Im hoping someone here can suggest a shifter that works well in a first genaration RX7 with a chevy V8? I have a LT-1 in my 1982 RX-7 with the 4L60E transmission. Everythings installed and the engines running but need to buy a shifter. Im hoping to find a small transmission mounted style that can poke through the original shift boot location. The end of the 4L60E tranny is directly beneath the hole in the floor for the stock shifter. Im thinking some type of aftermarket auto shifter that uses a cable to move the actual tranny linkage. Would really appreciate someone letting me know what fir well on thier first gem,as I hate ordering parts and they just cant be made to work. Thanks in advance,Shawn

 

Well either everyones completely clueless..or wont take 2 minutes to respond. This is the 3rd question Ive asked that no one could help me with. Kinda disappointed.

 

Have you tried adapting an auto shifter from a 1st-gen?

 

Wish I could,have never seen a auto first gen ever. Thier getting awful scarce here in junkyards. Im buying a new B&M if it dosnt fit where I want I'll make it fit like everything else.

 

I'm not sure how much room there is in the tunnel of the FB copared to the FC, but several people (myself included) run a B&M shifter set into the tunnel of the FC. It can be bolted straight to the floor if you don't mind a real tall shifter and cutting the center consel.

 

Thank you LT-x7. Im going with a B&M Hammer shifter and will modify things to fit. Seems no ones running a LT-1 in a first gem but me? Theres a moderate amount of room left in the tunnel using a 4L60E tranny. I can cut away sheet metal and reweld in new if needed. I wanted to keep it a 5 speed ..or 6 speed but was limited to what would work with the ECU and budget. Besides with over 300 lbs of torque it wont be much slower being a auto.

 

I also have a hammer shifter.
I made a metal box from 1/8" steel and welded it to the floor board. I had to cut some sheet metal under the ash tray because the shifter was to long, but none of the cars plastic.
I also wanted a 6-speed but I couldn't fond one under $1200 and the 700R4 was free. Oh well the auto guys seem to have a lot less trouble breaking stuff.

 

True. I couldnt find a t56 within a reasonable price either. I stuck with the 4L60E that came with my LT-1. The 700r4 is very simular..maybe the same thing who knows. I just ordered a B&M hammer shifter..a VATS eliminator and some aeroquip hose. Im also thinking of buying SMJ's low mount alternator bracket...solves hood clearance issues and allows me to get rid of the power steering pump and AC compressor as well as the bracket. Shaves 50 lbs of weight off according to them. They charge 180.00 for this bracket kit which Im having a really hard time paying considering how simple it is. Which model of autometer electronic speedo did you go with?

 

Stock speedo here.
The 4L60e is the electronic newer version of the 700R4.
I made my own bracket to mount the alternator lower and remove ac, and ps. Very easy to make and cost just under $4.00 in metal. looks a little getto but not too bad. If your interested I'll take a picture and explain it to you.

 

Definately would like to see a pic of your bracket design! And please explain if you had to fabricate spacers etc etc. I found out tonight my starter has bad brushes so theres another expense....this is getting out of hand already. If I can save a few bucks building the alt mounting I'll do it. Only problem is my welder broke so hopefully I can fab one up without it. Please do post a pic when you can spare the time,thanks in advance.

 

Oh and one last thing. The electronic newer version is not really a good thing. It limits me a lot as to what trannys can be used without fooling the ECU and getting into a electrical nightmare.

 

No welding needed. All you need is a sawzall, drill, and a tape measure.
I'll get you some pics ASAP.
The nice thing about the 4L60e is it will shift into overdrive WOT stock. My R4 won't, it limits me to 108mph until I build it.
Also my motor is a 95 and had a 6-speed behind it from the factory. I didn't do a damm thing as far as computer and wiring, just put a old 700R4 behind it.

About the starter, look at it on the positive side and upgrade it.

 

Well I took some new pics of the bracket with a more camera friendly engine bay, but I can't seen to get them to load. So I posted a couple of pics a while ago here
http://www.torquecentral.com/showthread.php?t=24946
Now it's a little cleaner and a few more shinny things.

All I did was cut up the original bracket, leaving enough metal to keep it sturdy. Then flipped the alt upside down and stuck it where the ac compresure was mounted. Then I put a piece of flat steel between the alt and the bracket.(3/16" if I remember right) I put a string around it to measure the right belt length, before I went to the parts store.
Please know this bracket design isn't perfect. The alt needs to sit back toward the motor just a hair. It works but one rib would hop off the balancer at high rpm. To fix the issue I just bought a 5 rib belt compared to the 6. Then the belt just rides on the front of the balancer and one rib back on the alt.
Good luck

 

LTrx, Nice job on the bracket and thanks for the pictures. I will be making one myself now thanks to your idea and help. I think SJM asking 190.00 for thier bracket is crazy...theres not much to it at all. Im almost ready to fire it up finally. I rebuilt my starter with new brushes last night. Im a electrician so have rebuilt many electric motors. Your cars pretty quick...how many miles have you driven it since the conversion? Im just trying to find a home for a few vacuume hoses and figure out the PCV system. Anyways heres what it looks like..will get a shot of the engine installed soon when it has less tools layin on it...lol.

 

LT-x7, As a side note I dont think your bracket is ghetto at all. As long as it works..you wont see much of it once the radiator and e fan are installed anyways. For me this is a grassroots motor swap. I am trying to see how little I can buy within reason to get the job done. The only thing I plan to hire out is the custom exhaust. Spent the last day running -10 oil lines to the RX-7 oil cooler....routing3/8 lines for the tranny cooler. And mounting it all in the air dam at a 45 degree angle...easier said than done. Also my engine bay is a bit smaller so I've had to make heat shields for everything. Sheilded the -10 oil lines,3/8 tranny lines,fuel lines and parts of the wiring harness and rubber hoses. Part of the difficulty in my conversion is that I already had a CP racing rack and pinion conversion in the car which made many clearance obstacles for me. Shawn

 

LT-rx, I have been studying your pics of your alt bracket and think you should be quite proud of that idea! Most guys take the easy way out and buy a custom bracket$$$. I spent a few hours today cutting the console....riviting heavy guage sheet metal to my floor and installing that B&M hammer shifter. I have it installed but am not happy with the shifting...takes too much effort. My cable isnt kinked or damaged...it shifts smooth and easily when its not hooked to the tranny. I made sure that the cable lenght is adjusted properly. Its the transmission gear selector itself....awful damn stiff! I am hoping this is due to it sitting and will loosen up with ATF circulating inside it. Laying under the car and moving the gear selector by hand takes considerable effort. I did pour in 3 quarts of ATF but havnt started the car yet. Have a few more things to hook up...(vats elliminator) before it will run. Its been sitting for about a year since it ran last. I did grease up the moving parts on the B&M shifter as well as the cable itself. I even zip tied it where I wanted it with very gentle radius bends. So far with this conversion my saws -all has been my best friend! Hope to hear from you soon,Shawn

 

My shifter was very stiff at first also, but the tranny moved very easy by hand. I just greased the B&M and drove it a little and it loosened up.

 

Im glad to hear that. Right now only a man could shift it,the girlfriend wouldnt be capeable. My hopes are to make it very streetable and fun to drive.

 

LT-rx,
Im curious how long it took you from start to finish with your conversion? It just feels like its taking me forever and am having a hard time seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks again for your time,Shawn

 

Well first off my car is no where near done, and I don't plan on it ever being done.
But to give you an idea, it took me 2 years from when I bought the car till when it moved under v8 power. I didn't work on it nearly as much as I should have and got held up a lot from being broke all the time. I think if I had the money and worked on it more I could have had it done in 6 months. Good luck.

 

Ok I feel better now. I have been working on it a lot but money has held me up as well. Im also waiting on a decent schematic the haynes manual is almost useless. I started about 2 months ago and have all the grunt work done. Amazing how many hours you can spend relocating things and adapting things to fit. I got a lot done on it today and feel confident it will be running soon.

 

Just a matter of personal preference, but I think the stock 84-85 automatic RX-7 shifter looks so much better than any of the hokey looking aftermarket crap I have seen. It took me one evening to adapt the whole shifter to my Ford AOD.

Both trannies have 5 positions.

The donor car was a Lincoln with a cable operated shifter.

I moved the shift lever on the bottom of the shifter from the right side (Mazda) to the left side (Ford) and rewelded it.

I cut the lever on the bottom of the shifter and shortened it until the total travel was the same as the shift lever on the trannie.

I used the Mazda pushrod and welded the end fitting from the Lincoln cable, with the adjustment at mid range.

It has worked perfectly. If you get into a situation where you want a stock Mazda auto shifter, I can get you one easily here in Seattle.

Whatever you buy you will have to do some fabrication and possibly just as much as I did.

 

stilettoman, I understand where your coming from. Theres 2 problems with going the route you went with for me. One I've never even seen a automatic RX-7 much less found one in a junk yard.....any first gem's in junk yards here are very rare these days. Two I already installed a B&M hammer shifter. It took considerable fabrication and modification to make it look and fit where I wanted...definately not for a novice to attempt. I do like the reverse lockout...neutral safety switch and reverse light switch built in..I needed all 3 features. I also wanted the ratchet action shifting again rules out a stock shifter of any kind. I did my homework and made a informed decision..what I want/like may not be what someone else wants/likes. Nice job on adapting your shifter though and thanks for the input,Shawn

 

Also it would be more work for him to make a stock shifter work because he's using a 4l60e. P R N OD 3 2 1. It can be done but more work.

 

I agree forgot about that. Im also a little anti mazda. Let me explain that. Ive installed and built 3 rotary engines for this particular car. They are way too expensive to build correctly and too finicky to tune..if you abuse them its just a matter of time before you break it. So basically I consider mazda OEM stuff marginal at best. The only mazda parts remaining on my car is the body /chassis...even the suspension in custom made non mazda. I welded up a 3" mandrel bent exhaust for the car...I made a mistake and didnt install larger bump stops for the rear axle. I hit a pot hole and the axle contacted the exhaust pipe and it bent the axle! Thats how fragile and thin the metal is on most OEM mazda parts. I couldnt believe the axle bent like that but it did...basically flowmaster exhaust pipe is tougher than a mazda axle! Even 90% on my guages are autometer. Ok Im done ranting..if this upsets anyone too damn bad!