Hi guys,

I'm close to finished on my 88 NA rebuild and recently installed one of the eBay style Miata short shifters. The car originally came with no shifter. I've noticed that the shifter doesnt seem to sit in the 3-4 gear area - that is, it doesn't "auto-center" (i dont know what the proper word for this is).

Usually any shifter I've ever driven autocenters inbetween 3rd and 4th gear and you have to push it against a spring or something to get into 1st and 2nd or 5th gear/reverse. The 5th/reverse spring seems to be working fine. So I guess my questoin is - how do you fix this? Is there literally a spring that is missing? Is this a shifter issue or a transmission issue?

Sorry for the poor wording, I hope someone can understand what the issue is!

Thanks in advance.

 

your missing your left centering spring, this seems to be common problem (i have it myself)

its really not that big of a deal though, and it is deffinitly more trouble than its worth to fix (i think you have to drop the whole trasmission).

heres a search result:
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ntering+spring

like i said, its not that big of a deal, you just need to get used to it (or fix it).

 

mine is the same...i jus push it slightly right so that it rested on the "5th gear/reverse" spring then i know where my 3rd/4th is....

 

Yup, common problem. "Don't worry about" and "get used to it" is the general advice given. Have fun.