I have a short shifter that came out of my 88 rx7 parts car. The shifter is in good shape so I installed it in my 85 Gsl-se it works nice but it likes to rattle and it gets annoying is there any way to keep it from doing that

 

this is a common problem with short shifters in our cars. here is a writeup from mazdatrix about the rattling shifter: http://www.mazdatrix.com/shiftrat.htm

 

In some of the older semi trucks there was a similar problem with a rattle emanating from the gear shift for no apparent reason.. The only thing that ever helped this annoying problem was to take a short length of soft rubber hose and push it down over the gear shift stick right to the bottom as tight as possible and then cover it with the shifter boot .. This never stopped the problem but it did make it bearable .. It probably cut the noise by 60%. Very simple the hose absorbed some of the noise instead of letting it travel up the shifter .. Like I said it won't cure the problem but it should help ..We also never found a cure but what happens is the gears in the transmission set up a vibration that travels down the input and output shafts and ends up traveling up the shifter. It won't cost anything to try and if it works your a winner ..

 

If the shifter has been lubricated with gear oil, drain it out and clean the shifter socket. Re-lubricate everything with grease instead of gear oil. I have heard that this is effective at eliminating the rattle inherent to a lot of short shifters.

 

The noise can be helped a lot by using an OEM clutch disc. Apparently most hi-perf clutch discs use stiffer or less dampening in the clutch disc than OEM and thus the noise. I know some shifters are prone to this for one reason or another but, I have installed a clutch, gotten the noise, then changed back to OEM and got rid of it on the same car before.

But my current car has the noise and it came about when the engine was installed with a new clutch , years ago. It has a stock shifter.

 

Mine buzzes a bit, especially noticeable if my **** wasn't really really tight. I would try the rubber hose trick though.