Day 10, I bought a shifter out of a 2006 Toyota Matrix. I specifically searched for that one because I wanted a floor mounted shifter with 6 speeds and reverse on the left. Once I learned how shifters work I quickly realised none of that stuff actually matters, shifters are basically just a rod, the limits and controls come from stops built into the transmission, not the shifter.

So I reverse engineered the shifter, built it out of aluminum, and made the whole mechanism skinny enough to fit inside my center console without that dangerous bulky protrusion.

My Dad came up with using hydraulics for the shifter. Theoretically it would work just like a cable, and I wouldnt have to worry about the cable getting too tight as it went through the chassis, as that wouldnt happen with a hydraulic line. I tried my best to make it work, but I couldnt get all the air out of the system. I think it came down to the pistons being worn out and from a scrap yard. The rings in the piston couldnt seal the water properly, likely because they were originally pneumatic and about 40 years old, but hey, my Dad got the pistons for free, so it was worth a shot. I ended up converting the whole system to cable shift.

I’m a fuckin maniac, so I wanted the center console to slide. This would let my big cousin and little sister drive it. The center console and all the controls that ride on it can move back and forth a total of just over 6 inches. So anyone can hop in, adjust the car around themselves, and then lock it all in place. This ended up being a monumental task that took months to design and build.

The center console is 1/8” thick aluminum plate which I had bent. I then machined slots in the side of it and countersunk the slots to allow bolts to slide under the outer shell, allowing for the movement. There's something like 117 bolts in the center console. All the nuts are pieces of aluminum that I drilled and tapped and welded to the inside, so it all comes apart without needing two sets of tools. Every bolt is countersunk.

I machined a shifter gate on the mill, squiggling it for the offset in the handle. Then I labelled the shift positions with a piece of 1” brass round stock that I machined down and stamped characters into.