I am thinking about getting a new shifter. What do you guys out there have/ reccomend. And if I put a new shifter in such as a rachet shifter will it be any harder on the transmisson as the stock put it in "D" shifter.

I have a B&M Hammer shifter, and love it.

I like my B&M Starshifter, it has a ratchet mode and a regular mode like a stock shifter. In the regular mode it works just like your stock shifter then when you want to put it in the ratchet mode you put it in first and lift up on the trigger and pull back on the shifter now it's in the ratchet mode and you can shift into seccond and third as hard as you want and you don't have to worry about missing a gear.

I have a B&M Hammer shifter, and love it.

I got one also for my 80. (B&M Hammer) Its not finished yet, my 80 that is, so I can't comment on how good it works but I trust it is a good one just like Robert says.

For using the ratchet, are there any other reqirements or is it install & go?

I want a ratchet shifter in my El Camino now that I've got the new 350, but I want to be able to use it as a ratchet. Would you guys recommend a shift kit as well?

-Kris

If I go with a aftermarket shifter I want it to fit in my factory console, so what options do I have?

Kris, I used a b&m shift kit in my TH350. It was simple to install & changed the whole additude of the trans.

On my '82, I want to convert my column shifter to a B&M Megashifter. Does anybody know how I can keep all the switches and things like the neutral safety switch, back-up lights and the not start in drive swithches in tact with out doing an wful lot of wiring and relocating. I thought about connecting the cable to the same place on the tranny as the column shift goes to but I don't know if would work.

I have the Hurst 4 speed floor shifter & absolutely love it! :)

I installed a B&M Megashifter in my 69' 440 Coronet R/T years ago. It worked great and lasted quite a few years before I sold the car. If I were going to keep my automatic trans in my Elky, I would install another one. I don't think it could be installed into the stock console without some serious modification to the console though.