Hi,

I just recently got the Gotham Racing Short Shifter and installed it today. Well everything was good until I removed the old(stock) shifter and noticed that it had no shift bushing on it. The shifter pulled right out with no effort what-so-ever. I figured the past owner/shop must have removed it before I purchased the car for some reason and forgot to put it back on. Well the guys at Gotham had kindly threw a new bushing in the box for me anyways so I popped it on and went to install the new shifter but the thing didn't want to fit. It then came to me that maybe the old bushing had broken or got stuck in there. I cleaned it off a little to get the old bushing out but there was none. Absolutely, 100% sure there was none. It did have a little metal piece inside that looked like it would be the bushing but it was actually part of the tranny and couldn't be removed. Any explanation? The car has a January '92 build date, maybe it is just different?

Thanks.

 

I did just end up taking the bushing off the new short shifter, installed it and everything feels good. Just needs to be broken in a little.

 

good thing everything worked out for you

 

The shifter assembly should pop right out without any effort, bushings or not. When you install the new shifter, the plastic bushing on the ball end of the shaft needs to line up with the hole, otherwise it won't go in. When you say "shift bushing", which one are you referring to? There are three or four of them in different areas on the stock shifter.

 

Yeah, the little white one that is supposed to pop onto the ball end of the bottome of the short shifter. I had it lined up, but when I actually looked down there and cleared out some of the oil I realized that there was no way a bushing would work. Therefore just the bare ball end of the short shifter sat down into the bowl looking thing and everything bolted up fine.

 

Umm...the bushing is supposed to fit down there with the shift shaft ball end. Otherwise, you will eventually wear down the cup or the shaft ball or both. I'd imagine it will also make the shifting a bit notchy as well. I'd take it apart and see about getting that part in there if I were you.

 

I know what it's supposed to be like, but let me assure you something is different on mine. Only thing I can think of is the earlier FD's were like this or maybe I have some freak part off a Miata or something.

Now that I look back on it, I broke the factory seal on the shifter when taking it apart so I'm pretty sure it has never been messed with. I'm almost willing to break it all back down to take pics for you guys... maybe tomorrow.

 

Does it get hot enough down there to melt a metal bushing into the cup? When I opened it up it was NOT full of gear oil like it should be. I had to add some in there. Then again, why would there be a metal busing on the stock shifter?

 

The bushing on the ball end is plastic, just like the one on your new shifter. It's probably still in there, covered in oil.

The shifter compartment isn't supposed to be "full of oil", it should just have enough to keep the ball submerged in the cup.

 

Well, it's not there. I spent quite awhile examining it; The piece in there is metal.

I know where to fill it up to. Just trying to make the point that it needed quite a bit.

 

No rattles or vibrations without the shifter bushing ?

 

None at all.

 

There is also a metal bushing which does not attach to the shifter ball ends.
This metal bushing usually stays at bottom, in the shifter housing.
Its just a cylinder metal bushing....