Custom Shifter Mount Project

As the interior gets a new fresh coat of paint, I’m always at the drawing board attempting to think of ideas in my head on how to creatively separate Project 68 from any vehicle that it sits next to in the staging lanes. I believe in a life motto of “taking care of the small things, so the big thing takes care of itself.”

I try to follow this consistently so focusing on the small details and the custom shifter mount is what I will write about today. The shifter mount is a location on the car where creativity can flourish so into the tank for ideas until something of great substance came to light.

Now floating in the back of my mind for a long time has been the desire to use old pistons and rods from my Sister and I’s Jr. Dragster days. If you remember old projects of past, I’ve used these rods before as door handles.

This billet aluminum, which I believe to be 6061 grade, proves challenging to weld but would look perfect using the flat-top pistons as a platform for the shifter and thus, the idea was born. Using the rods in their natural position holding the pistons, I fired up my Everlast for some under-the-hood action to get it welded up.

Focusing on the base, I walked the cup and layered in some strong penetration as vibration, heat, excessive force are just some of the things that this mount will deal with. Welded together was a base plate for the rods to stick upward from, welding them to the pistons which presented the flat top for the shifter.

After getting it put together, I also added wings on the side to hug the transmission tunnel just a bit better for stability as side to side it was very top-heavy. With it fully welded, it got a coat of black metallic paint and is ready for install.