[Cautrell05]

The rod going up to the column was easy part. One of my homemade projects I put together a while ago was a small round bar Bender. I copied the idea off of one that Eastwood sells. except this one is free cuz it was all leftover stuff I had sitting around. I had a piece of 3/8 round bar that I experimented on when I first got the Bender put together just to see what all I could do. Turns out the 90 degree bend I put in it was just right to line up with the column on top. So I drilled a hole for the cotter pin on top, welded washer on it and the top-end was done. The bottom and slides do the factory GM swivel. They may not be as fancy-looking is a heim joint, but they are just as reliable, and myself I like using the factory stuff instead of aftermarket as far as looks go. Just my preference. I did have to put one bend in the linkage to clear the clutch pedal. The bend worked out in my favor anyway. When it's in park if the rod was straight it would be angled out slightly from the column out towards the frame and from the front it would look crooked. I put enough of a bend it that when it's in park it goes straight up and down just because I'm OCD on some of that stuff. The nice part is that it actually works. I've seen cable shifters hooked up to the columns before and they work and all but for the little bit of time it took to hook this up I won't have to worry about a cable getting kinked bent melted whatever. That and I have about $10 worth of materials in this plus my time.