Hello! So my Mazdatrix short shifter kit came in today, and as soon as I got off work I went straight to work on it. Removed the ebay shifter, all the bushings and what not, and after watching the video a few times and going over the Mazdatrix install page a few times. I was stumped, because with everything installed and the 3 bolts tightened down my shifter was so stiff I could not move it. As soon as I loosened up the bolts I could move the shifter. But I know you can't have the bolts loose like they were, so the only way I could install the shifter was to remove the sleeve/collar. With that removed and all the other bushings installed I can tighten the bolts down all the way and the shifter feels great.

So my question is, on the 86-88 FC are we supposed to use the collar/sleeve in the picture below? I ask because all the instructions I've seen are generic instructions for 81-95, nothing I've found was 86-92 specific...

 

I feel like I might need to explain my issue a bit more... But the more I look at it the more I think this is the only way this is going to work in my transmission...

The first picture is my transmission with the collar installed with the notch over the front facing pin. As you can see the collar will not seat down all the way because there is a ledge/step beneath the pin. It cannot be removed.



Here is a picture of the ledge/step beneath the pin in the shifter housing:


Sorry for how dark the picture is my garage is kinda dimly lite. But here you can see the collar is installed, as well as the spring bushing and the top cover plate (whatever it's called). There is a large gap and my bolts are not to short to start threading into the transmission housing:


Top shot of the collar, spring bushing, and top plate. It's all aligned but there is no way the shifter will install like this:


A picture of the short shifter installed without the collar, bolts tight fluid filled to proper level, and all the other bushings installed from the kit. Shifts like butter:


So am I in the right and don't use that collar, or am I missing something here? Because I cannot find anything else to do to help this along... I'll load a short video of me going through the gears as soon as photobucket posts the video...

 

A direct link to my video showing all the gears with how I've installed the shifter without the collar in question:
http://vid88.photobucket.com/albums/...pslhrxyrpe.mp4

 

It's been a long time since I installed mine but I have an 88 with the Mazdatrix short throw shifter and it's perfect. Is that the old collar put upside down in this picture? Under the post? I'd try and remove that I think they put in the old collar upside down, unless I'm crazy.

 

OKAY! I figured it out! Turns out I have a 81-83 transmission and not a 84-88 like I thought I did. So I ordered the wrong shifter kit, which sucks...

 

So u bought a fc tranny short throw? Sell it lol!

 

Why?

 

Nope the collar that is in it now is a permanent part of the shifter housing. Because turns out I have an 81-83 trans instead of the 84+. But from what I found on Mazdatrix's webpage the trans I have has higher gear ratios. So might be the better of the two transmissions!

I'm gonna call Mazdatrix tomorrow and see if they can send me the proper collar so I can install it right. If not then I'll just cut the one I have to fit.

 

And I can say it's 100% fixed and installed properly! The trans had an ebay short shifter in it before, thus why I wanted to change it out. But also turns out my ebay shifter had the proper size collar/bushing I needed with the Mazdatrix shifter. So... Win!

 

But now I'm even more confused after doing more research... The tail shaft cover on my trans tells me it's an fb trans. But it bolts up to my 13b no problem, as well as my drive shaft. But if it were a true s3 trans it shouldn't...

I dunno... It's fixed maybe I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.