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Gear Shift Question

 
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kapam



Joined: 26 Jul 2018
Posts: 41

PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2019 2:28 am    Post subject: Gear Shift Question Reply with quote

The shift lever of my Monte Carlo and Pontiac kits of the late 90's appears to be padded, similar to the roll cage bars.
How often is this done?
All the interior photographs I have ever seen show a shift lever without any padding.
Was just wondering how common this practice is and whether I should use a different lever (one without padding) on my builds.
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MarkJ



Joined: 29 Jan 2018
Posts: 1296

PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2019 7:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You could always just sand off the padding. Then again it wouldn't be too hard to scratch build a shift lever.
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john843



Joined: 28 Jan 2018
Posts: 607
Location: S.C. Lowcountry

PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2019 2:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The padded shift lever's are the only ones that I don't feel the need to thin down to scale. About every kit shift lever I've ever seen is way too bulky and out of scale and I usually end up removing about half the material between the knob and the boot. Another option I've done some is to cut the knob and boot off and drill a small hole in both and insert a piece of cut and bent paper clip or wire that looks in scale.
As far as whether the padded shifters are correct or not, since they were in use on some cars at some times, it's really just a matter of whether you think it looks appropriate on a particular build based on how the rest of the interior is finished out.

John
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joe b



Joined: 31 Jan 2018
Posts: 209
Location: New Jersey

PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2019 2:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

to answer your question kapam, no the shift levers were rarely if ever padded. i myself have never seen one that way but i usually use it. you can always replace it with an 80's kit lever if you have extras.

joe
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spooker



Joined: 11 Feb 2018
Posts: 437

PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2019 5:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Once the full-containment seats with leg extensions came in, the need for padding the shift levers went away.

Brian
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Tom M.
Board Moderator


Joined: 01 Feb 2018
Posts: 600

PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2019 6:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

spooker wrote:
Once the full-containment seats with leg extensions came in, the need for padding the shift levers went away.

Brian


You beat me to it.

For a while there everything the driver's extremities could contact had to be padded. There were crashes before containment seats where the driver flailing around knocked the shifter completely off the bracket.
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kapam



Joined: 26 Jul 2018
Posts: 41

PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2019 6:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for responding, guys. Very Happy
It was more a question from curiosity than a "what should I do?" request.
I hadn't ever seen a photograph of a padded shift lever, so I wondered how common the practice is - seemingly not all that common and virtually "never", after full containment seating and leg protection became the norm.
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AdamtheWayne



Joined: 09 Jul 2018
Posts: 1182

PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2019 10:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It was my understanding (I may be way off) that the padded shift levers first appeared in the "Days of Thunder" kits, because of the film cars.
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Jose



Joined: 20 Jun 2019
Posts: 110

PostPosted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 11:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dale earnhardt used them since the early 80's.
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kapam



Joined: 26 Jul 2018
Posts: 41

PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 8:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jose wrote:
Dale earnhardt used them since the early 80's.

That is interesting. I'll keep an eye out for post-80's interior photos of DE cars. Thanks to all for the feedback, I love this forum to discuss little details like this.
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