Had an idea on how to move the T5-S10 shift lever forward 1 inch. The idea is illustrated in the attached PDF file.
Referring to the illustration, the components shown are located in the S10 shifter housing. If you are unfamiliar with the T5 shifter operation goto
http://www.ttcautomotive.com/English/onlineorder/product.asp#Service%20Manuals and download the T5 service manual. Item 29 (shift rod) and item 20 (offset lever) can be seen in context on page 15 of the service manual.
The T5 control lever and housing (item 3A on page 13 of the service manual) is discarded, and replace by items A and B in the illustration.
Item B is a fixed plate attached to the shifter housing and most likely would be part of the shifter housing cover. It acts as a fulcrum for item A, the shift lever, when it is moved back and forward which in turn causes the shift rod (29) to move forward and back, respectively. It also constrains the shift rod, in combination with a detent guide plate not shown in the illustration, to a vertical plane when rotated left or right. The detent guide plate is shown as item 18 on page 15 of the service manual.
Recall that relative to the front face of the transmission, the stock T5-S10 shift lever location is 1 inch rearward of the stock Elan shift lever position. Using this design the T5-S10 shift lever is moved forward 1 inch. So if one had a custom Elan Twin Cam to T5 bell housing with the same depth as the Elan bell housing, or alternately milled off the back of the Elan bell housing and welded on a T5 interface, the shifter would come out exactly where ACBC prescribed it.
One disadvantage of this design is the shift pattern is flipped-over left to right. That is 1st gear is right and forward, not the customary left and forward, etc.
I would appreciate any and all thoughts (postive or negative) on the merit of the design, and ways that it might be improved, including alternate design approaches.
John