Fabricated a Shifter Tower for Active Power GT40

[Steve Borneman]

I bought a late 1980’s Toyota manual shifter based off of reading on this site and it needed some mods to fit.

I don’t have mad skills like most of you, (I’m an apprentice at fabricating at best) but the original mount was too wide to fit under the aluminum tunnel that’s going to go down the center. I needed to make the original Toyota tower narrower to fit.

So I ordered a piece of 3” sq. aluminum off of Bay and created my own interpretation.

It’s much narrower now and actually fits pretty well.

My only concern is if the brackets that I made to hold the shift cables are strong enough when I’m actually shifting?

If they fail, I’ll either have to determine if I can reinforce the one I made or figure out some other type of cable bracket.

Here are some pictures. They show the original shift tower then the one I just made today.

I’ll install it later because I have a lot of other projects going on at once that need completing.

I’ll do a build thread someday, for now I’m just building.

Let me know what you think?

 

[Joel K]

Nice work!

 

[Neil]

No one is born with fabrication skills, Steve. We all learn as we go along, accumulating experience as we learn. I've learned lots of ways NOT to do things

My only suggestion is to weld a small gusset to each of your 90 degree bent tabs to strengthen them.

 

[Steve Borneman]

Thanks Neil, I only have a mig welder, I think I’d need a tig to weld aluminum to add gussets.

But I agree, the 90 bends need some sort of reinforcement.

 

[Neil]

Steve;

For small jobs like those gussets it helps to know someone who owns a TIG and have them do it for you. A TIG welder is too $$ to buy for only occasional use.

 

[Steve Borneman]

There’s a shop near me. I’ll make a few gussets out of aluminum and bring it there. That should strengthen it up a lot.

 

[Howard Jones]

Or you could make the gussets and rivet it all together...…………..no welding required.

 

[Steve Borneman]

Or you could make the gussets and rivet it all together...…………..no welding required.

Funny you say that, I was thinking the exact same thing.

I can have that done this weekend.

 

[Steve Borneman]

Gussets (or reasonable facsimile) completed.

 

[Neil]

You have made a "doubler" not a gusset. Better, but a gusset is stronger:

 

[Peter U]

Steve - Where are you located? I have a simple Miller MIG unit, but also have the Aluminum Spool gun. If you're near Seattle, I can weld it for you (or loan you the welder)

I just bought an Active GT40...waiting a the few months before it'll be ready.

 

[George]

You have made a "doubler" not a gusset. Better, but a gusset is stronger:

Steve - Where are you located? I have a simple Miller MIG unit, but also have the Aluminum Spool gun. If you're near Seattle, I can weld it for you (or loan you the welder)

I just bought an Active GT40...waiting a the few months before it'll be ready.

 

[George]

Steve your build is coming along and you are doing a great job making it work. What emergency brake assembly are you using?? I like the look of it.

 

[Steve Borneman]

Steve - Where are you located? I have a simple Miller MIG unit, but also have the Aluminum Spool gun. If you're near Seattle, I can weld it for you (or loan you the welder)

I just bought an Active GT40...waiting a the few months before it'll be ready.

I’m in New York, but thanks for the offer!

I really like my Active Power chassis.

 

[Steve Borneman]

Steve your build is coming along and you are doing a great job making it work. What emergency brake assembly are you using?? I like the look of it.

I looked at a a lot of them and thought that this one best served what I was looking for. It’s from a 2006-2008 Subaru Forester.

 

[Steve Borneman]

You have made a "doubler" not a gusset. Better, but a gusset is stronger:

This angle aluminum is very strong and I decided it would be strong enough for a shift cable.

 

[Neil]

If it works Steve, that is what is important.