Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Here are a few pics of my set up. So if i order a PBS shifter i have to take everything out? I want it to shift and run right.
Also, just curious is the floorboard fiberglass on these? I can't figure it out. Where is the best spot to jack it up in the front and rear?
Thank you
That does not look promising to me but @DannyP has experience making a Jamar rod shifter work well, so he may have better advice.
If that were my car I would remove that stuff and replace with a Brandwood Cable Shift. I believe it can be retrofitted with the engine and trans in the car, and it's comparatively easy to adjust once installed.
Caution though: the untold drawback of the Brandwood is the shifter enclosure, which is a bit larger than the others. In a Spyder that matters both for aesthetic and practical reasons. The good news is you can cut down (or fold) the box to reduce its height considerably. That's what I did and I recommend the procedure to anyone installing that shifter in that chassis. (Your stick looks suspiciously like the one that came in my Brandwood, btw).
Your floor is heavy duty fiberglass. You can bolt your seats (and shifter enclosure) to it and it's fine. Use big fender washers. It's not a jack point.
Jack points: Look where your frame is. The floor is riveted to it underneath. Put a hard rubber or wood block between the jack cup and the rivet line to jack it up. You can also lift it by the beam in front and any of the steel crossmembers in back. Every part of the frame is plenty strong.
@ford356outlaw I have a Jamar shifter, linkage to the back(2 rods, 2 U-joints and a heim joint), and the rear Jamar linkage that mounts to the nosecone. All pre-sized for a Vintage Spyder(or Beck or TR). You would need to drill one hole for a heim joint in the floor about a foot behind the shifter. Then weld one heim joint or short tube for the rod to slide in on the passenger side of the trans mount by the bell-housing.
This shifted perfectly in my old 2002 Spyder, and would require minimal effort to get it working very well. I'd be willing to part with it, but we should take that to a private message.
@edsnova thank you for the great tips. Answered a lot of my questions. I think the shifter will be the big ordeal. I don’t want to remove the engine anytime soon. I have started looking at the brand wood shifters.
@DannyP I will send you a private message and we can talk privately regarding shifter if I take the jamar route.
Here is what I documented during my Jamar upgrade years ago...it may be of interest to you if you are considering it. I am still using it today and it shifts fine for me.
My whole setup looks EXACTLY like Mike's above except for the coupler(#5 in diagram).
I had a solid rod there from the rearward U-joint to the Jamar direction-changer-thingy.
I had cleaned, greased, and booted my U-joints. Believe it or not, I used short pieces of a bicycle inner tube(27" x 1") and a couple Ty-raps to keep the grease in and the dirt OUT. This worked really well and kept the linkage tight without wear.
That coupler allows me to make adjustments at one end or the other without affecting the opposite end. I found it helpful. Dialing the system in becomes easier.
