Interior Mods

[Dave Russell]

Here are a couple of shots of the first mods I have made to my newly acquired 65 LeMans. The original steering wheel had suffered the effects of many years in the California sun so it had to go. I found a Grant repro wheel that looks good and has a rim that is a bit thicker than the original "skinny Minnie". It was an easy install and guess what- the horn works, amazing. The next item to get replaced was the shifter. The stock one is quite short and the detent button was awkward to the point where shifting manually was tricky. I replaced it with a Lokar shifter that came with their new "Muscle Car" knob setup. This one is a big improvement on the stock unit, it's about 11 inches long and has a very short throw compared to the original. Manual shifting on the turbo 400 is way easier and more precise.....nice work Lokar! Installation was not too bad, I had to relieve the tranny tunnel a bit and fab up a cover when the shifter was in place. The worst part was the RE & RE  of the console. There are a big bunch of wires under there for the audio stuff and I was worried that I would get it all buttoned up and find out something wasn't working. I was lucky. If you have a Lokar shifter you can retro fit this knob to your old unit. I don't think you will fool anybody into thinking you have a manual but you never know. I like it because it works.

 

 

 

 

[Frosty]

Awesome job there Dave. It looks like it might be factory. The only thing I think is missing is the either word "Pontiac" or the arrowhead on the shifter ball.

[Kim Francis]

This is looking really good!

[B Neal]

Do You happen to have or remember the part number for the shifter, I am having problems finding it, and is it cable or solid linkage. Thank You