I decided to update this with some info on the OE Hurst shifter. As I mentioned before the the top of the OE Hurst shifter is the same as the stock shifter, and it appears to be joined in the same manner as the stock shifter. However you can't do the "move the ball" trick as I described in the first post on the hurst shifter because the bottom section is machined out of one solid piece.
Not the best picture, but you can see what I'm talking about here. It can not be modified. Also note the deeper "retaining ring" keeping the shifter in.
Below is a picture showing the topside of the OE Hurst assembly.
Note the piece on the top of the shifter mount/housing. This is most likely needed because of the (I assume) longer fulcrum point length to keep the bottom of the shifter from hitting the housing. Some aftermarket shifters also utilize a piece similar to this. Another potential reason for this piece is that the bottom section of the shifter is positioned farther inside the top section resulting in a shorter stick (from the center of the fulcrum point to the top), which would make the throw "act" shorter, but I suspect GM wanted to retain a close to stock shifter height inside the cabin.
Because the fulcrum point is raised in the shifter assembly itself, a deeper "retaining ring" (as noted above) must be used to retain the shifter in the assembly...
The shifter mount/housing appears to be the same as all of the SS shifter housings, and 1 ZL1 shifter assembly I have here, with the same SS8 number cast on it. I suspect there is no difference, aside from the holes on the top side are possibly tapped to accept the top piece of the Hurst.
I believe IF you can get the OE Hurst shift lever, the top piece, and the longer lower retaining ring, that the Hurst stuff can easily be transfered into a factory non Hurst car with little to no modification. However, none of these items can be purcahsed individually from GM, and you have to buy a complete shifter assembly. But if you could catch a person with a factory hurst going to a different stick, perhaps you could get the parts at a reasonable cost and make it work.