comp plus shifter. new vs old

[Tommy]

I bought a new comp plus shifter for the Nova and am having some difficulty with shifting in and out of reverse. the trans worked fine with the old one and the rods are all the same. All forward gears work okay. My old shifter had threaded holes for the shift handle to bolt to, the new one you have to use nuts and bolts... I don't like that. Anyone notice any issues with the new shifters? I am also not a real big fan of the mount they send that clamps to the tail shaft and bolts between the tailshaft and trans mount... Anyway, my biggest issue is that it is binding up badly in reverse. I'm open ears ...


Tommy http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif

[TDW]

I am certain there is a big difference in the "new vs "old" Hurst shifters. The one in my 69 Chevelle was installed immediately after the car arrived at the Dealership when it was new. That shifter is 100 times better than the one I bought new 2 years ago for the 55 Nomad. The one in my 70 Nova is a real early one too. It too is a much tighter one than the new stuff. I have a brand new one from 1985 I bought as a spare, which I haven't installed in anything yet, but it "feels" a ton better than the new one does. The new one in the 55, I have had to readjust at least 4 times to get it to shift perfect all the time. It seems like a few hard or power shifts and it is out of whack a few turns on the adjusters. I use a piece of 1/4" round stock for the alingment hole. It fits pretty tight. Give yours another shot at adjusting and see what it does.

[PxTx]

It isn't something obvious like having to now push down to get into the reverse gate, is it? I know my old Supershifter without the reverse lock-out required you to do that.

I know older Comp+ shifters you just had to push a little harder to get into the gate. My only other thought is to verify that all is adjusted right with the neutral gates. They still use a pin to do this, right?

[69 Post Sedan]

I read somewhere on Team Chevelle that the new shifters are made in China! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

That may have something to do with it! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hmmm.gif

[Postsedan]

Oh that erks me! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Dan.

[300deluxeL79]

bought a comp plus shifter earlier this year...sure enough, made in china. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gif
even worse, i paid 'made in usa' price. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bs.gif

[x Baldwin Motion]

The Hurst website no longer touts "Made In USA" I believe the comp plus I bought in 2005 is also 4NJNK. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gif

[markjohnson]

I don't know if it makes a difference or not, but I've never liked that white plastic alignment/adjustment pin that comes with Hurst shifters. Some people use an allen wrench, some people use a drill bit. I have a small length of slightly over-size round stock (about .255) that I like to use to tighten up things and align everything up just a tad bit more. I've also started using Long Shifters instead of Hurst lately. They're about $100 or so more than a Hurst, but are very high quality.

[Salvatore]

Probably better to buy an older Hurst shifter from Ebay and rebuild it or have it rebuilt.

[Tommy]

[ QUOTE ]
Probably better to buy an older Hurst shifter from Ebay and rebuild it or have it rebuilt.

[/ QUOTE ]

I used to watch alot of hurst shifters and parts for them on ebay... I always wondered why they fetched nice money... I guess I should have been trying to buy some of it. I worried with the silly thing for a while yesterday and am now ready to install the old one. I too paid made in USA money for a new Chinese shifter evidently.


What about the mounts? what do you guys think of the direct mounts vs the new one that wraps around the whole thing. It raises the rear of the trans a little.


Tommy http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif

[ORIGLS6]

I have six of the older shifters that I've picked up over the years. My opinion is, the older units are better built with stronger material. I noticed the newer mounts were quite a bit different than the old ones, although mounting hardware has always been an evolving part of the Hurst production.
Darren's Tutorial may become a vital part of the Hurst legacy. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif

[WILMASBOYL78]

The older Hurst shifters are a lot like Cumby and Howie...they just don't build them like that anymore http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/3gears.gif

[Plowman]

I grabbed some quick pics from a setup I have out in the garage. This might help ya Tommy, as it is a new (2002 vintage) China made shifter.

http://i710.photobucket.com/albums/ww101/Plowman7/m2.jpg

The kit does need a little bit of tweeking. I start by omitting the plastic/nylon bushings and using a steel bushing kit. These kits are not hard to find.

The next tweek I use is to back the spring clip with a thin stainless steel washer. Seems to eliminate any slop in the linkage at this point.

It's important to make sure the spring clips are sent all of the way home and locked. Both locked and unlocked spring clips are in some of these pictures.

http://i710.photobucket.com/albums/ww101/Plowman7/BushingWasher2.jpg

When fine-tuning these shifters, I don't always rely on the alignment hole, as seen in this pic below. For reference, the shifter has reverse engaged, but the alignment holes are not perfectly clear. You will notice that the outside edges of the shift-mechanism levers are lined up much better to the shifter body than the alignment hole indicates.

http://i710.photobucket.com/albums/ww101/Plowman7/rclip2.jpg

Now about the shifter moving the rear of the trans up...

http://i710.photobucket.com/albums/ww101/Plowman7/bennyup.jpg

BBBenny is twistin with steel mounts, the shifter spacing will not be recognized in action. They had to go to this newer style because we've all been stripping out the aluminum threads in the tail shafts from banging gears all these years!

[69 Post Sedan]

Paul, that is a great illustration and explanation of how to install a shifter. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/scholar.gif

Thanks....'cause I needed this too!!! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worship.gif

[Tommy]

Thanks Paul, I'll fiddle around with it some more and see what happens. Nice Transmission stand too !


Tommy http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif

[Plowman]

Tommy clean out your PM's

[Keith Tedford]

A friend of mine recently installed one of these new Hurst shifters in a car and had to massage the holes before he could install the shift rods. I installed a Competition plus in our old Chevelle back in '70-'71 and it has over 150K miles on it and will go back into the car when it is done. Our 396 car has the Competition Plus that the original owner installed and it still works fine. I just adapted a bench seat Muncie handle to it. Best of both worlds. Just because something was good 30-40 years ago, doesn't mean that the stuff today is any where near as good. Some stuff probably is but there seems to be a lot of unhappy people trying to make this new stuff work. From my experience I've been farther ahead when ever I took the old stuff and freshened it up.

[Tommy]

[ QUOTE ]
Tommy clean out your PM's

[/ QUOTE ]


Done http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/flag.gif


Tommy http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif

[68SSCamaro]

If you have problems with the new shifters you should send an email to the Quality Manager at Hurst and send them the link to this thread. If they care about their product they will look into it and improve the quality.

[Tommy]

I installed my old Hurst Super Shifter and everything works fine now. I used the steel bushings and washers and all the slop is gone too. The Super Shifter was on another car I have and was mounted up high with the large plate and straight rods. I changed everything out but kept using the shifter and it works fine. So now I have comp plus rods and a super shifter.... What ever works, right ? http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif I'll work with the junk shifter later, I want to bang gears now.....


Tommy http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif

[Plowman]

Cool.

[PxTx]

I liked my super-shifter better than the comp+ but like my verti-gate better than all of 'em!

I'm glad you came up with a solution.

[Bob Jenkins]

good information, thanks for sharing!

[scuncio]

Good to know the new ones are made in China, maybe down the street from the Torq Thrust factory? I will just keep freshening my old US made stuff. I won't even buy new tools anymore, and will add shifters to the list....