The Virginia Muscle Car

This is what worked for me - may not for you - you decide - your own risk - there maybe differences between your car and my early 85.

In the above photo you can see I constructed a panel to cover the hole where the 6-speed shifter came through. Bill and Jim took their time to cut the smallest possible pan hole by rotating the trans several times until it would optimally fit. There is a "store bought panel" available on the WEB which I chose not to buy. Instead I chose to follow Richmond's instructions and constructed one out of aluminum (I chose black coated aluminum), pop rivits, and all sealed tight with silicon. I used the Hurst boot that both Richmond and Eckler's recommended. And I traded in the straight shifter stick that came with the 6-speed for a curved one that I thought suit my purposes better. The 6-speed shifter is a Long Shifter , great American company that has excellent tech services personnel - again you are talking to a real "American" hotrodder at the other end - no "trained" imitation - as is the case in the Internet/WEB industry - man a Middle Eastern trying to talk in English with an American Southern accent is a wicked combination!!!

After saying I was going to have an upholstery shop make a new boot for the modified console plate, Bill recommended a local company, T&C Auto Upholstery Inc, (1-800-256-0938) of Manassas - great company. Tonya (owner) and John talked me through what they could do for me. Bill Riley had also recommended some insulation for heat and sound control and said Tonya's upholstery shop would know what to use. Tonya suggested an insulation product from a home hardware store - same thing they use for their installations. This insulation product is less expensive and is probably better than the original floor insulation. The light patch of insulation in the above photo is the result. It also comes with a silver backing that is sitting next to my fabricated patch panel and helps reflect heat away from inside the driver's compartment. Think I'll use this stuff on the pan of the 76 under the carpet and on the underside of its hood (same place as the original insulation was installed), so the hood paint will not cook - that sometimes happens - especially with black paint that absorbs sunlight energy more than the other colors. No matter what color I picked, I knew there would be issues ... still like black ...

I did the modification to the console plate by enlarging the shifter hole so that the shifter would not hit the front part of the plate when shifting forward into the odd gears (1,3,5). I chose to enlarge up to the point of taking out the 4+3 insignia - how appropriate! Bill said the 6-speed shifter was about an inch and a half further forward than the 4+3 shifter was. When I finished making the final console hole enlargement, the upholstry shop said I did a good job. John kiddingly asked me if I wanted a job ... :) I just took my time so I was less likely to make a mistake.

In the above photo, the original "cracked" console plate is being used to mock up a final hole size. The red line indicates where I evidentually ended up cutting out - about even with the coffee cup holder compartment.

In the above photo and indicated in red, is where I took off the curved lip around the inside of the console plate's original hole. This is so all the edges of the hole (both new and old sections) were uniform in shape - flat not curved. First, I tried to make cuts with a well know hobby drill using cutting disks on the original "cracked" console plate, but it melted the plastic more than it made nice straight cuts. So I instead used a well known hobby knife and made many, many cuts with its razor sharp blade. I carefully used a large metal file on the straight cuts. With the careful used of a rat tail file, the new forward corners of the console plate hole ended up with the same curve as the original rear corners. I worked with Tonya and John to put plastic trim around the edge of the console plate shifter hole. Tonya said her shop could to everything to the console plate next time she was asked. Those expensive Vette console plates are difficult to modify and the modification takes time. At her shop I saw some great upolstery work being done on early 80s Mustang - from scratch. They made the seat covers (not store bought), carpet, and door/back seat panels; in addition, they installed a dash pad cover and a convertible top. Next they have to re-upolster an early Corvair Spider from the ground up and the Corvair is in pretty rough shape.

Back together again. New 6-speed, fabricated patch panel, console plate, and boot(s) installed.

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Background music is "boardwalk" originally sung by The Drifters (at tribute to Jan) and rerendered by Still Surfing (http://www.stillsurfin.com/OCCD.cfm). BTW they have a great CD you can get on this WEBsite ~Bob