyin em.

[Old Bleu]

No one can call you a nonessential employee! Looks like you are making good use of your time off. Impressive work. You and Lugnutz make me feel like a deadbeat for just buying a stick for mine.

[Sharps40]

Originally Posted by Old Bleu

Thanks, I got ya. Good luck on the plate. I got my '64 plate on ebay for around $15 as I recall. It's not pristine, but then neither is my truck! I get a lot of comments on the old tag, people really get a kick out of seeing it!

22 hours left on that plate and I'm still highest bidder at $10.49. So, maybe I'll win it. ya ain't far off the beaten path. they keep putting us outta work I might have to install that T5 and break it in on the interstate with a trip down to Kathleen GA to visit a pal and it'd be easy to swing by yer place. With luck they'll keep us workin though so I can afford to buy the clutch and pressure plate + throwout bearing set for the Astro and see if it'll fit in there like a glove.

Meantime, I'm sippin good Wild Turkey Rare Breed with rocks and mentally preppin myself to hit the employment insurance office tomorrow morning. Uggg....

[Sharps40]

Best I can do with Paint...pics are close to the same size and angle. At least in this wag, ya can tell it ain't a long throw from reverse to first. The short throw kit should make for a nice smooth and easy to manage transmission in John Lee. Lookin forward ta seein if the shorter throw leaves me a bit of room for a cupholder on the hump....kinda got spoiled havin one there right by the seat!

I'm wonderin about the reach right now....shorter shouldn't hit the dash and oughta clear the seat in any event. But from a standpoint of reachin up to first, third and fifth, I'm thinkin this one might wind up a bit C shaped like the 55 57 hurst Bell Air Bench seat shifters.....we'll C....get it? We'll C? Yep, been drinkin good bourbon again........goin down for more....

[Sharps40]

Thanks NC....Progressive Carry Gun Laws enacted today....

Went to a restaurant. Carried concealed. Restaurant served Alcohol. No gun buster sign.
I had dinner and a cola. Feels good to be armed and legal in a restaurant other than some burger joint. Now I can carry and have a nice sit down meal with real napkins and real chairs with padding for my tired butt and no screamin kids and an appetizer that ain't a microwaved fried dried glaze apple pie tube thingie in a sleeve.

[Old Bleu]

I hope you get the plate on ebay. My 64 GA plate is green, and Sunday we were behind a 67 - 72 C10 on Hwy 78 that had the same color tag. I thought why would that guy have a 64 plate on his newer truck? I caught up to him, and it was a 68 with an old 68 tag, same color as my 64. I guess they were the same color in 64 and 68.

You're welcome to stop by here anytime, ole John Lee would certainly draw some envious looks in these parts. We're out east, about miday between Atlanta and Athens. Lugnutz had mentioned that once we all get some highway gears we ought to think about a get together of the southestern guys somewhere. I like the idea.

That shifter is evolving in every post, and I supect it won't be long before it is in the truck. This weekend, I ordered a shifter knob from a guy on Stovebolt.com; I'm kind of going for an old school look, hope it matches. Will post a picture when I get it.

[Sharps40]

Yep, we gotta get a South and East get together Goin. I'm thinkin somewhere in SC or NE GA.

Coast would be great and Old Town Savanna GA is absotutly the loveliest ol town I ever been to....but anywhere, anyparking lot and a buncha us old trucks and it'll be Elvis and Hermans Hermits time all over again! Spring is comin lets get rollin!

[Sharps40]

Done. Auction won...new old NC tag for $15.49.....$5 of that is shipping!

But, Look for John Lee to be rollin, sometime after 7 October, with original 1965 NC License plate DX-1483.

[Old Bleu]

Congratulations. Gotta see a picture once you get it installed.