Hey Rotorheads-
with much (!) thanks to Chris/Banzai I am able to show a comparison of recently obtained Rotary Shack SA short shifter vs stock.
Before everybody gets jazzed about seeing it _installed_ well, sorry, its -10F outside here in snowy Alaska so the install will have to wait till May

Still, a side-by-side might be helpful, since I don't recall seeing one when the original Thread for this was posted. So if the Powers-That-Be will permit what I hope can be an informative, unbiased presentation of a really quality product.

Note how the extended lower end, combined with the 1" (-ish) machined spacer moves the lever's pivot point to shorten the throw. Spacer has all the correct locator pin bits, etc so the lever sits and is held correctly. I am no machinist, but having held an eccentric shaft in hand, I can say this is every bit as well engineered and constructed. Materials used are first class. It even came pre-lubed!!

Anyway. Hope this helps those sitting on the fence. Time to get those notes off to Santa...
And IF someone gets one IN, please post some pics!!!

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

agreed stu, mine arrived last week and very impressed

 

Very useful info, Stu; thanks!

 

let us know if ur one of the lucky few that experience noise after install.

 

That has nothing to do with the shifter, it's the 1:3 chance of the transmission to have rattle.

 

Love the shifter I got from the Shack a while ago, but it does produce a rattling noise that can be minimized and changed by grabbing the shift **** firmly. But it doesn't go away. Is the stock **** not seating all the way down on the threads for the new shifter? Can I do anything about that noise, Kerebrus?

 

Not sure I understand you situation. Your **** is the proper one for the shifter / vehicle year? If the problem is the "fit" between the **** and shaft (it's loose) might try wrapping the shaft with some white sealing tape, like what you use to help seal air connection fittings.

 

Just a thought, but is everyone using the plastic bushing off the stock shaft on the new one before installing? Missing that, could make things loose and sound like a texas rattler.

 

As said , I think the rattle is a random condition , not related to the shifter quality but the transmission. The rattle is not likely coming from the **** but inside the shifter seat area

I had the same warning from Mazdatrix on the short shifter I bought for my 89 vert. I get a slight rattle in second gear on that one over 5K rpm that disapears if I just position it a little different once the rattle starts .

As said, some short shifters have no rattle , some lots . no way to predict I guess . There is a thread somewhere where somebody packed some rubber down there and it cured the rattle but you'd have to search

 

As everyone else has stated, there isn't much you can do as it doesn't have to do with the actual shifter. There might be a few work arounds out there like the one ourxseven mentioned but no guarantees. I have the same shifter in my 85 and it does produce quite a lot of rattle, but for the amazing job it does, I could care less!

 

There has to be a logical answer. Things just don't happen without reason.

 

Mazdatrix said it best..

The wire spring on the later cars (that "latches" over top of the lower ball, and is usually broken) is NOT the factor. We had them rattle in cars with a good spring, and not rattle in ones with broken springs.

The nylon bushing at the very lower end ball (as uses on the 93-95 shifters) was not the factor. We had them rattle / not rattle without the bushing (ball diameter was machined to O.D. of bushing. We then had them rattle / not rattle after we had all the 93-95 shifters re-machined and installed the bushing on all of them.
We also machined an 81-88 short shifter to accept the 93-95 bushing, and had it rattle / not rattle in various cars we installed it in.

Most of the cars we were testing with had new trans mounts and good or new engine mounts -- did not make any difference.

On a customers '89 GTU we installed a Mazdatrix short shifter. The shifter did not rattle at all. The customer then replaced the transmission-the shifter now rattles.

On the owners' '86 GXL we installed a Mazdatrix short shifter and it rattled. We then installed a Mr. C's, and it rattled. This was the car we then machined the lower ball to take the nylon bushing - and it rattled. We tried MANY different types of oil and wheel bearing grease -- it always rattled !!.
The one thing we found that made a BIG difference, was to be sure and have the oil level in the shift tower ABOVE the socket the lower ball goes into. The shifter is still in his car -- the neat short shifting is worth the trade-off for the noise.

 

I had my SA short throw shifter from Rotary Shack for about a month and absolutely love it. I would recommend it to anyone. When I first installed it I had a little rattle depending on gear and RPM but the more I drove it the faster it went away… It’s completely gone now, probably just a brake in period. But if there was still rattle I wouldn’t care, the height and the throw made driving the 7 more comfortable and enjoyable. Thanks againg Rotary Shack for this great product!

Before


After

 

Thanks for follow-up and pix 'challer

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

I suspect it has to do with the fact that the lower part with the ball
sticks down a bit lower and it can come in minor contact with some
other parts down in the socket in some way. Or because its changed
the angle of some lever such that now it can make some noise. Not
unlike what happens to the drivehshaft when a car is lowered dramatically
and now your rearend starts making noises. That would explain why
having the oil level up to that point helps quiet the noise. BTW this
theory would explain why a short shifter has issue regardless of the vintage.

My 2 cents

 

Yes, I thought about the end protruding through the bushing and the different legnth / altered pivot location. Just not sure. I'm going to wait untill next summer when I get a chance to install 3 of em myself.

 

the SA shifters usually don't rattle, since our short shifter design uses a nylon bushing top and bottom where the factory shifter uses only one on top.

 

That would be good news!!
Thx 680-

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

Challer, your obscenely UNcracked-at-the-screwholes shift surround has me horrifically jealous.

 

If you don't mind _black_ Glen - mazdatrix has NOS panel in stock for some $60-ish...

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

Hey this is pretty cool.... well if it wasn't for being almost four years old. Does any one know where you might can still get one of these? Or if rotary shack can make them again?

 

The End of the Story--
After using the manufactured short shifter for a couple of months, I could not get past the notchiness of the shifting, so I reverted to the Old School method of shortening the OE shifter by chopping off the upper threaded ****-end, re-threading further down the shaft with the effect as shown. Not quite as short as the "official" short shifter, but because (my amateur theory) it maintains the original pivot-ball point at the base (the manufactured one's pivot point is changed considerably as my original post shows), it shifts as smooth as the original. Had a shift boot designed to allow for shorter throw too (Redline has - or had - the pattern, they made it for me).

Long-story-short: much happier. And cheaper. And available!
Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

i know this is a late response, but i agree. its rare but i've seen stock shifters rattle also.

i think the aftermarket shifters rattling, or transmitting noise, may have something to do with construction. the factory shifter is made up of two pieces with a rubber bushing in the middle, so it cannot transmit vibrations very well.

all of the aftermarket shifters are 1 piece.

the second fix Mazda did was to use a really heavy shift ****, the FD and Rx8 shift ***** are heavy, like a couple pounds heavy. this also helps with shift feel

 

Never thought about the rubber bushing in the shifter rod acting as a rattle dampener but I suppose its possibile. I always associated it with vibration dampining which to me, is a sense of feel as opposed to a rattle which is hearing. I can't comment on the Mazdatrix as I've never had one but yes, the Rotary Shack shorties are noticeably notchier than stock. (the pivot or fulcrum point is higher than stock, providing less leverage at the ****) I've not heard them to be noiser however. As long as the nylon / plastic bushing is made to the right I.D. and O.D. sizes, installed on the shaft and inserted into the cup I don't see the shifter as being the rattle culpret. On a 1 piece shaft, there is nothing to rattle. I've put a couple in (SA's) and never had any noise problems. I think I have one still new in the box.

 

FWIW, my Rotary Shack shifter (fb) sometimes rattles, more like a faint buzzing, at above 4500 in 3rd and 5th. If I pull up lightly on the shifter it stops. Sometimes for a moment, sometimes longer. The extreme notchy feeling is gone after 2500 miles. It feels perfect.