Bruce2 wrote:... EMPI makes them, but does not offer them outside of their shifter....
I am beginning to think you are correct on this... sad!
I did find some additional info that might help assuming i can find it again. Some of it was about the HURST shifters which is the origional design. If they are still the same there is one interesting thing that may be done.
I was also looking for the straight shift rod for busses but if they are still available i haven't found one yet.
I agree with Paul. I've driven cars with Berg, CSP, Vintage Speed, and Scat shifters and didn't like any of them. When I decided to put a Berg 5 in my car, their required shifter was a deal breaker. But I really wanted the 5 gear, so I did the measuring and modified my Hurst to do the job.
Lee, Any Hurst Bus shifter is really valuable due to their high demand and relative scarcity. I think the straight Bus shifter is about the rarest version Hurst made.
Why not take a hack saw and cut it off above the bend? Then you'd have your straight shfiter.
Here's the general email for EMPI: [email protected]
Send them a request for the bushings to rebuild your EMPI 4449 Bus shifter.
Ol'fogasaurus wrote:Its 32°out and trying to snow but then snow has been forecast for where we live since last Friday w/no snow show where we are.
Travis’s question got me thinking so I went out and took some pictures after I loaded the seats in the buggy.
The passenger seat is closer to where it will be than the driver’s seat so you can see just how close the seats will be to each other. The shifter is sitting in this photo a bit forward of where is will be. The seat mounts are about an inch away from the tunnel and the seats are not leveled out in the picture.
Looking towards the rear of the buggy.
This is the one that got to me. I went down and got the spacer that you use on bugs to shorten the shift throw and put in under the bus shifter per Marc’s advice. Damn… it not only works but the tranny shifts better than it ever has even with the Scat shifter. A bit long of a throw but not that much.
A little bend added to the shifter and I may not have to shorten the shift handles. I just went out and checked and if I bend the handle ~ 20° just above the bend in the shifter then everything will be good. I can't get Photobucket to work after I got access to the two pictures I just added. I'll try to for tomorrow (Sunday).
This is the tallest Scat Dragfast handle the sell for a bug. As you can see here I would have to shorten the turning brake handles as I am reaching between the levers in this picture. The height of the turning brake handles are about right here.
Another view of the situation; again, the seats are mounted about as low as I can get them partly because of the width of the seats and partly because of the body lift. The seats have to be moved inboard quite a ways to allow the long, 6” slide/adjustment that the seat mounts have to keep the side of the seat to stay away from the side of the body at the seat’s full forward position. Glass buggies are normally narrower than stock bug bodies.
I haven’t sat in it yet to check it out but before, without a shifter in place, the handles where they are sitting now felt very natural.
A beer handle or an 8 ball would look pretty old school here.
Lee
(Update: I added the missing photos and added some information on bending the handles.)
And:
In this picture the shifter is in 4th ; notice that the turning brake handles are against the shift rod.
The next two pictures shows the shifter in 3rd. It also shows a proposed bend of 20 degrees. There is plenty of room for the turning brake handles to allow me to grab both handles at the same time to lock the diff.
This shows the bend at 17 degrees. I think it could go as low as 15 degrees but this seems to be about the best angle to allow me full control of the shifter and the turning brakes.
Both of these angles allow me to keep the turning brake handles where they are now and still be able to grab both at the same time.
I had been in contact with Art and he reminded me that the EMPI trigger shifter for a bug was in the $50 range (I checked and it is) so I am a little bit less hesitant about taking a chance breaking this one down for photos as it was my back up shifter but, assuming that the Scat Dragfast shifter will not be used not assuming I can safely bend this one it will be my back up unit now. Still thinking about it but less apprehensive now.
Lee
As you can see I have several problems besides the nostalgia look I would like to have.
This is a fact filled post but part of it keeps dropping away from me. Notice that in the 9th and 10th picture down it looks like the ball end of the shifter comes apart so could the shorter ball end of a bug shifter fit on it??
He also claims that the reverse lock out wire s/b 0.039 in diameter.
Bruce, I saw the part you have at the balchautomotiveandcollision.com for $26.95 but it was also said to be available from another place (the location name has dropped away) but I can't find it at either site.
The idea is great because the two nylon pieces are known' to break in half so the additional support for them would be good to have.
I got another suggestion that I am not sure of yet.
He suggestion would be to straighten out the bend in the shifter. The idea sounds correct but I would be concerned about the material on the inside of the bend having been compressed and now being stretched... it could fracture. The stretched material on the outside of the bend that has been stretched I am not quite as concerned about.
Only Gene Berg makes a shifter with a straight up handle (pre '58/'59) and it starts at a bit over $255 then goes up from there and I don't know if it is a shorter shift pattern or not.
Scat makes a bus that looks straight but it's bend is hidden under the boot.
One person I talked to, an old VW off-roader suggested to heat and bend. An option I guess... maybe!
Bruce, one of the guys I talked to said he had seen a handle broken in two and it was a tube where the break happened. He thought that maybe the top end and the bottom ends were pressed into place which is possible but I haven't seen any sign of stretching where the pieces were pressed together.
