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Thread: *HOW TO* Internal Cavalier gear shift

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    Small and Shiney Dar's Avatar
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    Default *HOW TO* Internal Cavalier gear shift

    Internal Cavalier gear shift

    If you want to run a big exhaust system on your Nova you will find that the OE gear stick causes a problem hanging there right in the way of where you want the system to run. The answer is to install the gear shifter from a Cavalier.

    Tools
    • Welder, or someone who can do it for you.
    • Jigsaw (for cutting the hole in the bulkhead)
    • Hole cuttter (for cutting the hole in the bulkhead)
    • Grinder
    • Drill


    The last thing you should do is shorten the the Cavalier gear stick. It's a good idea to get the car preped first and then bolt the gearstick down where you want it to go. Measure how much needs to come off of it. Once the car prep is all done shorten then gear linkage and straighten it

    Shortening the gearshift rod

    Method 1
    Chop the rod off at the bend and then take 3" off of it (standard position). Then reweld it back together so that it is now 3" shorter and also straight. If you don't have a chopsaw to cut the bar as straight as possible or you have already done this part and it's too short. Then method 2 is where you want to look next.

    Method 2
    When shortening / straightening the rod, cut the bend off the rod leaving it as long as possible then chop the rod off the origional Nova shifter. This part now slots inside the rod on the Cav shifter (will slide in / out to give correct length). To get the right length connect it to the linkage with the box in neutral then hold the shifter in neutral weld the 2 parts together.



    You have to remove the carpet support that sits across the tunnel in front of the gear stick. Then remove the original gear stick mounting.

    Ignore the removal of the metal across the car. That was to do with something else.

    Then plate over the hole and give it a bit of primer



    Now you have to cut the hole for the internal linkage to go through. The hole must start 80mm rearward of the tunnel to the bulkhead body seam. It should measure roughly 80mm by 25mm. That is what the competition build manual says, however in practice it's best to make it extend 20mm or so. So the dimensions should be 70mm rearward of the tunnel to the bulkhead body seam. It's also a good idea to give yourself a few mm widthways as well. So it should measure roughly 100mm by 30mm.

    It is tight under there and I have had great difficulty in cutting the hole. However I have found the best way is to:-
    1. Get a hole cutter and cut two holes top and bottom.
    2. Then get a jigzaw and cut out the bits linking the two holes.


    Then paint it all and refit the interior if you took it out (which you should have done since you would have been grinding in there)


    Then last but not least fit the gearstick. Try and get it as near to the origonal position as possible. If you want it in a different position to the origonal then you must think about how long/short you need to make the gearstick. It connects to the gearbox linkage in exactly the same way as the origonal linkage. I put a thin piece of latex rubber over the hole but it's not nessacary.


    Additional Notes
    • You can obviously put the carpet back in to your car. The example shown was on a Sprint car which didn't have any carpet in the first place. You may want to add a bit of additional support to the sides of the tunnel so that the carpet has somehthing to rest on. One idea would be to not chop the whole of the carpet support out but just cut it down the middle and fold the insides down and reweld them to the floor. However you will have to take the rear part of the carpet support out to give you room to cut the hole in the bulkhead.
    Last edited by Dar; 15-02-08 at 10:06 AM.

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    you dont haveto remove the carpet you can make a hole for the shifter to pass through
    an you can patch up the origanl hole so you cant tell it was there
    will ad pic later

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    I cut a 30mm x 100mm hole, just to give a fe mm extra clearance either side of th stick

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    Nearly finished !
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    Some pics for when i fitted mine












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    Senior User The Simps's Avatar
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    Excellent guide

    Is it right that the cally shifter is perfectly straight unlike the cav one?

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    my cally one is similar in appearance to a banana

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    Senior User saloonwoody's Avatar
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    im tempted to do this but im not sure ? anyone fancy doin it for me ??

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    Simps - mine was a Calibra one and had a very slight bend in it that still needs removing, however the Astra/ Cav ones have a full blown kink...

    Some pics from my build diary, repetition to whats above, but its always good to see as many pics as possible!


    In preperation to do the internal shifter mod, I removed the excess metal tonight


    During... spot weld drill bit made a mess, ended up going through both layers! doh


    Metal gone...


    Got fed up with poxy drill bit, do got the grinder on the passenger side - much neater



    Took the internal shifter than I bought from John H, and cut the kink out by removing 3 inches, as per the guide written by Dar, however the kink wasn't as great as some I seen - but Lee had told me it needed to be straight straight


    However the other end of the shaft has a slight bend in it - is this correct? or has it been damaged previously?


    Welded back up, 3inches shorter and kinkless


    Made sure it was straight by putting the two halves in a vice and putting a spirit level across the join


    Then I marked out the 100mm x 30mm hole, however I went to 40mm wide just so I had a bit more clearence, and I set about using the air nibbler to nibble the hole out, as there is no space for a drill and jigsaw with the dash & heaters in place, the outcome... fairly neat!
    Last edited by trackdaynova; 13-04-08 at 04:15 PM.

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    im having a bit of trouble with the calibra one, any gen on whether it actually fits?

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    P N G Adam's Avatar
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    Thats a cally one above going by Ollys post, so yeah it must do....

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