Shifter question.

[Perseverance 11NW]

hello, i just brought home my first GN and am starting to fix things here and there. The stock shifter is busted pretty badly. I was thinking maybe replacing it with a ratchet shifter. ( i know nothing about ratchet shifters). My main goal with the car is just a fast fun street cruiser. No competition or track use. Lemme know what u guys think. Thank ya.
Taylor

 

[Cyclops389]

If it’s busted at the handle just replace the handle. Kirban has one with hard parts instead of the plastic factory parts.


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[Gary Durden]

Ratchet shifters are expensive. As recommended just purchase parts to repair current shifter. Let us know what is broken and we can help locate the parts. Use your money else where to make it a fun street car. There are lots of mods to the engine that can be performed for more performance.

 

[fast NY Six]

If just the handle is broken, replace the handle and swap the chrome rings and buttons over. If the metal stalk is broken, find a used one on here.

 

[Perseverance 11NW]

If just the handle is broken, replace the handle and swap the chrome rings and buttons over. If the metal stalk is broken, find a used one on here.

I believe the handle is busted along with the white plastic inside the chrome rod. The cable running to the trans is frayed and needs replaced as well.

 

[Perseverance 11NW]

Ratchet shifters are expensive. As recommended just purchase parts to repair current shifter. Let us know what is broken and we can help locate the parts. Use your money else where to make it a fun street car. There are lots of mods to the engine that can be performed for more performance.

Just out of curiosity, what are some benefits of a ratchet shifter besides looking cool?

 

[Gary Durden]

Not sure on the benefits, maybe faster shifter but seems to cost upward of $1,000 just for a cool looking shifter. Go to page 3 of "Parts Wanted" and look at the ad "I'm looking for factory floor shifter with handle" and look at the poster that has the floor shifter with chrome stalk and shifter handle for sale. You could then sell your floor shifter and re-coop some of your money.

 

[Gene Van Horn]

There are several different shifter combos that work with gn. Hurst, b&m and a few more ive seen guys put in. They do look good great if done properly. Im not sure if they help preformance wise or not. From what ive read they are pretty costly and very time consuming to install, alot of altering and alot of meticulus work.

 

[SS/GN]

Find a good used stock one. Stock is cool and stealth! All those race parts are for Camaro guys. I like to keep it stock and hold all the cards close to me. Nothing better than out running a Camaro and the guys sees me at cruise night with my pillow top seats and column shift. Just a thought but it is your car so what ever you do enjoy it.

 

[Buckshot G/N]

Glad to hear you're bringing that GN up to spec. I would go with the stock shifter as well . You might as well start with less expensive quality replacement parts than the most expensive aftermarket parts. Sounds like you may have a little nest egg laying around, and you need to crack it. Well if you keep that GN long enough that nest egg will be fried in time. Personally I think the ratchet shifter only look good on T/B that run at the tracks, not the cruising T/B.

 

[fast86gn]

I bought a B&M shifter from Summitt for around $300 and then had it installed, not cheap but worth it to me. I got tired of breaking the stock shifter.

Here is a thread...
https://www.turbobuick.com/threads/most-popular-aftermarket-shifter-new-product-research.453624/

 

[~JM~]

The after-market shifters are nice if you are manually shifting the car often.

A few of them require two hands to shift into reverse. That is a bit of a PITA on a street car.

Ultimately, it would be best if your transmission was set up to automatically shift at the proper RPM range so you can just place the shift selector in either Drive or Third & let the trans do its job.

 

[Coach]

The stock shifter SUCKS....and parts for it are NOT CHEAP. Shifter handles are around $100 or more and break all the time.

 

[fast86gn]

I don't know anything about a aftermarket shifter that takes two hands? Mine doesn't. I have had my car about 22 years and have went through 3-4 stock handles, they are cheap in quality and don't last.

Someone mentioned Kirban having a better built one? Maybe but I'm never going back to stock. Love the look of the B&M and it works awesome! To each their own.

 

[Gary Durden]

Coach, where are you seeing these shifter handles for $100 or more. They are on Ebay for $25-$30 for original GM grey handles.

 

[SCOOBY DOO]

Stock shifter works just fine for racing. Set your governor at the RPM you want it to shift at. Put the shifter in 3rd...and let it do its thing.

 

[SS/GN]

Tell John Pleug that he would go faster with and fancy shifter

 

[Coach]

That's

Coach, where are you seeing these shifter handles for $100 or more. They are on Ebay for $25-$30 for original GM grey handles.

That's just a bare handle. The handle doesn't break. A complete handle with the button and chrome rings and retaining clips is $100-130.
Point is....just because GM moved it to the floor for a console display doesn't mean it's a good shifter. It's the shittiest shifter they could make and sell. It's no better the a column shifter. No reverse lockout or any kind of performance design at all.

 

[Coach]

Tell John Pleug that he would go faster with and fancy shifter

I have....
I teased him about it a few years ago, but his has a different gate plate in it I believe.
And it's Plog.

 

[NY Twin Turbo]

hello, i just brought home my first GN and am starting to fix things here and there. The stock shifter is busted pretty badly. I was thinking maybe replacing it with a ratchet shifter. ( i know nothing about ratchet shifters). My main goal with the car is just a fast fun street cruiser. No competition or track use. Lemme know what u guys think. Thank ya.
Taylor

Installing after market shifters can be a pain in the ass.

It all depends on how particular you are when it comes to how the final product looks and operates. I am not aware of any "kit" that makes it a simple bolt in and go. There is always cutting and trimming required and a lot of premeasuring and planning. There is no book of instruction on how to do it either. Everyone likes it different. Also there are the electrical modifications that may be needed for the reverse lights and P/N safety switch.This is fine for a tinkerer who has the tools and patients to stick with it until it looks and operates perfectly. But if you are not swapping to a different trans and you don't need it for racing purposes, than get what you need to fix the old factory one.

My advise would be....Get the thing up to par first and save the the fancy stuff for later.

If you do choose to to go aftermarket, then here is a pic of my B&M Mega Shifter. Took forever to install because I wouldn't stop messing with it until I was happy. Today, I still think there are things I would change if I did it all over again.