I don't like the Razo, the shape is out of place in the Soarer cabin. A retrim of the standard shifter might be a better option, or the Levoc, but the Levoc stands too 'tall' in my opinion.
Monday, March 13, 2006 - 06:06 pm, by: Ollie Ernst(Oli_g)
Done by a contact of Neil Griffiths. Not cheap though. The plastic chroming is the killer. That and the fact that it all has to be disassembled and some manual work to ensure there's clearance for the shift button and overdrive switch so they don't stick due to the extra thickness of the layer of the chroming. Very durable though. Particularly if you take care of the leather. No visible sign of wear on the plastic chroming to date.
If you're interested I'd suggest contacting Neil for pricing, and whether his contact even does them anymore as it was done some time ago and this was a one-off to see how it'd come up. Needless to say we're VERY happy with the result.
Daniel Lee DieHard Victoria Soarer GT Limited UZZ31 V8
Monday, March 13, 2006 - 07:30 pm, by: Ollie Ernst(Oli_g)
The plan was to get that done for our car locally but I couldn't be bothered with taking the bloody things apart to get them chromed. Now, if you can buy them like that.....Hmmmmm.
Daniel.....Any idea of the cost of them on Yahoo?
Daniel Lee DieHard Victoria Soarer GT Limited UZZ31 V8
What would be interesting to see is if the gated shifter (from say a JZX100 Chaser/Mark II etc) can be adapted to the factory gearbox mechanism. I saw a thread where some guy did it in the US, really updates the interior (albeit being very expensive).
Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 07:58 pm, by: Don Bagnall(Baggs)
Somewhere in my PC I've saved the tutorial for installing the later Celsior gated shifter (As above) into a Soarer. When I find it, I'll post it up. It's also on one the Jap Soarer club sites
Thursday, March 16, 2006 - 07:32 pm, by: Don Bagnall(Baggs)
I've been working on it, and it's driving me nuts trying to find it. There is a possibility it was on TIF or Lextreme. My brain hurts from translating some of the Jap web sites in english. If I recall correctly, Neil has mentioned something in the past about it, or it might have been the price for a 2nd.hand Celsior gated shifter assy on Yahoo Japan.
At top of page, click the 078 Motoring Link. Then click Special Skill link. Now click the TOP one of the 2 links on LH middle of page. At this stage, I would suggest using an English translator. Once you've scrolled to the bottom of the 1st page, click the RH of the 3 Japanese symbols (At bottom of page), which will take you to the next page of pics. And so on, until you reach the end.
It's a pictorial tutorial with Japanese text. I found if I used IE6 "Translate to English" function, it works sorta, but you'll get the idea from the pics. But I'm sure I've seen an American site that does the same conversion.............will keep looking.
Saturday, March 18, 2006 - 06:56 pm, by: Brett Moloney(Lxsv8)
Thanks Don - quite an interesting read and definitely something to consider. I'm thinking the US version would be a little easier to follow. But pictures as they say are worth a thousand words.
Don Bagnall Moderator New Zealand I have LESS Soarers than Hayden :-(
Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 03:12 pm, by: Don Bagnall(Baggs)
Well I've had another rummage around on the US Club Lexes site, and they have talked about doing it, and what is possibly/probably involved. But as yet no one's actually done it.
I CAN confirm that the gated shifter our Japanese friend used is from the 20 Series Celsior, which would equate to a 95 LS400, or whatever year the gated shifters first came out. And I note that he uses the Celsior/LS400 shifter rod, as it is shorter than the Soarer's one. But even using that one, it was still too long, and required additional slotting of the elongated end of the rod.
Daniel Lee DieHard Victoria Soarer GT Limited UZZ31 V8
Saturday, May 06, 2006 - 07:08 pm, by: Ollie Ernst(Oli_g)
Daniel.......Many thanks for letting me know mate, but unfortunately we sold the TT a couple of weeks back so the project's not going ahead. I'm sure there'll be others who might be interested if you choose not to have a crack at them yourself. Thanks again though.