Anyone want a short-shifter without having to fork out and buy a kit?

Well, the stock shifter can be modified by cutting it down quite easily. I just did mine and the throws are alot shorter and the shifts feel much more precise due to the reduced side to side play. It's probably not as good as an aftermarket kit which shortens the throw by lengthening the shifter under the pivot-ball but it works damn well.

Here's how to do it if anyones interested. BTW, you WILL need a welder.

1. Remove shifter. Obviously.
2. Have a look at the shifter. You will notice the shifter is actually made up of two pieces which are seperated by rubber to reduce vibration.
3. You need to burn or melt the rubber using an oxy welder or gas torch of some sort. Make sure you do this in a well ventilated area so you don't inhale the horrible black smoke coming from the burning rubber like I did. After awhile the shifter should come right apart.
4. Cut away as much of the top bell shaped part of the shifter as you like while making sure you leave enough of a female socket for the bottom part to fit back in. This will make it easier to weld back together.
5. Place the top part of the shifter in a vice, crank up the welder and weld em back together. If you want you can weld them together at an angle so the shifter is angled back at you while sitting in the car.
6. Re-install shifter.
7. Take the car for a test-drive safe in the knowledge that you now have "the quickest shift in the west".
8. Crack open a beer.

 

well this isnt really a "real" short shifter. you are just cutting down the height of the shifter. on a real short shifter you extend the bottom part so the "throw" is shorter. I have a "C's" short shifter and it isnt even in the same park as what you are doing. But yours looks cool as its 1" tall, it reminds me of a stock miata shifter

 

Did that a year and a half ago

 

I know how the aftermarket ones work. I already mentioned that in my first post. But, I think you need to go and study levers and fulcrums for awhile. Either lengthening the shifter below the fulcrum or shortening it above the fulcrum will have a similar effect. It shortens the throw between gears and reduces side to side play giving a more precise feel especially when going from 2nd to 3rd. Hell, it looks good, feels ALOT better and best of all didn't cost me a cent.

 

I think he knows the shifter setup pretty well, since he had a cut-down shifter before he had the C's. I've driven both myself, and have a cut-down right now. A better way to cut it down is to simply remove the top chrome part and mount your shift **** directly to the rubber. You will get less vibration when your hand is on the lever. Helps with smoother shifts (frame of mind).
The throw of the cut-down shifter is longer than a short shifter, and much harder to shift. I still like it though. But I like true short shifters better, as you can shift faster.
BTW, I did study engineering and physics.

 

hey david, i removed the c's yesterday.....and im not gonna tell you where i hid it. and just for the record my c's shifter was "cheaper" than your cut stock 1. it was free and took less of my time... remove old stock... install new c's no cutting and stuff. and it has a MUCH shorter throw and less effort to get it in to gear than the short stock 1.

 

HA! You are wrong! Mine came with the car. Did not have to remove it. Just put vise grips on it and twist off! You are too damn slow. :-)
You should remember when I did it. You were still here.

 

I've done the "chop" type short shifter mod on other cars I had and didn't care for it much. I have on two occasions blown 2nd to 3 gear shifts in my HB *ouch*. I'd love to tighen up the shifting. Is there a shortshifter kit available for the HB? TIA

 

The HB.... do you mean the Fb or the first generation rx-7?

Mazdatrix sells a expensive kit for the Fb.

 

Doh! yes FB. Hmmm, must've missed the Mazdatrix kit. Is it any good? Worth it? Does anyone have experience with it?

BTW, does the Mazatrix web site suck or what?

 

I like the mazdatrix site!

it has movies every part in the catalog and how-to's.
even the current price list!

link to short shifter kit.

http://www.mazdatrix.com/g4.htm

 

i have been thinking about doing the hack job short shifter on my sa. only problem is that mine would take a bit more work, since i would be cutting and welding so that to change the bend.

not only od i want mine a little shorter, but i also want tocloser to the center consol. probably an inch or two closer than stock. that is just a comfort thing though

 

Does anyone know if B&M makes, or made, a shifter for 1st gens? They currently only list one for the 3rd Gen on their website.



http://www.bmracing.com/noflash/prod...ual/45083.html

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by yayarx7
[B]NO, they did/do not.

 

I cut mine right below the rubber and chrome sleeve, bent the end, and threaded it. Shifts like, "Snick...Snick"!
Very short "throw" (whatever the **** that means!), and very purposeful action. No side play at all (comparably speaking).
I dunno what schools all you "engineers" came out of, but force x distance = work; and work applied to one end of a lever is equal to the work done on the other end, no matter where the fulcrom is.
The only difference in the shifters is the hieght, and the amount of force necessary to apply; but the distance of the "throw" can be the same. Mine is about the same hieght as a Miata. Having cut more than half of my shifter off, I now only have to move it half as much in order to shift; BUT it takes twice as much force.

So all you engineering geniuses can sit and ponder in your swollen heads the fact that none of you ever mentioned the height differences involved with the expensive short shifters as compared to the ones sheared off by the psycho -thin wallet havin' home mechanic with a hacksaw! The effect is in fact the same.

There are only two ways to get a "short throw" shift...and both ways make the ratio between the shifter linkage and the fulcrum to the fulcrum and the hand lever larger than the stock proportions.
The only difference is one has a tall lever (for sissys, little girls, and guys with too much money) that won't hurt your hand so much when you shift it ("Owweee!"); and the home job has a short lever that is'nt meant for sissys. (Damn sissys ought not be drivin Rx-7s anywayz!)

 

Distance (measured from the center of the ****) of the 1-2 shift in my FB with the stock shifter: 4''

Distance (measuerd from the center of the ****) of the 1-2 shift in my FB with the cut down shifter: 4''

Go measure for yourself. The short throw shifters have a much shorter throw, more like 2''. I know of a 10th Anniversary TII with a Mazdatrix short shifter, and it was nothing like the cut shifter in my TII.

 

because of were the fucrum is placed, an aftermarked short shifter will decrease the through more than a cut shifter. but that is besides the fact. a short shifter is a short shifter, no matter how it is done. if you cut the top off of your stock shifter, it will become a short shifter. since the length is less, the through too will be less. the only difference is that because you are on the other side of the fulcrum, you would have to cut more off to be able to get a comparable through lengh with an aftermarket.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Felix Wankel
[B]Distance (measured from the center of the ****) of the 1-2 shift in my FB with the stock shifter: 4''

What the hell ja do?...Just cut off the damn ****?! Cut that bitch DOWN!
Mine has a throw about two and a half inches. (Don't know, never whipped out the measure for my **** before.)

You really need that bad boy stickin up that far?! Are you people like really short oompa-loompas or something?!
Gueezes...Reach down and grab that ******!

 

Yeah, I sure did only cut off the ****...

 

something is wrong if that still has four inches of travel between 1st and 2nd gear.

 

Nothing is wrong. Want me to take pictures of it going through its travel?

 

All the side play in the shifter in my '80 is what kept me shifting from 2-3 with ease, no mis-shifting!

I tried adding a plastic bushing between the shift lever and the block on the shift rod, it was real easy to get hung up between gates when trying to grab 3rd, so I took the pastic out again - shifts like a hot knife thru butter again!

 

Mine is about half that hieght.
And it's got about two inches between gears.

 

Its shorter than that, I had the chrome piece under the **** so I would quit smashing my fingers into the dash. I can make it at least an inch shorter. I put it in my TII anyway, where my hands are not in so much danger

 

I made a simple **** from aluminum so that would'nt happen. The original looked too chunky for the hieght.
I took some clay, sat in the car, and squished around a bit holding it about where the **** would be. Made some "vroom-vroom" sounds like I was driving the car.
It's how I ended up with my "ergonomical design" that's specific to my shifter.
I make knife handles the same way for people.

What I ended up with is a really comfortable shift **** that is much smaller than stock. It feels really good to me, but others find it akward. (It's not their friggin car!)