<VV> EM v LM shifters

[kevin nash]

> Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2011 19:58:30 GMT
> From: "Brian" <bmoneill at juno.com>
> Subject: <VV> EM v LM shifters
> To: fastvair at yahoogroups.com, VirtualVairs at corvair.org
> Message-ID: <20110216.145830.6747.0 at webmail08.vgs.untd.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
> 
> Guys is there any real difference in the performance, i.e. easy of shifting and/or precision between the EM ball and scoket shifter and the LM one? Anybody know why the change?
 
  Brian- I would guess that the reason to change from the ball and socket type set-up on the early's to the square hole and
ball set-up on the lates had to do with manufacturing reasons- fit-wise it would be easier to get a bit more precise fit between
a square hole and ball than a round hole and ball because the square hole is less sensitive to the roundness of the ball, and
a bit more clearance is given across the corners of the square hole versus the round one. I imagine that the shifter to floor
height setting might be somewhat more tolerant of errors with the extra clearance allowed by the square hole also. A problem
with the early set-up is that if the shifter to floor setting is too low, the ball can hit the bottom of the socket that it sits in when
theres too many people in the car, creating a more difficult shift. This happens because the extra weight compresses the 
transmission mounts slightly, bringing the selector shaft closer to the ball, causing the ball to bottom out when shifting.
 
Bottom line? both set-ups work fine when the ball fits it's socket correctly and the shim package is correct, and both can be 
awfull when the ball to socket fit is bad, and the shifter assembly is shimmed too high or to low. My custom, one off shifter
in my early shifts butter smooth perfect, with no false motion anywhere, and can be shifted with one finger, even though the
shifter pivot length is 3 inches (!)- one of the tricks was to re-size the ball larger to fit the socket without any play, and the shifter
ball to selector shaft height setting is dead on perfect, without using shims between the floor and shifter assembly.
 
Kevin Nash 63 spyder daily driver
sweetest corvair shifter on the planet!