Totally unexpected, my new shifter arrived on Saturday, two whole days earlier then expected (good job Summit Racing Equipment)! So today I decided to see if I could at least get it installed. Oye! One problem after another. I crawled below the car and found that the people who installed the exhaust put the pipe too close to the tranny case, which means that the normal way to install it will not work. I'm going to need to create my own bracket and run the cable from the front of the engine with the lever pointing up, instead of from the back with the lever pointing down. It should work either way, but it means that I have to make the bracket! Oh well! It is a custom car, right?
Also, I pulled the center console out the car. As with all British cars I've worked on, there are a myriad of different sized screws, blink nuts and other fun that you have to take out in order to get this thing loose. Once out, I found strands of old stereo wire that are no longer connected to anything, vacuum pipes that are used for the climate control that are just hanging around, and dirt, dirt, dirt! I ran out of time, so I was not able to put in the shifter or connect anything up. I do have a good idea of how much space I have available and am putting together some ideas for the new interior (e.g. Using vacuum controls for the floor/facia flapper vents which are currently mechanical, perhaps using a GM climate control panel to control heat, air direction, fan and rear window defroster, which would get rid of three switches on the dash, etc) .
I also found a possible reason why the stereo was not working. I thought it may have been the bad alternator, but a fuse that was buried deep in the console was blown. I still have to test the radio out, but I am holding hope.
Since I am going to be completely redoing this interior, probably this winter, I don't know how much of this I'm going to re-install. It is going to look rough for awhile, but that's OK, as long as it is drivable.
