I had a thought a while back about putting the internals of a B&M pro ratchet into a stock style 69 console. I love the look of the console and the factory shift handle but I would like to be able to shift manually a little more safely. My idea was to engineer some way to use that pull up already on the handle for the reverse lock out and to then just replace the B&M Handle with the stock.

This may sound retarded but if anyone has done anything like this I'd be interested in hearing how much of a pain in the ass it was or wasn't. It seems that with enough modifications it wouldn't be impossible but i'd like to have some reference to start on before tearing my console and a new shifter apart.

~Danny

i cant remeber off the top of my head who has done it but i know it has been done with many of the b&m shifters....megashifter... hammer...quicksilver just not sure about the pro ratchet....as i recall it wasnt much to do and took little fab work..i was going to do it also but then decided to go with a 4th gen console...try searching for it i am sure you will see...thats what i did and saw some pics

Thanks, i'll do some more searches and see what I can come up with. I've seen plenty where they have installed the B&M in the stock console by just fitting it in but I was hoping to use the ratchet internals and the stock shifter handle etc.... I'll see if I can find what you are referring to.

I have been trying to figure out how to fabricate this exact setup. I bought a used Megashifter last year at Carlisle for $30 and a used factory shifter off eBay for $20. I started to look at what I would have to do to make this work. What I found out is that the Megashifter I bought is the standard version, which is too tall for the first gen console. I'm trying to find a cheap, used 70-81 Camaro console version, which I think is 2 inches shorter and would work better. I think I know what needs to be fabricated and I've spent a little time on http://www.emachinshop.com trying to design the parts.