Hurst Comp Plus Shifter Alignment Problem.

[Franko]

Hello. I put in a 1965 Muncie 4 speed (Nos. 3851325 (maincase), 38757584 (extension housing) & 3831707 (sidecover)) in my 1968 Camaro. I have also installed the complete console kit and a Hurst Competition Plus (No. 391-4339), with installation kit (No. 373-4529), as recommended by Hurst Tech. The problem is the shifter stick hits the right side and top of the shift plate. And the shift plate slider will make it an even worse fit. The car previously had the holes in place to install the console and it appears to be centered. I have also tried heating and bending the stick, with poor results so far. Does anybody have any recommendations to fix this. Thank you.

[bertfam]

Hurst lists the non-console and the console as the same part numbers (shifter and kit), and I know that's not right. Looks like they're discontinued the correct assembly and gone with only one "generic" one.

For the throw, the only thing I could recommend would be to MAKE YOUR OWN shifter arms out of 1/4" x 1" stock. It's an old trick to shorten the throw. I do it on all my cars. The stock arms are about 3/4" longer than required and making your own allows you to drill the rod attaching holes closer to the transmission attaching holes, thus making the throw on the shifter lever much tighter (shorter). Also make sure you use the steel bushings and not the nylon. This will keep everything tighter as time goes on. Another trick I always do is to drill new holes in the shifter handle itself, above the existing holes . This lowers the handle in the assembly and decreases the throw even more. You may have to cut off the bottom of the handle to make it fit, but it's worth it.

As for hitting the side, I have no idea how to help on that one! It appears that the handle you have isn't designed for the console shifter. Bending it is probably the only option for this. Maybe if you lower the handle in the assembly like I said above, you'll now clear the sides.

Also make sure you adjust the stops correctly. This is a very important step.

Ed

[Farm Boy]

There is an adjustment slot in the mounting bracket. After you loosen the two bolts that attach the shifter to the bracket you can rotate the shifter backward. This should fix the stick hitting the front of the console shift plate. You will have to readjust the shifter rods after you move the shifter.



The stick hitting the right side of the shift plate leads me to believe you may have a big block crossmember. Camaros with big blocks mounted the transmission to the right of the centerline. Hurst did nothing to compensate for the big block cars in their 67-68 Camaro install kit. It is also possible that your subframe could be pushed over to the right.

When the left motor mount is broken the left side of the engine and transmission will lift when you punch it, causing the stick to hit the right side of the shift plate.

[hotrod68]

I've never seen a Competition/Plus mounting bracket like that--perhaps Hurst has changed the design. In the old days they bolted straight to the tailshaft with the triangular bolt holes already there, with no plate that went under the transmission mount. For use with a console there was a dogleg handle mounting bracket that the handle bolted to to move it over. That looks more like an old Hurst Indy shifter mounting plate to me. Guess nothing stays the same...they always change a tried-and-true design and screw it up. 

[rat pack]

I've never seen a Competition/Plus mounting bracket like that--perhaps Hurst has changed the design. In the old days they bolted straight to the tailshaft with the triangular bolt holes already there, with no plate that went under the transmission mount. For use with a console there was a dogleg handle mounting bracket that the handle bolted to to move it over. That looks more like an old Hurst Indy shifter mounting plate to me.

That has always been the mounting bracket for the 67-68 Camaros with Muncies since at least the early 70's. The 69 uses a different mounting bracket (triangular one you described) as the hole in the floor is in a different location than that of the 67 & 68's with 4-spds. I found this out the hard way a few years ago when we used the Hurst mounting kit for a 69 in a 67 as it had the side cover and forks for a 69. The shifter would not come through the hole unless it was in 1st gear, and then it was jammed at the back of the factory hole. I bought the 67-68 kit as shown above and I used the levers from the 69 kit, with the rest of it from the 67-68 kit. The mounting bracket shown above is exactly what I needed to put the shifter handle in the correct location. All worked great after that.

Franko, make sure your mounting kit looks like the one pictured, if it doesn't, then that is probably your problem. Also did your car come with the console originally? From your post it sounds as if you added it. If so, then you may have it off to one side a little too much, maybe a slight adjustment of the mounting holes is all that is needed............RatPack...............

[GaryL]

A friend of mine has the same exact problem. To me it looks like if he bends the Hurst shifter handle to the left down where it bolts to the shifter it will work fine. It may need to be replated or not depending it it shows or not. How high up did you bend yours?