Anybody have some voodoo for adjusting shifters?

C

clutchdust

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I know it seems pretty straightforward but I figure some of you crusty fellows might have some magic for making a shifter smooth as silk. Right now, I have a Hurst shifter on my Richmond 5-speed. It gets the job done, kinda. Every shift is a victory over the forces of evil. I hope to put it up on ramps this weekend and pull the shifter. I'm thinking about disassembling and polishing the rods or what ever. Ideally, I'd like it to be as smooth as owl snot, but I just be happy with one that didn't fight me every goddamn time I tried to shift.
 
Bet odds it's worn out bushings between the rods and various levers, or dried up monkey snot.....

:wink::harhar:
 
I know Long is the preferred shifter. Right now I have a dollar deficit but time surplus. Time I can spend, dollars I can't.
 
clutchdust said:
I know it seems pretty straightforward but I figure some of you crusty fellows might have some magic for making a shifter smooth as silk. Right now, I have a Hurst shifter on my Richmond 5-speed. It gets the job done, kinda. Every shift is a victory over the forces of evil. I hope to put it up on ramps this weekend and pull the shifter. I'm thinking about disassembling and polishing the rods or what ever. Ideally, I'd like it to be as smooth as owl snot, but I just be happy with one that didn't fight me every goddamn time I tried to shift.
Click to expand...

I'm chuckling reading this, as I'm in the same boat as you (Hurst shifter and the original DN 5spd). I've got a Long shifter on the 6 speed on the other Corvette, and there is a noticable difference. I always chalked it up to the difference in the transmission, as that's where all the mass and syncho action is. Heaven knows, when the shifter is out of the car you can move the linkage around with minimal effort.
So, I admit some confusion why my 6 speed shifts smoother than the 5 speed. The internals are assumably the same, which would point to the shifter being the difference.
I've been too busy with other deficient aspects of these old cars that I haven't had time to investigate the shifter issue closely. I do remember a comment in a hot rod magazine decades ago where a guy said he periodically removed the shifter boot and just poured some engine oil on the shifter internals. I'll confess I tried that, and it worked quite well for a modest duration (I might just try some Teflon spray, as I'm currently pulling the engine and I've got the shifter out). As for a long term fix, if you discover a cure let us know. :thumbs:
 
69427 said:
clutchdust said:
I know it seems pretty straightforward but I figure some of you crusty fellows might have some magic for making a shifter smooth as silk. Right now, I have a Hurst shifter on my Richmond 5-speed. It gets the job done, kinda. Every shift is a victory over the forces of evil. I hope to put it up on ramps this weekend and pull the shifter. I'm thinking about disassembling and polishing the rods or what ever. Ideally, I'd like it to be as smooth as owl snot, but I just be happy with one that didn't fight me every goddamn time I tried to shift.
Click to expand...

I'm chuckling reading this, as I'm in the same boat as you (Hurst shifter and the original DN 5spd). I've got a Long shifter on the 6 speed on the other Corvette, and there is a noticable difference. I always chalked it up to the difference in the transmission, as that's where all the mass and syncho action is. Heaven knows, when the shifter is out of the car you can move the linkage around with minimal effort.
So, I admit some confusion why my 6 speed shifts smoother than the 5 speed. The internals are assumably the same, which would point to the shifter being the difference.
I've been too busy with other deficient aspects of these old cars that I haven't had time to investigate the shifter issue closely. I do remember a comment in a hot rod magazine decades ago where a guy said he periodically removed the shifter boot and just poured some engine oil on the shifter internals. I'll confess I tried that, and it worked quite well for a modest duration (I might just try some Teflon spray, as I'm currently pulling the engine and I've got the shifter out). As for a long term fix, if you discover a cure let us know. :thumbs:
Click to expand...

OMG, I can't believe I overlooked this OLD experience....my car WAS a muncie car and so the thing was fixed for all the usual hangups as per above, and shifted 'ok'.....but then I found out that later model stick shifts actually used ATF in them.....

hummm....so I split the difference, and put in straight 30 weight synthetic engine oil....

that damn car shifted good as any import ever did.....serious....dump the damn heavy oils, and put in 30 W engine oil....I used synthetic just to be safe, but really I dunno it did any good....car ran over 2000 miles at 80 mph with a 336 rear , engine hating life and around town for 3 years use like that....no sweat...

tranny was pronunced in great shape by a guy here in Florida who buys/refurb/sells them about a dozen years ago....can't remember the name but he was big on that on the east coast anyway....

:cool:
 
My experience with the Richmonds is that out of the box shift quality will improve to a point, but will never match the ST10 or Muncie simply due to the heavier gearsets and wider distance between main and cluster shaft. Higher RPM shifts magnify the effort.

I have Long shifter and it does help, but I got the best result from the update to Richmond's 'road race brass' which is standard on some Richmonds but not the non-OD street 5 and some massage work to the sliders and forks. The improvement to shift quality was significant, but did cost some $. I also found the Richmond to be very sensitive to proper clutch adjustment and bellhousing runout for smoother shifting.

If the Hurst you have is of the Competition Plus type, Paul Cangialosi's book had a small section on rebuilding the internals:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Rebuild-Modify-High-Performance-Transmissions-Workbench/dp/1934709298/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276740195&sr=8-3"]http://www.amazon.com/Rebuild-Modify-High-Performance-Transmissions-Workbench/dp/1934709298/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276740195&sr=8-3[/ame]

I sent a junk ROD I had to Liberty's this spring and got 1st through 4th faceplated and left 5-6 synchronized. Have not installed yet, but if that does not resolve power upshift quality on a Richmond, nothing will.

2244c19873a1a4e1.jpg

Phil
 
Like any tranny, I dunno how the designers keep from blowing their minds....5 lbs in a 2 lb bag....insane....:gurney::hissyfit:
 
what fluid are you using? I was told to use syncromesh in my TKO and although I had to swallow a few times to get over $50 for a gearbox fill...... my tranny shifts very smooth, no complaints here.... unfortunately I do not have any "apple to apple" comparison as I never ran this tranny with regular gear oil or ATF....this is my '79.... my C6 for example has ATF in the manual 6spd trans... same for my '93 Rustang.... I read that the syncromesh makes a huge difference on the C6 .. not approved by GM and will void warranty but it's difficult to argue with success, many have reported huge improvement over stock.....
 
I'm running Redline. Don't remember if it's MTL or just gear grade. I have a bottle out in the garage still. I'll have to check later. It is a thought.
I have to do something about this thing. This absolutely the worst shifting transmission I have ever had to do battle with.
 
Past the usual visual stuff- make sure the shifter body is square to the world, rods not cockeyed, bushings all good, iot might maybe help to rip the sifter apart and polish all the stuff that slides around in there. Make sure there's no burrs or rough spots.

Not much help, but I'd try that stuff before I dropped any cash on it.
 
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