Ripper Shifter Install

Ok…here
you go….
for some, the Gear Shaft pin is a breeze, and for lucky
ones like me, it’s a nightmare……..This is my guess for the single
most difficult part of the install, so what I did, was to get a compressor
(Rented) and bought an air hammer and some long chisel/punch bits. I think
the ideal thing would be a rivet tool, which has a flat head on it about
1-1/2’ in diameter to merely drive the drift punch, but I couldn’t
find one, so I used the long tapered punch and in about 10 seconds the pin
was out.
Assemble the shifter according to the instructions and
with the help of someone IN the car, guide the shifter back into the boot,
line up the gear shaft with the gear actuator, and use a long drift to
line up the parts.
Then with a pair of LOOONG bent nosed pliars,
guide the pin back into place and tap it with a long punch or the air
hammer to get it started.
This is where the very pointy tapered
punch is a problem………..If I had had a rivet tool and long punch,
this would have gone better, but instead, as a result of having to drive
the pin back in with the tapered punch, it mushroomed out the end of the
pin and it wouldn’t go in all the way, and I couldn’t get the snap
ring back in the grove around it.
The good part, is that mushrooming it
out set it firmly in place, and I would be surprised if it ever came out
again…..if I ever have to replace the shifter, I’m droppin the
tranny.
Re-assembly from there was a breeze, and with the exception
of a little ”New Shifter” stiffness, it works like a charm, and I
can’t believe how short the throw is now, like I said, it’s almost
literally the ”flick of the wrist”.
Hope this goes more
smoothly for everyone else, but to add insult to injury, i came down with
a real bad upper-respiratory infection, and since I started on this, I
HAVE REALLY FELT LIKE POOPIE.
Hope this helps anyone else about
to do it….
Here’s the link to the thread in C4
Tech/Performance:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=515057