Good & Bad Of The Shifter Installation

["amc74hornet" <AMC74HORNET@xxxx>]

I dropped the yellow car at the shop for the Hurst V-Matic 2 shifter To be installed yesterday. The guy did a fantastic job mounting it. The trans tunnel was not flat where I wanted it mounted. He removed the factory shifter and fit a piece of sheet metal to fill the hole. I mean fill the hole and butt weld it in, not make it bigger than the hole and use a lap weld joint. He then used a piece of 1/8 plate and made a base for the shifter drilled holes for the 4 mounting bolts and welded nuts to the bottom of the plate for the mountig bolts. He then made sides to raise the mounting plate 1/2" off the floor and welded them to the plate. He also used a piece of metal tubeing to enclose the shifter cable where it goes through the mounting plate and through the floor and them welded all this to the cars floor. Being a fabricator among other things for over 30 years I have to say this guy knows his stuff. He was recomended by my friend who closed his shop up recently. I won't hold it against him that he drives a late model Camero convert. I don't think I could have done a better job on the shifter installation myself. Now for the bad part. There was not the proper cable mounting bracket for the trans in the shifter box so he had to make one and is haveing a problem getting the cable adjusted. He spent most of the day mounting the shifter so I told him it was no biggie if the car was not done and to finish it tomorrow. Hell I got 2 other cars that I can use. I don't car how long it takes as long as it is done right. He quoted me a price of 185$ for the installation which after seeing his work is well worth it. I figure it will be a few more bucks because of the bracket fiasco but I don't care. As soon as this shifter is done the cars goes to the upholstery shop for the bucket seats to be upholstered and the carpet to be done. This morning before it gets hot I will install the new center A/C vent in the orange Hornet that I got from a guy in Oregon that was removeing the A/C from one of his Gremlin's. I was glad to hear he was just removeing the A/C as he said he didn't need it where he lived instead of another Gremlin being parted out and going to the crusher. Have a good day all.
"Doc"