Chapter 3

Shifter Cables and Shifter

Disconnect the battery to prevent electrical damage before continuing with conversion. To look at the pictures below you will think that tearing down the dash is a daunting prospect. But it is easy. First remove the glove box. There is one screw in each bottom corner, and three in the top of the box inside. Now the center console needs to go. There are two screws on each side and two inside the center of the console box. Don't forget to unplug the power mirror switch. Next remove the shifter cover, radio, and shifter console. When these are out the lower dash will look very stripped.

Shifter console removed

Now you can see the dash support brackets on each side of the hump. On the right bracket there is one nut up top, and two bolts on bottom of the bracket just below the carpet line. There are three 10mm bolts that fasten to the support. These will have to be removed also. One is a ground wire, one is a plate supporting the harness, and one is holding a bracket on a black box perched between the supports. Lift up the blue box off its mount and let it sit there. Now I'm sure you already have the battery disconnected. If not do it now.

Now disconnect the air bag computer harness, the ECU harness, along with two body harness connections next to the ECU, and the circuit-opening relay. Use a torque bit and remove the air bag computer. Then remove the ECU. With that done there are four bolts holding the shifter to the floor, save them to be reused later. There are two wire connectors on the passenger side of the shifter. Disconnect the wires and unbolt that baby. Pop up the shift cable-housing clip, and the clip on the shift cable itself, and get rid of the shifter. Now when you look up under the heater box you will see the cable going down into the floor and looking in further, you will see the block off cover for the manual shift cable hole. There is also another access cover outside on the firewall. That's because the firewall is double walled. But don't worry it's only about two inches deep.

Now we need to remove the automatic shift cable from the body. Jack up the car and make her safe to get under. You need to remove four bolts on the exhaust support mount to the body behind the rack and sub-frame. Hidden under the mount is a bolt holding the cable in place. Remove the bolt and discard. Now you can cut the cable and remove it in two pieces, or remove two10 mm bolts that are on the cross member holding the cable down, remove the clip and the nut on the end of the cable, then back feed it into the interior and toss it in the pile.

Clip and nut on the cable	Shift cable plug outside above the rack
Shifter and cable access holes	Pic of mount and bolt on shifter cable

Instead of buying a plug, I removed the plate and rubber seal from the automatic cable and used sealer to fill the hole in and reused it to seal the body. Pack it full of sealer and let it sit over night. Install it tomorrow. Pull the manual cable cover off the hump and remove the cover off the outside as well. Take the cables out of the package and you will notice that the rubber seal plate is fix mounted to one of the cables. Take the other cable and set it in the empty hole. Next put the metal support on over the cables and feed them in through the firewall about six inches. Go outside and from the driver's side pull the cables out and to that side. When they are about two feet out you can go back inside and set the plate in place and bolt it down. Now take the manual shifter and reuse the bolts that held the automatic shifter and bolt it to the floor. She bolts right where the auto came out. No modifying needed. Set the cables into the front of the shifter and lock them in with a pair of clips. Hook the shift cable up with the funky clip and the range cable with a hairpin clip. You can use the one that came off the auto shifter cable. On the outside cable body plug, I took a drill and a 3/8 inch drill bit and drilled two holes side by side and used a razor blade to cut out a section for the cables to fit through. Slip it over the cables and fit up to the wall. Reinstall the metal support and lock it down. The cables are done. All that is left is to reinstall the floor plug, ECU, air bag computer, support bracket, and interior covers. Not too bad was it.

Pic of the funny clip on shift cable	Cables coming through firewall

Next Chapter 4: The Transmission