• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Shortened stock shifter with reverse lockout

R

rollinstylee

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Mar 30, 2007
Messages
1,007
Location
Dublin, OH
I was bored today so I went to the shop and did the shifter mod. For more info and searchability of this post, the thread size for the shift knob is M12x1.25 as I found in another thread. I ran the die down the existing threads and continued down the shaft a little over an inch, left the die on the shifter, cut 1" off the top (a couple new threads past the end of the original ones) with a vertical band saw, chamfered the new edge with a belt sander at about 45 degrees to allow the knob to screw down farther, and then backed the die out to clean the new threads. As an added touch, I shortened the reverse lockout by cutting out a 1" section from the middle as seen in the pic, again with the vertical band saw, and then 5-minute epoxying it back together. Works and feels like a dream, and it looks how it should have looked stock! No comments on my cheapo gauges, that was another "bored" activity and I like'em. :p

HPIM0792.jpg


HPIM0796.jpg
 
Thats excellent man. I was thinking about doing this to my car but was not sure about how to attach the two reverse lockout sections back together. I don't have to think about it any more now I can just do it.
Thanks for including a pic.:laugh:
 
Yeah, I don't think an inch does too much. And the guages would look really good if you mounted them just a little further back. IMO.
 
I'm surprised y'all think it looks stock...it feels and looks to me significantly shorter. I didn't want to make it really short, just take it down a bit to make it less goofy tall and not block my sweet gauges. And btw, I would have mounted them further back if I drilled my own holes, but alas I utilized the existing radio mounting holes. But let's keep this thread about the shifter because as I said I know the gauges are crap, I just did them as an experiment and then left them. :o
 
its clearly shorter then stock .... if it was still stock it would be even with the bottom of the radio ....
 
people only think that because they're used to B&M's and other short shifters. heres an oldddddddd picture with my old interior that has all since been swapped out(new steering wheel, airbag, floor mats, seats...)

IMG_0502.jpg
 
Hooooooly....:shocked:

Is that a B&M? It looks even shorter than one but has that metal lockout so I'm not sure. Did the effort ramp up with a lever that short?
 
I see no appeal in a short throw shifter. Money better spent elsewhere. Nice custom work though.
 
That's why I spent $0 on mine. :laugh: And came out with something that's ergonomically better than both stock and B&M, CEG-proven to look factory stock, and won't break like B&Ms are known to do. That's not to knock those who have that shifter, it just wasn't worth it to me and I wanted to illustrate that you CAN retain the lockout since I hadn't seen anyone say they'd done it before.

Thanks for the compliments.
 
I did that 8 years ago on my 98 as well. Worked very well. I took about an inch and a half out. I didn't leave much of the plastic body, just enough for the Zap CA to take hold. Worked like a charm and looked stock.
 
I did that exact same thing. I eventually got tired of the reverse lockout as there is one built into the tranny, so I took it off and cut it down a lot more.
 
What did you guys do to re-thread it? I wanna do this (as well as get rid of the reverse lock out) but I'm not sure i trust myself with cutting and re-threading....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top