Is it a standard vertical curved arm, Hurst shifter? Or is it the offset arm from Duff?
Both come up and curve to the rear, but only the Duff has about a 1 inch offset to the right.
Either way, you can actually bend it a little bit without even heating it. But if it’s the straight arm, you might have too much to go.
Sounds like it is based on your description.
When I installed the Duff shifter in mine, even though it was offset to the right, it was still too close to my leg. I simply pushed the arm and the shifter mechanism and bent them both to the right on the brackets.
Worked like a charm.
If you have to go farther, or if you have the Hurst arm, you may have to heat it and give it a pretty good kink.
But like said, it’s not that hard.