Not sure if what you wrote is what you mean.
The factory shifter was a good 5 inches longer than it needed to be, so even Grandma, and pussy teenage boys, could shift it. And from second to third was always a little iffy, and as far as I can recall; the only shifts I ever missed with it were on the 2-3. That factory shifter was the very first thing I swapped out of my 70 swinger, just as fast as I could save up the cash, back in 70/71..
Then, in 2001 or so, I had again had enough of it, and went in search of that old Bang! shifter, which I was pretty sure I had kept back in 76 when I sold the Swinger. And sure enough I found it in one of my sheds.
After I switched to the shorter stick,
and moved it back between the buckets,
and up closer to my thigh,
and high enough to install the top bolt from the cabin,
and canted it backwards a few degrees,
and with the straight tubular rods;
I have never missed a shift since.
and I have never had to reset the neutral-gate either.
I am reasonably certain that I could shorten my stick at least another two to three inches, and on the street, it wouldn't cost me any muscle-power at all. The only reason I don't do it, is because IMO, it would look lame. As it is, from pivot to top of the ball is at most 8.5 inches.
I'll guess that my shift throw from all the back to all the way forward is about half of what it was with the factory stick. You can do the math to see if it is or is Not any faster. But I can tell you this, the trans is so easy to shift fast, that my left leg is the now the hold up. But I sorta fixed that too, lol. After all, the factory clutch geometry was also designed with Grandma in mind. But that didn't mean I had to keep it that way.....
But like I said; I street slick-shifted second and third in my trans, so I now have oodles of space for the sliders to go into, and I can easily overpower the blocker rings even at max shift-rpm. I no longer have to wait for them to do their job. And she shifts so easy, all the time. It shifts at least as easy as a top-loader ........ except faster...... lol.
