I am thinking of having a billet gear shift lever made to replace the flimsy hollow plastic one on my FX4 floor shift.

I haven't talked to any shops yet, but I was wondering how may guys/gals might be interested if I can get some kind of bulk discount.

I will give more details and a mockup once I know if there is any interest.

I haven't taken mine apart yet, so I don't know what kind of machining will be required for the reverse lockout button.

Let me know if you have interest.

The yellow box below is what I am talking about.

 

I just wanted to say that I thought about doing the same thing, then I thought back to when I took one of the "bullet" mustangs for a test drive a few years ago during the summer and I thought I had burnt the shift pattern into my hand. It is a good idea though, would surely last longer.

 

Are you talking heat from the shifter sitting in the sun?

 

when I get back in the office I will try to dig up a pic from SEMA this fall. It was a center shifter on a nissan i think but it was a chrome hand grenade!!!


looked sweet!!!!

 

I too have an FX4 and I think the shifter is cheap looking and feeling. I think it would be nicer if the chrome were actually metal versus plastic, and the handle portion were covered in leather like the steering wheel.



https://www.f150online.com/galleries....cfm?gnum=3599

 

or you could do like they did to the street rods back in the 60's and put a beer tap on it

 

Yeah basically, I guess you could put the A/C on for a bit before attempting to grab it..... like I said, I guess I wasn't thinking before I grabbed the one in the mustang.

 

Good thoughts.

I actually like the idea of a leather wrapped handle myself, too.

I haven't bought a Motorcraft.com manual subscription so I gotta figure out how to get this shifter apart. I can't find (after a 30 second quick check) any obvious screws or drift pins.

I'll stop by and see my Ford service guy. I haven't filled out my customer satisfaction survey yet.

 

Now your talking, leather wrapped billet, so basically it would look almost like the stock.... but cooler and stronger.

 

Lets see what I can come up with.

I have some connections who are pretty good at what they do, I'll throw the idea at them for a $$ estimate. Its gotta be reasonable or it won't fly.

I'm not into bling-bling.

 

Lol, I hear ya. Don't want to have to sell a kidney to get a new shift ****.

 

I would def. be interested in getting a billet shifter replacement. If you do inquire further into the topic let me know.

Would you want to change the style or keep the same style as factory just billet and not cheap feeling like the factory?

And I am prob. getting ahead of myself in asking but do you want polished, brushed, chromed etc...?

Good idea regardless if you act on it or not!

Antonio

 

Funny thing, this week I was looking at some pics of the King Ranch Edition F-150 and thought to myself, Ford missed the boat in not coming up with a leather covered shifter. A leather covered billet handle would be the cat's meow! Need to get someone to come up with matching dash pieces and possibly door inserts as well. Real wood (instead of leather) might be an alternate idea worth considering, especially if you could do a dash to match as well.

...still chuckling about the beer tapper comment, as that idea (and billiard ball shift ****) are things I once thought were pretty groovy mods.

 

The first time I sat in the 04 and touched that gear shifter the words out of my mouth were "That's gotta go" So, I also thought going the billet route....so expensive for limited runs though. If you do get something affordable and nicely made I would be interested.

I also thought about looking into replacing the whole shifter handle, rod and surface plate with the Lincoln Navigator unit. Haven't had the chance to investigate how plausible that is, but eyeballing it they look pretty close:



I have the Motorcraft Service CD, so if you would like I can post the info on how to remove the lever.

Termite

 

I would like and appreciate that Termite....

I have a friend who has a CNC connection so what I'd like to do is take it off, spec it out, and see what he thinks.

I'm thinking if we can keep the price under $100, and its a quality piece we have a winner.