How does a Ratchet Shifter work ?

I'm looking att the B&M Hammershifter and i wonder if that will fit my TH-400 with reversed valvebody ?

What does Ratchet mean ?

May be a stupid question but since i'm from
Sweden i claim that this is a language related thing http://www.camaros.net/forum/smile.gif

/Cheers

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-68 ProTouring Camaro RS
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-96 Z28/SS
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www.hyperwerks.se/camaro

It means you can manually shift an automatic as hard as you want and it will only go into the next gear. For instance, if you are in low 1 and you shift to low 2 with a normal horshoe shifter, you could very well shift too hard and pass low 2 and go straight to Drive or worse Neutral. The ratchet shifter will prevent that. I have a Hurst ratchet shifter. It allows me to select between "normal" shifter action or the ratchet feature. If you are planning to do some racing, it would not hurt having it. I put one in my car for 2 reasons. 1) I like the 4 speed look and 2) I plan to do some drag racing where I would want to manually shift and not miss a gear. Hope this helps. I believe some people refer to these as "slap shifters"

That, and there are only 4 actual positions on the shifter. Park, Reverse, neutral, and Forward. When you are in the forward gears, that's where the ratcheting comes in. When you first pull it into Drive, the shifter get's "locked" in the drive gears until you pull up the handle, and put it back in park. The shifter stays in the same place while in the drive gears, you "ratchet" down twice to get into first, and then when it's screaming at 6500, you slam the shifter as hard as you want forward, and it will only go up 1 gear, into second. Repeat this procedure for the 2nd to 3rd gear shift. You can up and downshift all day like this in either direction, if you really want to.

It's actually a lot more fun than just a regular shifter.

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68 Coupe, 350 4-speed
Jim's Camaro Corner (http://www.personal.psu.edu/jxu109/)

Thanks for your informative and enthusiastic answers http://www.camaros.net/forum/smile.gif

i hope i get my car i one pice before summer (another 4months) so i can burn some rubber..

Cheers
/Jonas

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-68 ProTouring Camaro RS
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-96 Z28/SS
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www.hyperwerks.se/camaro

Interesting side note:
some 2nd gen camaros came with factory ratchet shifters.
If you put the shifter into low gear, when you push the lever to the right it is in ratchet mode.You can upshift without pushing
the button.
I had one in a '80 z-28 but I think some are
and some aren't so.

My 80 is like that.Plus you get the advantage
in street use cause you can downshift.

I also have the Hurst V-Matic shifter and I love it. The way it performs and looks!

Michael
Old School for life

75 Camaro http://hometown.aol.com/fastchvy74/myhomepage/auto.html

the factory shifters in the 70's cars aren't a true "ratchet" shifter. but they do only allow you to go one gear at a time, if you push it just right. my 76 Monte had that. it would have been more fun had it not had 2.56 gears, and i would have actually had to shift in a quarter mile.. but i could show that feature to people when i was parked somewhere. everyone thought it was so cool.

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1971 Nova(looks like 69 camaro from underneath!)
355sb, vortec heads, HOT cam,T-10 tranny, 3.70 gears 16X8" IROC wheels
see pics here http://community.webshots.com/user/novaderrik

I have a b&m star shifter and it goes freat with my shift kit. If I want to take off the line sorta hard to get some attention, I gradually lay into the throttle until about 4000 rpm and shift to second with a big ol "rrrrrschreeeeeeech (thats a tire spinning, ya no posi I know, but I need to wait until after summer to see how much money I have left after a paint job. I am thinking of 2001 dodge neon blue as of now.

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327 60 over, mild cam, 9.5:1, 1.94 Camel Humps, Edelbrock intake, 600cfm carb, K&N, TH350 shift kit. You think this would be a decent combo but I have 2.73 gears and friggin no posi! This christmas will be my rearend's christmas.