I purchased a new TKX to install in my 1984 Monte Carlo.
This car has a split bench seat so I wanted to move the shifter up to the forward position–of course you have to buy a $400-$500 shifter in order to do this.
- I bought the cheapest kit I could find off EBay. It looks like a good shifter but the instructions were a bit vague, and the pictures weren’t the best quality. They talked about removing the forward cover, then removing the roll pins from the four shift selectors that you can see in the photo here. I already removed the center roll pin before I took the photo. Then they wanted you to remove the bolts holding the tailshaft to the main case and open the case to get the roll pins out.
- Basically, all you have to do is disconnect the rod that connects this forward linkage to the sockets at the rear shifter mounting points. You can do this by removing the 4 roll pins that you see in the first picture. You remove the selector that’s visible under the top three rods, then flip that middle shift selector (center top one) upside down, then put the pins back in.
Stuff a Shop towel in there to catch the pins!
- If you can keep the roll pins from falling into the gears, you won’t have to split the case at all. I uses one of those blue shop towels to catch the pins after I drove them out. I folded the towel up and snaked it through, making sure it was under the piece I was working on. If you start by removing the top three pins, you can slide the selectors around (leaving the top left and right selectors in the transmission).
